December, 2020

• 1 December

  It’s Now for Buy Now, Pay Later

  

  This versatile point-of-sale option is growing fast. Is it threatening credit and debit card traffic? Many merchants can’t say no to buy now, pay later (BNPL) options, which are arriving in force as retailers and consumers gear up for a holiday shopping season that may be busier than usual. Though …

November, 2020

• 2 November

  Poised for Huge Growth—And Potential Trouble

  

  The rapidly rising payoff for acquirers from the state-by-state legalization of online sport betting comes with flashing caution signs. Online sports betting has become a big business since the Supreme Court in 2018 opened the door for states to legalize it (“The Sporting Chance,” July 2018). But now it’s poised …

October, 2020

• 1 October

  ‘It Was Actually a Blip’

  

  Portfolio valuations proved they aren’t immune to the effects of the coronavirus. But brokers say merchant books have fared far better than many feared. As the coronavirus pandemic drags on, its effects on portfolio valuations—especially valuations attached to portfolios with high concentrations of hospitality merchants—are beginning to stabilize. And buyers …

September, 2020

• 1 September

  Is This the New Online Normal?

  

  As merchants, consumers, and payments providers wrestle with the Covid-19 pandemic, one thing is certain: Online fraudsters are as relentless—and opportunistic—as ever. If little else, this year has proven that forecasts are grounded only in the moment they are made. No one could have foreseen in 2019 the impact of …

July, 2020

• 1 July

  Stemming the Tide

  

  Yet another unwelcome effect of the Covid-19 pandemic is a wave of chargebacks. What can acquirers, merchants, and issuers do to limit the damage? An increasingly serious manifestation of the economic damage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic is chargebacks, and plenty of them. With the outbreak freezing the economy for …

June, 2020

• 1 June

  Putting It All Together

  

  One of the great lessons for merchants coming through the Covid-19 experience is that one sales channel is not enough. As the impact of the shelter-in-place rules and the closing of non-essential businesses rippled through the economy, one payments technology began to grow in importance: integrated payments. And it took …
• 1 June

  Damage Control

  

  The Covid-19 pandemic threatens to send merchant acquirers’ attrition rates through the roof. How bad is the damage, and how bad will it get? Covid-19 is on the loose, and behind it The Grim Reaper of Retail has come calling. Brick-and-mortar merchants already were struggling with the e-commerce onslaught, but …

May, 2020

• 1 May

  Acquirers in Survival Mode

  

  In the midst of the Covid-19 crisis, here’s how payments providers are coping as merchants contend with shelter-at-home policies and other restrictions. The word that looks to define 2020 is “pandemic.” Efforts to curtail the infection rate from the new coronavirus have included government orders to shelter-in-place and observe social-distancing …
• 1 May

  Payments in a Time of Plague

  

  The Covid-19 pandemic is overhauling payment habits, and hence payment technology. How long-lasting are the changes? On 9/11, when terrorists attacked New York City and Washington, D.C., they commandeered passenger airliners and used them as flying bombs. Nobody knew in the heat of the moment how many more might be …

April, 2020

• 1 April

  A Cloudy Forecast

  

  It seems there’s nothing hazy about the future of cloud-based POS. What’s driving the trend? Cloud computing is a part of daily life. Whether it’s banking online, making a P2P payment, streaming movies on a smart television, or sending an email (think Gmail), most software applications, data storage, and networking …