Merchant

A deeper dive into the workings of the Amazon Prime Reload program should give the card payments industry serious cause for concern.

Consumers don't want to feel disconnected from retailers in e-commerce, and don't want a complicated checkout experience, writes Jason Fordham, vice president of product at SmarterHQ.

The task at hand for retail app developers is increasingly clear: Make it as easy as possible for consumers to pay through a mobile device.

The New York firm, which offers high-cost credit to small businesses, has attributed its recent struggles to certain loans performing worse than had been expected.

The trade association has teamed up with Retail Benefits to create "CU Perks," a shopping rewards program for CU members in the Pelican State.

In a move that will certainly cause friction across the card payments industry, Amazon announced a new service called Amazon Prime Reload, which incentivizes newcomers to the program to load funds using a debit card or bank account with a 2% cash back on purchases.

JPMorgan Chase’s partnership with OnDeck Capital was expected to augur a wave of similar agreements between banks and online business lenders. But so far, most banks have avoided joining forces with companies they also view as competitors.

The Utah company has similar arrangements with Staples, GoDaddy and LegalZoom.

Customers were previously required to provide access to their accounting software, but now they can connect a business bank account instead.

Due in part to the U.S.'s lackluster adoption of contactless cards, mobile wallets had a slow and difficult time gaining hold among consumers and merchants that were unfamiliar with the tap-and-pay process or didn't have the right technology. The opposite problem plagues Canada, where contactless cards are so widely used that mobile adds little value.