Retailers

Do the Black Friday and Cyber Monday retail holidays still have meaning in a world where sales promotions are perennial and e-commerce is embedded in nearly every form of digital communication? According to data, they do, and more now than ever.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s $2.9 billion deal to buy a slice of China’s largest hypermart chain pits it against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in the world’s largest retail arena.

After years of watching shoppers flit from store to store in search of the biggest deals, U.S. retailers are hoping their attempts at building some loyalty will finally pay off this holiday season.

By employing a multilayered approach to mobile security that combines device authentication with the latest user identification measures, retailers can establish maximum trust not only with their users, but also in the device being used to transact with them, writes Michael Lynch, chief strategy officer for InAuth.

Merchants’ fates are inextricably linked to what customers want. So, as they continue to embrace frictionless experiences, merchants are under mounting pressure to deliver or risk losing out, writes Joseph Daly, COO of North American Payment Processing for Paysafe.

The advent of blockchain technology may prove to be disruptive to traditional credit reporting agencies by decentralizing data aggregation and allowing consumers to take ownership of their data through a personalized wallet they could share with prospective lenders, writes Alexander Koles, CEO, founder and managing director of Evolve Capital Partners.

U.K. startup Flux has signed up a few banks for its platform that delivers real-time receipts to mobile banking apps. The problem is that few retailers are interested, and experts say that’s not likely to change any time soon.

One of the risks of omnichannel shopping is showrooming, where consumers browse products in person at a store but purchase online from a rival at a better price. This problem has existed for years in the brick-and-mortar world, and the maturation of digital shopping has caused showrooming to spread to more retailers.

There's talk of a bubble, but cryptocurrency creates value in different ways, so traditional market analysis doesn’t work, writes Mariam Nishanian, a representative for Dentacoin.

The most popular P-to-P schemes such as Venmo are still linked to an underlying payment card, meant to benefit “pull” payment incumbents, according to RPGC's Rene Pelegero.