11.12.18 Your morning briefing

The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web:

Inventing retail tech
Shortly after debuting an experimental warehouse for Sam's Club near Dallas, Walmart plans to open an innovation lab inside a store in Levittown, New York.

The Long Island store will test ideas for both staff and consumers, reports TechCrunch, which adds the big box chain will deploy artificial intelligence to proactively replenish stock, spot spills and correct mis-stocked items.

Like the Sam's Club lab, the Long Island store will also consider options for scanless checkout as a counter to Amazon Go and other cashierless retail projects.

Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg

Lots of company for Amazon Go
Amazon Go's getting most of the attention for new cashierless technology, but there are lots of other companies developing rival models all over the world.

In Japan, technology company Signpost Corp. has deployed its version of cashierless technology in a train station in Tokyo, reports Business Times.

Signpost is approaching a very specific use case that it says is amenable to a no-checkout model. The store will be about the size of an average bedroom with distinct entry and exit points that are designed for large crowds of fast-moving commuters.

No ATM taxes
A British court has ruled ATMs in and outside stores are not liable for extra business rates as part of a taxation rule.

The case may be worth as much as $800 million, reports The Guardian, which adds the stores are in line for a refund of fees already collected.

Tesco, Sainsbury's and the Co-op are among the retailers that brought the case against the Valuation Office Agency, which is part of the HM Revenue and Customs department that sets businesses rates.

The answer is contactless
Payments innovation for donations has advanced fast in the U.K. with a new deployment designed to serve pub trivia contests.

The Royal British Legion has rolled out a pub quiz package that includes contactless donations cards, reports Finextra.

The cards use NFC or QR codes to support smartphone donations. The Legion is tying the trivia quizzes and the donation packages to the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.

More from PaymentsSource

Amex gets a regulatory nod in China, but a lot more work remains
American Express' progress with local officials in China regarding card payments provides a potential early advantage against rivals like Mastercard and Visa. But building a market in China has never been easy for a global card brand.

Fintechs to law enforcement: Let’s be partners, not adversaries
As the fintech industry continues to grow in the United States, so do the opportunities for criminals to exploit systems meant to foster innovation.

PNC adds IDEMIA’s dynamic CVV2 code to boost commercial card security
PNC Bank is piloting IDEMIA’s motion code card which offers a dynamic CVV2 security code for its commercial clients in an effort to combat card not present fraud.

Nets adds instant-financing button at POS
The Norway company is introducing a service in Finland and Sweden giving consumers an instant-credit option enabling them to opt to pay later for purchases.