Point-of-sale

The COVID-19 pandemic was a clear incentive for advancing contactless and digital payment technology — but the systems merchants put in place today could create new problems down the road.

To take on these other forms of contactless payment, the POS must offer the same functionality as stationary cash registers, including card payments, digital receipts, coupon redemption, mobile payment and CRM integration, says GK Software USA's Todd Barstow.

Michael Moeser, Senior Analyst at PaymentsSource, talks to Jess Turner, EVP of consumer and small business solutions at Mastercard, about how consumers are making payments when they're no longer on lockdown but not quite back to the way things used to be.

COVID-19 has accelerated changes in payments behavior that would otherwise have taken years to occur, laying the foundation for global expansion post-pandemic. But for different parts of the world, this digital transformation had very different outcomes.

As more consumers look for alternatives to credit cards, investors are flocking to point of sale credit firms, with Affirm raising a fresh $500 million.

The pandemic has upended many business tasks, creating a rush among processors to expand the digital experience without complicating it.

Verifone has acquired 2Checkout, the Atlanta-based e-commerce payments processor, as Verifone continues to expand its online resources.

For the dozens of technology companies trying to enable shopping without point of sale terminals, making it work in a full-sized store is the path to disruption. But the coronavirus pandemic flipped the script, bringing disruption well before the technology was ready.

The card networks, along with PayPal and Citi, are responding to competition from the likes of Affirm, Afterpay and other "buy now, pay later" lenders. Should traditional credit card lenders be worried?

There is a war brewing in the buy now, pay later (BNPL) market, and Mastercard is working with TSYS to bring in a slew of new players — credit card firms.