Challenge

With a mission to provide access to portable power anywhere, Lyte customers can check out and return a Lyte portable charger at any of the brand’s in-store kiosks in available cities. Currently, Lyte offers two ways for customers to make a payment: in-person using Stripe Terminal or through an app running on the Stripe mobile SDK. Since most customers prefer not to download a new app while their battery is depleted, Terminal’s in-person form factor is crucial to Lyte’s checkout process.

Originally set up to operate in the US, Lyte had the opportunity to expand into Europe. However, the company encountered unique challenges as they scaled into a new international market, including time constraints, a PIN pad requirement, and the logistics of managing a hardware supply chain. Rather than rely on local payment solutions with separate integrations and a lower level of customer and product support, Lyte turned to Stripe for an international solution that would ensure the same great customer and developer experience they were accustomed to in the US.

Solution

Because Lyte was already using the Terminal SDK in the US, a simple update to the SDK was the only action needed for UK integration.

Lyte also worked with Stripe to design a new form factor that accommodated the BBPOS WisePad 3 and to deploy these devices on the ground. With these resources, Stripe gave Lyte the ability to easily navigate international growth and offer an efficient, encrypted payments experience for its customers.

Results

The entire process to expand to the UK market was completed by a single engineer in a couple of days, thanks to clear documentation and code snippets provided by Stripe.

“Stripe turned something that takes months into days. We simply built our UK workflow based on our US workflow, so the integration was quick and straightforward,” said DJ Wei, Cofounder and CEO of Lyte. “Stripe Terminal not only helped with our UK expansion but also opened the possibility of expanding to continental Europe.”

Now, Lyte expects to more than double their locations in the next six months, with plans to enter France, Germany, and Spain in the next year. With enhanced payment functionality, Stripe has enabled Lyte to accelerate international growth. “There are a lot more Terminals to be bought,” Wei says.