Mobile wallets

Some of the biggest digital wallets in the world — including Alipay and WeChat Pay — succeed because they have very little in common with other big-brand wallets like Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay.

The threat that mobile would displace plastic never came to be. But the new technology — often developed by retailers and other nonbanks — nevertheless forced issuers to take stock of their own offerings.

President Trump's isolationism is colliding head-on with a lucrative trend of Chinese tourists coming to the U.S. looking — and payments companies are caught in the crossfire.

These apps may not seem like much of a threat as long as they stay in their lane — but increasingly, ride-sharing companies are pushing the limits of how their apps can be used for payments.

Uber is clearly doing more to get into payments, but is hampered by a heavy regulatory burden and self-inflicted wounds to its brand.

China’s Alipay mobile wallet is now accepted by airport retailers in the Middle East and Africa through a collaboration between Qatar Airways and Wirecard.

French supermarket chain Carrefour has launched its own mobile wallet, making Carrefour Pay available to customers as part of its plan for a complete omnichannel experience.

As new customers visit a restaurant for the first time, Punchh Acquire delivers information about the customer and assigns them with digital identities and profiles.

Alipay already has inroads in Mexico, where its mobile wallet is accepted at some retailers popular with Chinese tourists. Through a partnership with Openpay, it’s expanding Mexican merchants’ access to these transactions in person and online.

Alipay has partnered with FreedomPay and expanded an existing deal with First Data to deepen U.S. merchant acceptance at key destinations for Chinese tourists.

Retailers need to closely monitor new digital wallet trends, like Google Pay, to prioritize the most popular payment instruments to their customers during the purchase process, writes Rahul Shah, senior vice president of Global Delivery & Customer Success at Applause.

Regardless of some promising uptake numbers numbers, it’s obvious there are still many hurdles to clear before we see ubiquity, Rahul Shah of Applause writes.

One way to get a sense of Walmart’s massive transition to an agile omnichannel retailer is to examine the company’s mobile app, which bears the influence of Karla Allen, Walmart's senior director of mobile wallets.

As both the volume and value of digital currencies increase, so will inevitable attempts to commit fraud and theft. In this nascent stage, what is protecting cryptocurrency buyers and sellers?

RecargaPay, an eight-year-old mobile payments platform targeting unbanked and underbanked consumers in Brazil, has secured $22 million in funding to reach more users and merchants.

Even if most consumers aren't leaving their plastic cards at home in favor of mobile wallets, the very idea of using a mobile wallet is no longer cutting-edge. But a few companies go the extra mile.

OEM and other mobile payments can feed sales, marketing and recurring transactions for lenders, according to Steve Yi, co-founder and CEO of MediaAlpha.

Banks and cardholders will be able to verify purchases, increase credit limit, add cards immediately, provide feedback to retailers, receive on-demand coupons, or upgrade card benefits.

The Boston-based Circle has offered several services over the past few years and has shifted its strategy.

Nearly a year after integrating with major mobile wallets, Punchh is expanding its cloud-based platform to integrate loyalty and payments for quick-service restaurants.