Retailers

Neither Amazon nor Starbucks could be described as a traditional retailer. But they both use their shared headquarters city as a playground for developing digital and in-store innovations that all merchants and payment companies will have to respond to the years ahead.

The video game industry serves a decidedly digital, tech-savvy audience with a propensity toward digital payments, but has been plagued by inconsistencies in payments to developers and a lack of a consistent rewards program for loyal players.

Working with technology developer Next Retail Concepts, Mastercard has connected to a virtual version of Los Angeles boutique retailer Fred Segal, where users may virtually pick merchandise on the shelves of the iconic store in West Hollywood, explore it from various angles, and make purchases with a discount for using Mastercard.

Instacart will begin separating itself from Whole Foods and eventually no longer let its customers order from the Amazon-owned grocer through its app or website,

Cloud-based point of sale company ShopKeep is in a fierce fintech battle to woo tech hungry restaurants, and has closed a $65 million round of equity and debt financing to bulk up technology and broaden its geographic footprint.

Digital funds transfer provider Ingo Money is launching a new software integration with Visa Direct to allow customers to initiate push-to-card payments.

Amazon and Shopify will likely improve and expand the “last mile” for e-commerce orders, putting the heat on UPS and FedEx, according to Radu Spineanu, co-founder and CEO of Two Tap.

Mastercard and white label payment software company Cardstream are partnering to accelerate the deployment of Mastercard’s Secure Remote Commerce (SRC)-ready Masterpass wallet and its “Pay by Bank” solution.

Fintechs and banks are both pursing the market, which much adjust to handle the larger volume, according to Nufar Segal Bareket, a general manager at Jifiti.

Germany-based Wirecard is working with Google to enable users of Wirecard’s boon mobile app to pay at any French merchant that accepts Google Pay as it becomes available in France.