Competitive Strategies

On average, U.S. consumers will spend $500 on holiday purchases this season, found the TD Bank Merry Money Holiday Spending Survey. Most consumers could overspend. In the past, 76% of respondents said they overspent their past holiday budgets by an average of $263. Rakuten Marketing said its sales in the …

At a minimum, payment technology should create a path of least resistance for the consumer. Difficulty in settling an outstanding bill means organizations risk missing out on prompt payments. The consumer must be able to move freely between the payment channels they choose. Just because a consumer receives an outstanding …

Merchant processor iPayment Inc. has agreed to acquire Leaders Merchant Services, an independent sales organization that has worked with iPayment since 2004. Terms were not disclosed. Electronics maker SparkFun Electronics developed an app for Android devices that can detect the likely presence of a credit card skimmer commonly found on …

Despite all the talk about mobile payments, online payments, cryptocurrencies, and EMV chip cards, the alternatives to cash still haven’t killed their sworn enemy. In fact, between 2006 and 2016, the growth of currency in circulation matched or exceeded growth in gross domestic product in 40 of 42 nations examined …

Just days before the holiday shopping season begins in earnest, yet another indicator emerges that merchants, especially those selling electronics, should be ready for the onslaught of both legitimate transactions and those perpetrated by criminals. That’s because the recently released Forter/MRC Fraud Attack Index found that attacks against electronics retailers …

Bitcoin keeps rising to new heights, though in fits and starts. The world’s leading cryptocurrency leapt to yet another record high on Sunday to breach the $8,000 level for the first time, sank several hundred dollars on Monday, then sprang back overnight. By Tuesday morning, it was trading above $8,300, …

Bluewater Grill Restaurants, with seven locations in Southern California and Phoenix, has deployed the Rail pay-at-table platform from TableSafe Inc. Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, will continue to attract consumers to stores. A study from Deloitte found that 70% of U.S. consumers plan to shop in a store that …

Micro-investing site Acorns has integrated its service with PayPal Holdings Inc., allowing select PayPal account holders to access their Acorn accounts through PayPal. The service will be expanded to all U.S. PayPal account holders starting early in 2018. Voice-marketing firm Invoca released a report called “The Rise of Voice” that …

Boosted by the addition of debit transactions Sept. 15, same-day automated clearing house transaction volume hit 10 million in October, up 140% from 4.1 million in August, according to ACH governing body NACHA. Total value of the October payments was $9.14 billion, Herndon, Va.-based NACHA reported last week. The value …

Mobile technology has enabled people to be connected virtually anywhere and use their smart phones for pretty much anything, including gaming, photography, GPS navigation, and online shopping for both big and small purchases. However, there is one element of smart-phone technology that isn’t being utilized to its fullest extent. Adoption …