Competitive Strategies

Men have supplanted women as the primary buyers of gift cards, says a report from Blackhawk Network. The shift is attributable to men taking on more household responsibilities, such as shopping and gifting, the report says. Blackhawk has been conducting the survey for nearly a decade. Types of gift cards …

Shopify Inc. merchants looking for a way to add a chatbot with artificial-intelligence capabilities to their Web sites have a new option with the Sendbird Inc. chatbot. San Mateo, Calif.-based Sendbird’s chatbot is used by 4,000 apps, including DoorDash, Noom, and Yahoo Sports. Ottawa, Ontario-based Shopify says the Sendbird AI …

Providing consumers more ways to pay and engage with merchants play key roles in driving consumer purchasing decisions, according to Fiserv Inc.’s Spring 2024 Carat Insights Report. One way for merchants to engage on a deeper level with consumers is to offer apps featuring loyalty and rewards programs and that …

Apple Inc. says iPhone users will be able to send funds to each other by simply holding their iPhones next to each other. It’s a further refinement of Apple’s financial services, which jumped off in 2014 with the launch of Apple Pay. In a video presentation Monday, Apple executives say …

Entrust Corp., a provider of identity technology, on Monday launched its Citizen Identity Orchestration platform, which is aimed at governments’ delivery of public services. The new platform, intended for such functions as benefits delivery, tax filing, health-care access, and border crossings, uses artificial intelligence for identity verification, issuance of digital …

Retailer Michael Kors is getting into the artificial intelligence-powered shopping recommendation business with the adoption of Shopping Muse, a recommendation engine from a Mastercard Inc. company. Developed by Dynamic Yield, a data-personalization platform Mastercard acquired from McDonald’s Corp. in 2022, Shopping Muse employs artificial intelligence to make recommendations and further …

In a major win in the expanding market for digital payments for mass transit, Elavon Inc. said it will support contactless payments for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, the seventh largest U.S. transit system with 45.6 million riders per year, according to the American Public Transportation Association. The new service, …

The U.S. Faster Payments Council released its “Faster Payments and Financial Inclusion” survey report that found that 35% of respondents did not have a faster payments integration but planned to do so. The survey canvassed 88 organizations. Technology firm EvonSys Inc. launched its Evonsys Payments Platform for cross-border transfers. The new service integrates capabilities …

Buy now, pay later provider Affirm Holdings Inc. has expanded its payment options to include Pay in 2 and Pay in 30. The new BNPL options are intended to provide consumers with more flexibility in budgeting their monthly income, the company says. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows …

Banks and credit card companies have launched online services and mobile apps over the years to reinforce ties to their most valuable customers and win new ones. But, in Canada at least, that effort is hitting a brick wall, a series of new reports from J.D. Power indicates. While Canadian …