POS and Retail

Mark Horwedel, the outgoing Merchant Advisory Group CEO, wasn't always on the merchants' side. Through much of the 1970s through 1990s, his career path placed him firmly in the world of bankers.

Consumers are already in shopping mode, so retailers that focus on personalized and targeted offerings, and promotional campaigns around Prime Day can all reap the rewards of the Prime Day halo effect, according to Tom Caporaso, CEO of Clarus Commerce.

Under its new chargeback rules, Visa retired one of the chargeback codes that merchants almost always lost — "transaction not recognized," formerly listed as Chargeback Reason Code 75.

To make informed decisions about fraud prevention, merchants must understand the current fraud landscape, customer expectations, and the risks and rewards associated with internal and external fraud prevention approaches, writes Bernardo Lustosa, partner, co-founder and COO of ClearSale.

Multifactor authentication is table stakes in today's breach-heavy environment. Falling short of that standard creates a dangerously high threat, according to David Vergara, head of security product marketing for OneSpan.

Within hours of learning about the breach, Brinker International, parent company of the Chili’s chain, issued a news release, website notice and social media advisories informing consumers and other interested parties of the incident, writes John Gunn, CMO of OneSpan.

Businesses that stick with the single gateway strategy will eventually find themselves challenged to grow with customer demands, as well as expand globally. As businesses grow, multiple payment processors are not only preferred, but required, writes Krish Subramanian, CEO and co-founder of Chargebee.

A few early adopters — mostly restaurants — have gone cashless, but many merchants have concluded that cash must remain on their menu of payment options.

Since blockchain technology is based on the core principle of decentralization, it provides an opportunity to break through the multiple middleman fees with an alternative low-fee digital payments network, writes Sarthak Moghe, CEO of TillBilly.

The payment landscape is highly regional, based on historic, economic, technical and political factors. Top payment methods in Europe, or even Southeast Asia, are generally unheard of in many other parts of the world, according to Steve Villegas, vice president of partner management for PPRO.

Attempts to legislate or regulate innovative payments treat consumers, who have affirmatively selected to use prepaid accounts or some other emerging access device to access their money, much differently than consumers who have decided to open a traditional bank account with an associated debit card, writes Brian Tate, president and CEO of the NBPCA.

The Prime Day event is also a chance for Amazon to showcase a new range of devices and payment options — and to sell those devices at a discount to get them into more people's homes.

Retailers must decide if they will heed this call and do the right thing by investing in the security we need today and the innovation of tomorrow, contends Jeff Tassey, executive director of the Electronic Payments Coalition.

Due to regulations that are designed to thwart money laundering, anyone attempting to transact on a global scale will encounter a patchwork of complex laws and local requirements that make payments anything but borderless, writes Brandon Spear, president of MSTS.

Since Amazon Go's announcement, there has been a rush to duplicate the company's cashierless store concept without the same level of tech investment. The latest competitors are focused on the cameras that identify items as consumers take them off of the shelves.

FundKite executives watched the small-business lending sector evolve — and determined that the trend of mobile point of sale providers offering loans and cash advances was limiting the market.

Restaurant point of sale and back-office management provider Toast has received $115 million in Series D funding that the company plans use to develop technology and expand its market.

Once regarded as a safer option for consumers, BOPIS (buy online and pick up in store) has now joined the ranks of targets that cybercriminals are learning to exploit. It comes down to correctly identifying the shopper, writes Ryan Wilk, vice president of customer success at NuData Security.

Paul Galant will leave the CEO post at Verifone in the next few months, following a tenure in which he helped diversify and automate Verifone's merchant acquiring business and led a recovery from a series of strategic and economic missteps.

All service providers, even those with a strong security posture, are only as secure as the Home Depots, LinkedIns and Equifaxes of the world, argues George Avetisov, chief executive of HYPR.