POS and Retail

Shopify has provided merchant cash advance services for the last three years for established online retailers, but newcomers with no transaction history typically were turned away.

Data privacy regulations may be improving, and tech companies may now be forced to be more transparent about their practices, but the fact remains that vast quantities of personally identifying information are already out in the wild, says TRUSTID's Patrick Cox.

Samsung's upcoming XCover Pro phone, which can accept contactless payments without add-on hardware, is the first of what Visa hopes will be many devices capable of natively handling NFC payments.

In the near future, payments will be part of the shopping experience itself. Technology that lets customers pay in the fitting room – or automatically, as they walk out of a store – will likely become an everyday reality, says Wirecard's Susanne Steidl.

By linking your POS to inventory management software, you can easily keep an eye on the amount of product you have and note when it’s time to restock or purchase from your distributors, says Bank of America Merchant Services' Sydney Ivey.

The recent explosion of online shopping tools pointing users to the lowest prices for items — particularly on Amazon — appears to be making the e-commerce giant nervous.

A strong economy in 2020 could lift the small-business card market, which is an important source of lending and payments for entrepreneurs and local merchants.

Banks can remain competitive in a more crowded field by offering attractive rewards through easy-to-navigate, secure microsites, says Informa Financial Intelligence's Gina DeCorla.

Oklahoma lawmakers' decision last month to drop the state's surcharging ban was yet another signal that U.S. merchants have the final say in whether to apply extra charges to credit card transactions to offset interchange fees.

Though many merchants remain wary of alienating their customers with fees, others now see an opportunity to recoup the growing costs associated with accepting plastic.