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Star power
Starbucks’ loyalty program drove 52% of U.S. sales during the quarter ended March 31, with Starbucks Rewards membership increasing by 1 million to 22.9 million and drive-thru accounting for 50% of net sales, Kevin Johnson, Starbucks’ president and CEO told analysts.
Mobile orders represented 26% of U.S. store sales, up from 18% a year earlier and Stars for Everyone — enabling customers to earn rewards through any payment method — drove higher levels of activity during its first six months, Johnson said. In China, results from expanding Starbucks Now mobile ordering to WeChat and Alibaba pushed mobile orders to 34% of sales, up from 30% in the previous quarter, he said.
Starbucks is increasingly leaning on AI to personalize customer offers, predict customer traffic and inventory needs as stores around the world slowly begin to return to pre-pandemic levels, according to Johnson.
Taxing
The company plans to add access to sales tax software by agreeing to buy TaxJar, which Stripe hopes will manage the more than 11,000 different sales tax jurisdictions in the U.S., along with more variance in international markets. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Stripe said one of the top requests from users over the past five years has been sales tax assistance, and it plans to use TaxJar to provide sales tax rates at checkout, automate tax return submission and sales tax remittance, and localized compliance.
Crypto cab
Mobile payments firm HIPS Payment Group and Nordic taxi payment rail The Payment House have partnered to allow cryptocurrency payments for cabs in Scandinavia and the U.K.
The payment gateway will debut in a beta test in November, and will use the HIPS merchant protocol (HMP) and merchant gateway (HMP-gateway) over Ethereum. More than 20,000 taxis in Scandinavia and 10,000 in the U.K. will be covered.
Merchant token (MTO) and USD Coin will be the initial tokens available at launch, and support for other cryptocurrencies will be evaluated after the beta test.
Dub nation
The Golden State Warriors plan to auction a set of commemorative non-fungible tokens (NFTs), a form of investment that tokenizes something tangible to create a form of one-to-one currency between the buyer and seller.
The NBA franchise's auction includes digital ticket stubs from visual arts studio Black Madre and virtual and physical championship rings, reports
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Scorecard
At least five Major League stadiums have recently added mobile ordering and contactless payments, including Globe Life Field, Progressive Field, Busch Stadium and Dodger Stadium.
The ballparks are accelerating stadium technology to accommodate larger crowds, as CDC guidelines allow more fans at outdoor facilities. The company that supplied the technology, Appetize, reports less than 3% of the transactions at the parks since the start of the 2021 season have been in cash.
The Red Sox' top minor league club, the
From the web
TECHCRUNCH | Wednesday, April 28, 2021
At the recent Boao Forum for Asia, China’s answer to Davos, the American payments giant said its strategy for China is not to challenge the duopoly of Alipay and WeChat Pay. Instead, it wants to focus on cross-border business and provide gateways both for Chinese merchants to collect funds and for Chinese consumers to pay for overseas goods.
REUTERS | Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Singapore's Grab more than doubled its valuation to $40 billion in about a year as part of the world's largest SPAC deal, but maintaining that level after its U.S. debut will be a test not only for investors but also for firms eyeing similar listings.
TECHCRUNCH | Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Viva Wallet, a Greek startup building banking services aimed at small and medium merchants, has picked up financing of $80 million, money that it will be using to expand its footprint and the services that it is offering to users, in particular expanding its Merchant Advance loans business.
More from PaymentsSource
Visa CEO Al Kelly detailed the card brand's push to take advantage of trends such as central bank digital currencies and financial inclusion.
Fiserv now allows merchants using the Clover point-of-sale platform to accept PayPal and Venmo payments, a move that serves the company's continuing focus on full omnichannel experiences for its merchants.
U.S. Bancorp has announced a series of moves designed to meet clients' growing demand for cryptocurrency services.
Four out of five gig workers want faster payments, and most have less than $500 in savings, according to a study by Branch and Marqeta.
Barclays US, which offers a range of co branded credit cards targeting middle-income consumers, is adding a buy now/pay later option for its merchant partners.
It’s been a roller-coaster year globally. But one sector that’s adapted to roll with the punches better than most is retail. Yet the dramatic pivot to online shopping has elevated the cyber-related risks for these businesses and their merchant service providers.
The quick adoption of financial technology, coupled with remote work, requires firms to focus on internal innovation as well as customer-facing advancements.
Central bank digital currencies are moving much faster in China and Latin America, where the financial structures are less complicated than in the U.K. and U.S.
Central banks around the globe have decided to compete with private cryptocurrencies and each other in the race to issue central bank digital currencies. These efforts are important, but policymakers should give equal attention to the financial stability risks that may be linked to CBDCs.
Mobile wallets have seen strong adoption as an in-store payment method in China, but have lagged in appeal in the U.S. until recently. Coronavirus fears have caused many Americans to rethink the mobile wallet’s value proposition.
JPMorgan Chase is preparing to offer a bitcoin fund to wealthy clients, the latest sign that Wall Street is warming to the largest cryptocurrency after it soared in recent months.
Fraud detection and prevention technology must align with clear return policies and strong customer service ensuring that confused but loyal and well-intentioned customers can continue to purchase from merchants, says Ravelin's Mairtin O'Riada.
New York's Acker wants crypto investors to convert their wealth into expensive wines.
American Express' payment processing operations in China are giving it a foundation upon which to expand its debit offering to new countries.
The Reserve Bank of India restricted American Express and Diners Club from adding new local customers, citing non-compliance with data-storage rules.
Despite the advantages of bringing cards in-house, many financial institutions still outsource their portfolios to agent credit card issuers to manage the programs on their behalf.
Long after the pandemic is finally behind us, the many security and financial benefits owners, management companies and fans alike receive from having the technology in place will remain too invaluable to ignore, says Corsight's Robb Watts.
Affirm's deal to buy Returnly emphasizes the need to simplify the process when a point-of-sale lender stands between the consumer and merchant.
Top executives from the 49 companies that earned a spot in this year's ranking of the Best Fintechs to Work For cite the need for nimble shifts in business strategy, leadership style and recruiting tactics among the lessons they took away from the challenges of the coronavirus crisis.
