POS and Retail

The digital revolution has not been kind to independent sales organizations and others in the merchant acquiring market, which has seen its long-standing business model upended by the mobile point of sale and other new technologies.

I’d like to suggest there is one more bubble which has yet to be called out, but is nevertheless pretty obvious to a handful of payments professionals who don’t practice the art of denial or are not paid to cover up the obvious symptoms. It’s the payments bubble.

Malaysian remittance company Metro Money Exchange has selected Dragonfly Fintech, a Singapore-based blockchain technology provider, to power its remittance business.

South African mobile payments provider iKhokha, which launched its Edge mobile card reader two years ago, this month introduced merchant cash advance services for retailers using its app for smartphones and tablets.

The term real-time payments is a slight misnomer. It focuses the industry and the market on the outcome instead of the input.

Tablet-based point-of-sale provider Appetize has landed the contract to provide terminals at the new U.S. Bank Stadium in downtown Minneapolis, where games for the NFL Minnesota Vikings, and other special events will take place.

The American payments industry is slowly, painstakingly inching its way toward faster payments. Not real-time payments, necessarily, mind you – but faster payments.

Visa Inc. appealed to the public as it responds to Walmart Stores Inc.’s decision to stop accepting the network’s cards in Canada, accusing the retailer of “unfairly dragging” millions of shoppers into private negotiations over card fees.

Ally Financial has introduced its first credit card, as the online bank continues to add products to complement its staple car loans and online bank.

Despite some early success, it can’t be ignored that there are still many merchants that cannot accept EMV chip cards.

A new assault on the major card brands over debit transaction routing got a boost this week when Home Depot sued Visa and MasterCard, alleging the card brands are pushing for the more expensive signature debit routing.

Merchants and cardholders alike have been challenged by the perceived additional time to complete the EMV transaction. These concerns pushed both Visa and MasterCard to create a response to improve the speed of transacting: Visa's Quick Chip and MasterCard's M/Chip Fast.

Caffe Ladro's had an online store for years, but it's never been as important as it is today, as the Seattle chain faces competitors — including the notoriously tech-savvy Starbucks — that have stretched the limits of how to sell coffee online and through mobile devices.

To survive and thrive in the rapidly evolving post-magnetic stripe landscape, U.S. merchants may do well to look to Brazil – a flourishing e-commerce market that completed its EMV liability shift in 2011.

TSYS Managed Services is now a wholly owned unit of Total System Services.

On the surface, Walmart Canada's decision to stop accepting Visa credit cards in protest of its fees comes across as simply another conflict between the giant retailer and the card network. But it's setting the stage for something bigger.

Subway is reimagining how ordering, payments and marketing tie together at its sandwich shops. It's in the process of launching a new division called Subway Digital, which will pool the expertise of specialists in technology, marketing and operations rather than give full rein to any one of those disciplines.

With everything they need right at their fingertips, millennials are having a major influence on a rapidly evolving consumer landscape.

JPMorgan Chase has yet to launch its Chase Pay wallet app, but it's lining up some formidable allies. The wallet's underlying technology was years in the making, giving Chase an edge in winning merchant partners while tapping into a sizable consumer base.

It’s incredibly important to take the time to learn how to properly execute a new venture, especially one as complex and valuable as omnichannel. Unfortunately, the clock is ticking for many retailers..