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Welcome to the new PaymentsSource Morning Briefing, delivered daily. The information you need to start your day, including top headlines from PaymentsSource and around the Web:
Money matters more than time: It's not surprising that the number of people who shop online or on mobile apps is far greater than it was 16 years ago. What is surprising is why. According to new research from Pew, 79% of Americans now shop online, which is up from 22% in 2000; 51% have bought something from their mobile phone and 15% have purchased something via a link on social media--two things that were not possible in 2000. What's perhaps more interesting than the huge growth, which would seem to be expected, is what hasn't changed. 65% of Americans make purchases based on price over channel preference, suggesting higher cost is more painful than the "pain point” of going to a store. Among Pew's other findings: More than half of young people rely on peer reviews before a purchase; 24% of all Americans say that none of the purchases they make in a typical week involve cash; and while 48% of Americans have heard of bitcoin, only 1% have actually used the virtual currency.
Mobile parking in Gotham: Mobile apps that can feed parking meters are advancing in cities such as Toronto and Singapore and this week New York added ParkNYC, a parking app that's tied to a license plate number, AMNewYork reports. Working similar to the EZPass toll system, drivers type in a parking zone and the amount of time they are parking, and the app deducts money from a linked account. Drivers can also add time remotely through the app. The app is active in parts of Midtown, with deployment expected at 85,000 meters across the city by the summer of 2017.
Charitable card program gets larger: HandUp is expanding its card program for the homeless in San Francisco. TechCrunch reports the $25 cards, which launched in August, can be redeemed at more locations, including the Mission Neighborhood Resource Center, MSC South Shelter in SOMA and the United Council of Neighborhood Services in Bayview. People purchase gift cards and pass them out to homeless people on the street. Since the launch, more than 3,000 cards have been handed out and more than two thirds of those have been redeemed. HandUp is a collaboration among area technology companies including Twitter, Zendesk, Dolby and Salesforce. Citing city statistics, TechCrunch reports San Francisco has about 1,200 emergency adult shelter beds for a homeless population of nearly 7,000.
E-concierge wins at bootcamp: Lloyds will start tests on MoBILLity, a chat-based service that's designed to cut costs for recurring billing, as part of this year's Startupbootcamp demo day in London, reports Finextra. MoBILLity works a bit like SilverBills in the U.S., storing and automatically paying all of a consumer's recurring expenses. MoBILLity also searches for better deals for these payments and makes recommendations to consumers.Lloyds also plans to pilot Enterprise Bot's white label artificial intelligence powered virtual assistant, an app that's designed to cut call center costs.
From the Web (powered by Wiser)
India's war on cash needs a very different approach
The Economic Times of India
According to a research, fewer than 10% of Indians have ever used any kind of non-cash payment instrument. Less than 3 per cent of the value transacted in the year ending March 2014 used cards.
Four Starbucks App Features FIs Need to Borrow ASAP
Bank Innovation • Diana Asatryan
If you followed the seven-hour biennial Starbucks Investor Day conference (as I am sure most of you did) earlier this month, you got an earful of the latest updates in the Starbucks world, including updates to its ingenious mobile app.
How Bitcoin will (and will not) work in Africa
How We Made It In Africa – Insight into business in Africa • Javier De Coca
Bitcoin is not a poverty alleviation tool.
More from PaymentsSource
Security pacts may breathe life into digital cooperation
As long as there has been mobile commerce, there have been calls for different stakeholders to share competitive turf in the name of universal acceptance.
Mobile is a 'lifestyle,' and other lessons from Alipay
Alipay has grown to become the most widely-used online payment method in the world.
Culture and tech raise a barrier to emerging market payments
As global e-commerce proliferates, payment platforms are stepping up to cater to U.S. merchants eager to sell their wares in emerging markets. But there can be as many risks as there are opportunities when entering a new market.
Toronto's mobile parking app brings PayPal as a passenger
A mobile payments app that launched last year for parking lots in Toronto is now available for all parking spots on the city's streets, with PayPal as the newest payment option.
WEX wins Chevron, Texaco fleet card contract
WEX Inc. will issue Chevron U.S.A.’s fleet cards, including all Chevron and Texaco cards for commercial fleets, beginning in early 2018, the companies have announced.
