Retailers

The technology company's major projects over the past couple of years have included a diversification to serve merchants' cross-channel shopping and payment needs, adding advanced ATM technology in Europe and upgrading hardware to compete with rivals such as Square.

Localized industries that provide local services are a great fit for the blockchain model, argues F. Mark Kosierowski, finance and insurance adviser at the Dentacoin Foundation.

Brands now have a wealth of eco-friendly card material options available to them and the right choice will serve as a convenient reminder to consumers that green values run through every area of their business, writes Andrew Toon, head of retail at Thames Technology.

The Fed's catalog lays the foundations for an invoice standard to accelerate the adoption of electronic invoicing by U.S. businesses, and boosts interoperability by avoiding the myriad standards found in Europe, writes Roger Hatfield, vice president of North America for CloudTrade.

As gas stations add EMV-chip card acceptance at the pump, they will also find themselves rebuilding systems for loyalty programs and special offers that were reliant on their older hardware.

Loyalty programs should enhance your brand through all your customer-facing marketing. Macy’s Star Rewards is all over their social media, stores and supporting materials. Plenti doesn’t say anything about the Macy’s brand. It only enhances the Plenti brand, writes Tom Caporaso, CEO of Clarus Commerce.

Amazon.com Inc. has looked at the possibility of expanding its retail footprint by acquiring some locations from bankrupt Toys “R” Us Inc., according to people with knowledge of the situation.

Throughout the “user journey” from shopping to payment, a consumer can make different decisions without leaving the digital environment, whether through his mobile, his computer, or a digital assistant such as Amazon Echo or Google Home, writes Ignasi Barri, who works on business development, innovation and digital transformation at GFT IT Consulting.

Google has rolled out a new program for merchants to help them battle Amazon’s dominance by routing consumers’ product searches across various channels and devices into a single Google-hosted checkout.

Retailers need to closely monitor new digital wallet trends, like Google Pay, to prioritize the most popular payment instruments to their customers during the purchase process, writes Rahul Shah, senior vice president of Global Delivery & Customer Success at Applause.