Competitive Strategies

Discover cardholders might not jet around the country like many American Express cardholders do, but it’s still telling that Discover’s travel spending volume has plunged 99% this month as governmental stay-at-home orders and business closures to control the Covid-19 pandemic chill the economy. The near grounding of travel spending was …

Many payments providers are doing what they can to help merchants. Revel Systems Inc. launched a standalone version of its online-ordering tool and Velocity Merchant Services is working with Womply to help businesses navigate the Paycheck Protection Program. Called Revel Go, the tool from Atlanta-based Revel can be added to …

Payroc LLC said it acquired Gateway Payments LLC, an independent sales organization with merchants primarily along the Gulf of Mexico coast. Terms were not disclosed.Weave Communications Inc., a provider of payments and other services for small businesses, said its Weave Lite tool set will be offered free for 90 days. Weave …

With consumers contending with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, rewards offered by the card networks could take on added importance. Blackhawk Network is counting on that, and has introduced a capability for mobile-phone users to add digital rewards to their Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Samsung Pay wallets. Working …

With the novel coronavirus driving consumers to e-commerce, payments provider Adyen NV posted first-quarter revenue of 135.5 million euros ($146.9 million), up 34% year-over-year.  Volume rose 38% to 67 billion euros ($72.6 billion). Adyen processes payments for companies such as Uber, McDonalds, and Netflix, and also provides gateway services for …

American Express Co. launched “Stand for Small,” a platform of more than 40 companies who have agreed to lend expertise to small businesses impacted by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.The World Bank predicted in a new report that global remittances will fall by about 20% this year because of the economic crisis …

Alphabet Inc.’s chief subsidiary Google revealed Tuesday that merchants can soon have free listings on its Google Shopping tab. No-cost listings will become available in the United States next week and elsewhere before the end of 2020, Bill Ready, president of commerce at Mountain View, Calif.-based Google, said in a …

The nation’s largest issuer of store cards sounded a note of optimism Tuesday as the Covid-19 crisis continued to ravage consumer spending. “Believe it or not, there are deals in the pipeline [with merchants],” said Margaret Keane, chief executive of Synchrony Financial. “We’re not sitting back. We’re highly engaged.” Keane …

Coinqvest launched its enterprise cryptocurrency processing platform. With it, merchants can be paid online in cryptocurrencies and convert them into traditional currencies.The New York City Department of Transportation announced two apps can be used to pay for parking at more than 80,000 metered spots. In addition to the ParkNYC app, which …

It’s well known that Alphabet Inc.’s Google unit wants to offer consumers checking accounts, though that service has yet to launch. But the search-engine giant also reportedly is developing a debit card that would work in concert with its Google Pay mobile-payments service, according to news reports from Silicon Valley. …