POS and Retail

U.S. companies have a leg up on international competition. Yet, many retailers are opting to focus on domestic customer bases, claims Steve Villegas, vice president of partner management at PPRO.

TSYS is responding to growing demand for a lighter and more versatile point of sale with a line of payment tools answering many of the newer merchant needs Square, Clover and Poynt typically provide.

Square has rolled out a software development kit for developers to add payments to their mobile apps, creating an end-to-end solution using only Square’s tools.

It may seem shortsighted, but online retailers need to be laser focused exclusively on what has traditionally worked to maximize online sales, writes Devaraj Southworth, co-founder and CEO of Thirstie.

For several years, PayPal, Square, Adyen and Stripe have dominated the lucrative payments market. Now hundreds of upstarts with names like Bolt, Toast and Due are muscling into the market with their own twist on facilitating commerce between merchants and shoppers.

The country’s largest grocery retailer, Kroger, is partnering with Microsoft to pilot two connected experience stores for a proof of concept, featuring new retail technologies that will eventually be deployed across Kroger stores and be sold to the retail industry.

Cashierless tech startup Standard Cognition has acquired the robotic mapping startup, Explorer.ai, to accelerate the rollout of its autonomous checkout solutions to retailers.

Banks, retailers and technology companies have spent years relentlessly working to replace cash with plastic, digital or mobile alternatives. And cash has hit back hard.

Square Inc. named Activision Blizzard Inc. executive Amrita Ahuja as chief financial officer, replacing Sarah Friar, who stepped down from her role as Jack Dorsey’s No. 2 at the digital-payments company last month.

Blockchain technology will allow players to purchase items or games faster, while ensuring their payments are secure, according to Nicolas Gilot, co-CEO of Ultra.