POS and Retail

The coronavirus is hitting small businesses hard, slamming one of Square’s core markets just as the payments company got a long-awaited industrial banking license.

Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc. and banks that issue credit cards went on high alert Wednesday when the National Restaurant Association asked President Donald Trump and congressional leaders to cut the so-called swipe fees incurred every time a customer pays with plastic.

It’s a rare occurrence for a business to receive a huge business spike while also shutting parts of the operation, but that’s where the coronavirus has landed Farmstead.

The Australian firm agreed to pay around $1 million in connection with allegations that it broke the law by operating without a license in the nation's largest state.

Amazon.com Inc. suffered a technical glitch on Sunday affecting online grocery orders through its Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh delivery services, which have become lifelines for household essentials for people looking to avoid stores due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Firms such as Afterpay that offer financing to shoppers have been enjoying rapid growth. But their model is under scrutiny from regulators, being mimicked by credit card lenders and faces heightened risks in a downturn.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s parcel and meal delivery arms have returned to pre-coronavirus outbreak staffing levels, the latest example of how China’s largest corporations are getting back to work after Beijing’s entreaty to safeguard economic growth.

In announcing plans to export Just Walk Out to other retailers, Amazon rattled the emerging autonomous checkout industry and raised questions about its ability to amass even more data than it already has about consumer consumption patterns.

The credit card issuer is seeking to rebound following a tumultuous year in which top executives departed and key retail partners declared bankruptcy.

For the past decade, the drive for modern restaurant point-of-sale terminals and software has turned into a highly competitive race seeking new looks and ideas.

Coronavirus, also called Covid-19, is wreaking havoc on the stock market, with a heightened effect on the travel industry. It could also cause a drastic change in payment habits, as consumers shift to digital channels to reduce their risk of infection from handling cash.

The U.K.’s Co-operative Group is creating a new model for online grocery shopping by using its network of convenience stores as local distribution centers.

It’s an odd, and unwelcome, test of new retail technology that allows consumers to shop with minimal interaction with others.

Fiserv completed a PIN on Mobile transaction using only an app on a consumer grade handset, and plans to pilot the technology in Europe and Asia.

Square is adding to its menu of services just as long-established competitors embed expanding payments technology into their own product mix.

The rise in food delivery options is affecting restaurants of all kinds. It's a trend driven by consumers' strong appetite for mobile ordering and payments.

Visa typically adjusts its interchange rates every April and October, but this year it is getting an atypically strong response.

Instead of a live caller engaging in social engineering with a single prospective target, automatic dialers call thousands of people, instructing them to call bogus telephone numbers purported to belong to the IRS, Social Security Administration, or their bank, says The Santa Fe Group's Bob Jones

Magecart attackers steal credit card or bank data directly from the checkout pages on e-commerce websites and resell them on the dark web, says PerimiterX's Ameet Naik.

Bank pilots and 'open banking' are paving the way for rampant adoption, says Fingerprints' Lina Andolf-Orup.