Amazon. com is making an entrance in the mobile-checkout market, taking on start-ups such as Square as more local businesses seek to ease the process of accepting credit cards.

The world’s largest online retailer today unveiled Amazon Local Register, a free smartphone and tablet application and $10 card reader that plugs into a handheld device.

The software will let merchants accept major debit and credit cards as well as check metrics such as sales trends and bottom-line performance, Amazon said today in a statement.

Amazon’s push into mobile point-of-sale systems is part of an effort to provide more services for small businesses, which it says number 26 million in the US Amazon Local Register puts the Seattle-based company in direct competition with Square’s main product, while Groupon also recently unveiled a service for in-store payments and PayPal offers a mobile card-swiping device for small merchants.

Merchants who buy Amazon’s reader and sign up before October 31 will pay a 1.75 per cent fee for each transaction through January 1, 2016.

After the promotional period, retailers will pay 2.5 per cent on card transactions processed by Local Register.

Square, by comparison, charges 2.75 per cent for each swipe, and 3.5 per cent plus 15 cents for each manually entered transaction.

Groupon in May released a new iPad-based system that lets local merchants accept credit-card payments, process coupons without a printed or digital voucher, and customize marketing campaigns for vendors to target specific customers.

Amazon shares rose less than 1 per cent to $319.32 at yesterday’s close in New York. The stock has declined 20 per cent this year after climbing 59 per cent in 2013.

Bloomberg