Mobile payments

Contextual commerce is the next big thing in retail as the payments transaction slides to the background. But it relies on building sophisticated consumer relationships.

China’s Ant Financial, an affiliate of Alibaba, is continuing its acquisition spree by purchasing stakes two digital payments firms, including South Korea’s Kakao Pay and the Philippines’ Mynt.

When Zelle launches, it will not allow users to share information about their payments with other folks in their network. That decision puts the P-to-P service on a different course than Venmo, its fast-growing rival.

Most new payments and financial services innovation isn't tied to the actual payment, making hosted and cloud solutions a good fit for right sizing resources.

When Zelle launches, it will not allow users to share information about their payments with other folks in their network. That decision puts the P-to-P service on a different course than Venmo, its fast-growing rival.

For some time now, restaurant chains have been adding mobile order-ahead options, betting they’d be popular with their customers. But even they were caught off guard with just how big of a hit the technology is turning out to be.

International money transfer service TransferWise Ltd. has announced an integration with Facebook Inc.’s Messenger that will let people set up foreign exchange transactions over the chat service.

The mobile device and its embedded technology can make a strong combination to protect user ID, and comply with new European regulations for security.

More everyday products are becoming connected devices, including refrigerators, washing machines and even mirrors. As each household item evolves, companies are eager to transform them into channels for shopping.

Buying clothes can be a tedious process of waiting in lines to get into the dressing room, and then waiting in line again to make a purchase. As it turns out, eliminating the second half of this process can also reduce the first half.