E-Commerce

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 …

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 …

U.S. payment volume growth was still in negative territory in May thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, but the picture was brighter than it was in April, Visa Inc. reported late Monday. “In May, total U.S. payments volume declined 5% year-over-year, a 13 percentage point (ppt) improvement over April,” Visa said …

Konnect Solutions Inc. introduced a mobile-payments service for restaurants that allows customers to pay inside or in drive-throughs by choosing the restaurant’s local WiFi wireless access point to view a menu, place an order, and access the restaurant’s point-of-sale system. They can pay on their phone or use options offered by …

Mobile devices have captured more than 50% of online purchase transactions in many large countries, according to new research findings from comScore Inc. Mobile wallets, however, still account for only a minority of total mobile purchases. Reston, Va.-based comScore, which researches Internet usage, says mobile’s share of online transactions rose …

Fully 25% of U.S. merchants that accept payment cards experienced a drop of 56% or more in card volume in April compared with February, finds a new study from The Strawhecker Group. After analyzing billions of transactions from more than 1 million card-accepting merchants across the United States, the Omaha, …

Visa Inc. appointed Chris Newkirk as chief strategy officer, a newly created position in which he will lead strategic planning for Visa overall and work with Visa’s regional teams. Newkirk, who will report to chairman and CEO Al Kelly, comes to Visa from Capital One Financial Corp., where he held a …