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Shoe pizza pay: Pizza Hut's latest foray into unusual payments technology is a sneaker that automatically executed orders. Engadgetreports the shoes, a limited edition, are called "Pie Tops" that includes a button on the tongue, similar to the "pump" sneakers that were popular in the 90s. In this case, the button is linked to a mobile device that sets a default order. Pizza Hut's no stranger to using emerging technology for marketing. It experimented with using Pepper, SoftBank's humanoid robot, to serve patrons at Pizza Hut locations in Asia, and it was an early adopter of of mobile loyalty programs in Brazil.
Pedestrians walk past a Yum! Brands Inc. Pizza Hut restaurant at night in Shanghai, China, on Saturday, Aug. 6, 2016. There are signs that both Yum! Brands Inc. and McDonald's Corp.'s absolute dominance of China's multi-billion dollar fast food industry they helped create is starting to slip away as consumers shift to healthier options and Chinese-style food chains -- from huoguo (hot pot) to tangbao (steamed dumplings) -- proliferate. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
Waiting...: An early analysis of Tuesday's Amazon Web Services outage shows a substantial adverse user experience impact for large internet retailers. According to a release from Apica, a web performance measurement company, 54 of the U.S.'s largest 100 e-retailers saw a decrease of at least 20% in performance, with Express, Lulu Lemon and One Kings Lane going down completely. The Disney Store saw its average load time increase by more than 1,100%, while Target saw a nearly 1,000% load time increase. Other retailers such as Nordstrom and Victoria's Secret suffered load time increases of more than 300%. Across all 100 large retailers, the average load time increased from a few seconds to about 30 seconds. On the flip side, other large retailers were lucky. Apple, Walmart, BestBuy, Costco and Amazon's own Zappos sites were not impacted by the outage.
Innovation in Mexico: Accelerators and technology incubators have helped boost financial services and payment technology for companies such as PayPal, and the idea has gained traction in different countries over the past couple of years. Startupbootcamp, a global incubator, has launched its first Latin American incubator in Mexico, according to MondoVisione. The incubator is designed to spot 10 startups, and will provide funding, mentoring, free office space in Mexico City, and access to executives and venture capitalists. Startupbootcamp FinTech has also run incubators in London, Amsterdam, New York, Singapore and Mumbai.
Alibaba's talent search: As Ant and its affiliates Alibaba and Alipay chart an aggressive international strategy, the group is also seeking international talent. Alibaba has launched a global academy to find and train young people to develop e-commerce and related digital technology. ComputerWeekly reports Alibaba's Global Leadership Group will include 32 young people from 14 countries. The students will spend a year in Alibaba's headquarters, and will also rotate around the company's business units. The "school" is part of an effort to bridge a technology, e-commerce and payments gap between China and the rest of the world, according to Brian Wong, vice president of global initiatives at Alibaba, in an interview with the magazine.
Thanks to Visa and IBM, Using a Washing Machine to Shop May Be Possible Soon Adweek • Adweek Staff The Internet of Things has been one of this week's buzziest topics at Mobile World Congress. While brands like Mastercard are talking about building voice-enabled Amazon Echo skills, automakers are envisioning a world where smart algorithms will turn cars into comfortable...
Four mega-trends shaping mobile payment platforms CPI Financial • Cpi_Financial Domestic financial service providers must ensure that they remain at the forefront of innovation in this space, says Entersekt CIO Gerhard Oosthuizen.
Fraudsters see a rich opportunity in apparel websites Fraudsters have a strong desire to take over a consumer's accounts or create new accounts to commit fraud by purchasing clothes or shoes to resell or initiate other crimes or chargebacks.
The retail giants are kicking the tires on their own currencies. The potential prize is a way to reimagine prepaid cards and gain a key position as new forms of artificial intelligence-powered payments take off.
Primis Bank plans to sell an undisclosed amount of its 19% ownership stake in Panacea Financial, a digital-only lender focusing on medical professionals and veterinarians. The deal should yield $22 million.
The impact of President Trump's tariffs is the top concern for most middle-market American businesses, a new KeyBank survey found. But these firms also view the scrambled landscape as a chance to innovate and restructure.
The Federal Reserve Board banned a former relationship banker in Arkansas after he was caught stealing customer funds; Benchmark Federal Credit Union plans to merge with Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union to form a $2.1 billion-asset institution; Robin Vince, CEO of Bank of New York Mellon since 2022, has been elected chairman of the board; and more in this week's banking news roundup.
