Online payments

No matter how good a company's e-commerce strategy is, the customer experience can still fall apart on the checkout page — especially when introducing new features.

The company, founded by musician Jack Conte about five years ago, allows fans to give creators a steady paycheck to create new content, and it's a clear hit among certain communities. But by severing the clear link between product and payment, it has also created some unprecedented issues.

Klarna’s instant online financing for purchases is gaining a foothold in the U.S., where the Swedish company is testing a subscription-based financing approach starting with golf clubs from TaylorMade Golf.

Numerous data sources provide insight on the growth of this new paradigm in payments and some indication of how consumers can be motivated to prefer a specific payment instrument over others.

Apple's Face ID is turning heads, but it is far from the first use of facial biometrics in payments. Here are several implementations that predate it.

PayPal is among the top non-bank financial brands, though that may soon change as other challengers gain ground, writes Hannu Verkasalo, founder and CEO of Verto Analytics.

Millennial purchases are fueled by convenience, efficiency and value, and with the recent announcement of Instant Pick Up, Amazon has taken another step in the right direction, writes Gil Don, CEO of Splitit.

Passwords are widely distrusted for verifying identity and have been blamed for more than 80% of data breaches, but with biometrics and other approaches not yet ready for broad adoption, many innovators are rushing in to fill the gap.

E-commerce cross-border payments provider dLocal has updated its platform in India, enabling global e-merchants to accept and remit payments through all local methods and target the mobile consumer in the country.

Payments are getting more complex as business gets more global, adding channels and expanding ways to sell. Part of the strategy at the matchmaker crowdSPRING is to find a match of its own: AliExpress, Alibaba's online marketplace. It’s also considering a foray into virtual currency.