Evan Schuman

At a time when many independent sales organizations feel threatened by disruptors like Square and Groupon, which sell directly to merchants, Verifone is relying more on ISOs to extend its offerings to smaller stores.

In the Chinese payment processing space, which is dominated by government-controlled entities such as UnionPay, the dynamic of pursuing new customers is markedly different from in the U.S. This point was a key factor when investment firm TA Associates chose to invest in YeePay, a company with limited ambitions.

When it comes to protecting sensitive payment data, call centers are often the forgotten operation, and card data leaks out unintentionally. Protected data spoken in one cubicle can be overheard by 20 nearby reps, along with any customers on the phone with those reps.

American retailers have struggled with mobile payments, largely because they try to reinvent the entire buying process instead of evolving what's already there. Starbucks' success is rooted in its willingness to take the easiest route time and again, an approach that is clear in how it chose to implement Apple Pay.

In two recent overseas incidents, payment companies redefined "security" to suit a specific situation, rather than keeping it the constant that their customers expect.

Samsung is widely reported to be adding mobile-payment technology from LoopPay to its next Galaxy smartphone. Such an approach would be vastly different from that of Apple, PayPal or MCX's CurrentC — and it would address a key issue with LoopPay's own business model.

As Starbucks has proven for years, few retail interactions are more tailor-made for mobile payment than coffee sales. But when U.K.-based grocery chain Marks & Spencer launched its own coffee loyalty app in a 58-store trial in London, it chose to keep its menu much simpler.

As Starbucks has proven for years, few retail interactions are more tailor-made for mobile payment than coffee sales. But when U.K.-based grocery chain Marks & Spencer launched its own coffee loyalty app in a 58-store trial in London, it chose to keep its menu much simpler.

Among the many obstacles for mobile payments, the most daunting is getting shoppers to change behavior. The fact is that plastic cards have worked quite well for a very long time and consumers are quite used to them. To get consumers to change decades-old habits is far from easy.

While the payments industry is far ahead of other industries such as health care in adopting encryption, choosing the right method is still a challenge.

One of the most challenging IT issues is proving ROI, establishing that a specific technology rollout had a measurable impact on business goals. But Tesco is making a powerful case for proving the ROI of 3-D technology its apparel e-commerce business used to achieve a 24% plunge in online returns.

Tesco has begun testing a system that lets Google Glass owners fill a shopping cart without setting foot in the store, but this test may have a limited audience, as it launched just days before Google stopped selling its high-end headset.