The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web:
Simpler scanning
Sam's Club plans to upgrade its item recognition technology to allow shoppers to scan the entire item instead of just the bar code.
The upgrade is designed to speed checkout by removing the requirement that the customer find the bar code, though there's still gaps that prevent the upgrade from being an Amazon Go-style no-cashier system.
The retail chain will test the technology this spring at its Dallas-area testing center, which Sam's Club set up in 2018 to find ways to
From tabloids to shampoo
The newstands that dot the New York subway system will soon be as extinct as the
The replacement is due in part to the 40 percent vacancy rate for retail in the subway system, and matches a general trend toward digitizing transactions such as
Unattended retail has also proven to be a gateway to tech innovations such as
Another step away from passwords
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the FIDO Alliance have finished work on a specification for
Called W3C's Web Authn Recommendation, it is supported by Windows 10, Android, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Apple Safari web browsers, according to W3C.
This would allow apps, including financial and payment apps, to use standard functions to support biometrics and FIDO security keys to enable faster logins.
Ham and lightning
Two developers used ham radio waves to execute a cryptocurrency payment between Toronto and San Francisco.
Radio waves could provide a way to protect cryptocurrency from hacking or other interference such as censorship, reports
Satellites have also emerged as an alternative to the internet for cryptocurrency transactions, Coindesk reports.
From the Web
South China Morning Post | Tue March 5, 2019 - China’s transition towards a cashless and cardless society, with nine out of 10 internet users already paying for things with smartphones, means card giants will likely look to work with the country’s dominant mobile payments providers in key segments, such as outbound tourism.
The Wall Street Journal | Mon March 4, 2019 - A no-deal Brexit could force British and European treasurers to make changes to their bank accounts and cash pools to avoid higher fees and meet regulatory requirements. Various European frameworks governing the payments industry might no longer apply to the U.K. after it leaves the European Union on March 29, including regulation on the single euro payments area, or SEPA.
The Guardian | Mon March 4, 2019 - British banks are being hit by IT or security failures that prevent customers from making payments at an average rate of more than once a day, according to Which? Money. In the most comprehensive analysis carried out since banks started disclosing serious IT glitches, the consumer group found there were 302 incidents that prevented customers from making payments in the last nine months of 2018.
More from PaymentsSource
The bank-run Zelle P2P network was designed without the social media-esque touches that made Venmo a hit among millennials. And as one might expect, half of all new P2P users are 45 and older.
Many fintech startups are working to streamline various aspects of payment acceptance for global online merchants, and Modo wants to give those merchants more control over the payment service processors they use.
China dwarfs the U.S. market in e-commerce adoption and is likely to be soon giving lessons to internet executive from U.S. and Western countries.
Wirecard and Cimple Marketing have teamed with Estonia-based cruise ship operator Tallink Grupp to enable shops on its 14 vessels to accept China’s top three payment options.
