The terminal would integrate with its e-commerce marketplace, display product inventory and analytics, and link to its membership program and logistics infrastructure, according to documents viewed by Business Insider. It was developed by Project Santos, Amazon’s internal team tasked with challenging Shopify. (Business Insider)

Talking point: The new hardware takes aim at a number of platforms that launched as software-based POS systems for independent retailers or used those systems as a first step to bring brick-and-mortar stores online. Shopify itself launched a new app with store-management tools in May 2020, but the pandemic delayed marketing efforts; it’s one of several potentially “transformative” add-on services recently announced by the Canadian tech company, Wedbush Securities analyst Ygal Arounian wrote in a February investor note. For Shopify’s existing online merchants, it’s “a lot easier for us to be their point-of-sale partner when they decide to transition” to physical retail because the system integrates with their webstores, president Harley Finkelstein said on a July earnings call. Lightspeed, which last month dropped “POS” from its name to reflect its wider e-commerce push, also targets independent businesses; so does Square. The stocks of such tech firms platforms dropped Wednesday, amid a wider sector decline.