Competitive Strategies

Fifty-nine percent of all respondents to a survey by CouponFollow LLC, a provider of discount codes for online shoppers, are doing more online shopping as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, and that jumps to 65% when looking just at the Gen-Z generation.A technology startup called BellyMelly launched a food-ordering app that lets …

Despite tentative signs of an economic recovery from the coronavirus-induced depression, some experts are forecasting a gloomy outlook for store closures as the year plays out and merchants struggle with debt loads and a consumer shift to e-commerce. At least 20,000, and as many as 25,000, stores will likely shut …

Paysafe Group has big ambitions for its Skrill financial products in the United States. Monday’s U.S. launch of the Skrill Money Transfer service is but the first step of a broader U.S. expansion for Skrill, says Lorenzo Pellegrino, a Paysafe executive. The free money-transfer service followed January’s debut of the …

Independent sales organization VizyPay LLC launched a cash-discount app for Fiserv Inc.’s Clover point-of-sale systems; the app, an extension of VizyPay’s cash-discount program, is available in the Clover App Market.MoneyGram International Inc. reported a doubling of its digital-transaction volume in May from May a year ago. Growth in this category in the first …

Total U.S. retail sales, including auto and fuel, will drop 10.5%, to $4.894 trillion in 2020, a total not seen since 2016, forecasts eMarketer Inc. That’s sharper than the 8.2% slump in 2009, in the midst of that recession more than 10 years ago. E-commerce, however, is the bright spot. …

The economy is slowly thawing from its Covid-19 freeze-up, but many card-accepting merchants are struggling with more chargebacks stemming from canceled trips, non-delivery of goods, or other reasons. And some of them also are dealing with demands from their merchant acquirers for more cash to fund reserve accounts. Payments and …

Fearing Covid-19, consumers are less likely to use any method to make a payment in a store these days, but 20% say they have used a smart phone or smart watch do so in the past week, no change from a year ago, even though fewer say they have used a debit …

Investors appear eager to buy stocks of payment-processing companies as evidenced Thursday by Shift4 Payments Inc. pricing its initial public offering at $23 per share, nearly 10% above the high end of the $19 to $21 range it had expected just days earlier. Shift4’s shares opened late Friday morning on …

More evidence that consumers are finally adopting contactless payments emerged  as Cardknox, a payment gateway, noted a 150% increase in contactless payment use from just from November to April. Announced Thursday, the increase, albeit lacking volume details, indicates consumers’ mindfulness about reducing physical contact with point-of-sale terminals. Cardknox said some of …

The U.S. Faster Payments Council’s network committee released a white paper on faster payments interoperability.MoneyGram International Inc. said it has agreed with Al Rajhi Bank, said to be the largest Islamic bank in the world, and its remittance unit, Tahweel al Rajh, to offer money transfers in Saudi Arabia.IBS Software, which serves …