Time for retailers to add Apple Pay to e-commerce sites
When Apple announced the additions and specifications of its new MacBook Pro late last month, it included a strip at the top of the keyboard called the Touch Bar, equipped with the ability to process biometric fingerprint scans. Designed for many uses, the biometric ability of the Touch Bar could make a huge difference to the company’s Apple Pay, which […]
Report: Retailers more likely to offer incentivized gift cards over holiday discounts
According to a survey by Bankrate, most people would prefer to receive a real gift this holiday season, rather than a gift card. But even so, Mercator Advisory Group predicted in a report this week that more and more retailers will be offering gift cards and gift card incentives rather than discounts this holiday season. The […]
What affect will election of Trump have on payments, fintech?
There’s no way to know exactly what the impact of President-elect Donald J. Trump’s term will have on the payments industry, but industry folks are already speculating. Kevin Woodward of Digital Payments said industry analysts are saying that a Trump presidency could affect the future of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and its director, Richard […]
Mobile usage worldwide surpasses desktop, merchants should take notice
According to a report by StatCounter Global Stats, mobile phone and tablet access to the internet, for the first time ever, made up the majority of internet usage worldwide last month. While statistics varied from country to country, StatCounter said countries such as India, in which 75% of all internet use from phones or tablets, helped […]
P2P network Zelle will begin roll out in December
Late Sunday night, executives from Early Warning gave a brief presentation about the long-anticipated Zelle, a real-time payments network expected to challenge Venmo and SquareCash in a market that processed $1.2 trillion in 2014 (Aite Group). In all, 19 United States banks — including the big boys like JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co., […]
Will cash be killed?
You pull up to a toll booth in New York City, reach out to extend your hand with a fistful of coins to pay your toll, and there’s nobody there to take it from you. New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced last week that all Metropolitan Transportation Authority bridges and tunnels next year will be updated […]
U.S. Payments Forum address slow chip card transaction times
The biggest complaint regarding the switch to EMV card transactions is the wait time for consumers. My 14-year-old stepdaughter says the same thing every time I talk about my job. “I hate using that stupid chip thing,” she snarls. “It takes sooooooo long.” On average, it really only takes about 15 seconds — “it feels […]
Chip-enabled credit card system hits 1-year mark in U.S.
It’s been a year since the United States credit card system began to make the switch from swipe-and-sign cards to chip-enabled EMV cards on Oct. 1, 2015. The chip, which creates a unique security code for every transaction, replaced the magnetic stripe cards which were antiquated in their data storage ability and more importantly, unstable. […]
Mobile Shopping to Increase
Recent studies show that 51% of mobile consumers are purchasing physical goods in a mobile shopping movement. So for the many people who use their smart phone to pay for things, only half of them are buying things that require shipping. Research acquired from Javelin, in the July/August edition of Transaction Trends, estimates that $217 […]
Payment Processing – What Needs to Change
At a recent conference on credit card processing, Stripe President John Collison shares his thoughts on what needs to change in payment processing to improve the consumer experience. He states that online product purchases mirror the mail order system of the 1970’s, in that consumers fill out the same information and submit in order to […]