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When the Plenti loyalty program—announced Wednesday by American Express Co.—debuts this spring, it will mark the first time a U.S. consumer-rewards program on a national scale enabled points to be earned and used across multiple merchants. The inaugural group of merchants includes AT&T, ExxonMobil Corp., Macy’s Inc., Nationwide Mutual Insurance …
Read More »Shoppers Favor Retailers That Accept Mobile Wallets—And Punish Those That Don’t
By John Stewart While big-time companies like Apple Inc., Google Inc., and Samsung Electronics Co. prepare to battle it out for control of mobile payments, evidence is emerging that consumers may be strongly inclined to reward merchants that accept mobile wallets and punish those that don’t. Some 30% of consumers …
Read More »Costco’s Post-AmEx Credit Card Plans Include Visa but Exclude MasterCard
By Jim Daly The big warehouse retailer Costco Wholesale Corp. announced Monday an agreement with Citigroup Inc. to replace its current cobranded card from American Express Co. next April with a Citi-issued Visa credit card. But Costco also announced a companion agreement with Visa Inc. under which other Visa-branded credit …
Read More »Paydiant Could Provide PayPal With the Elusive Key to the Point of Sale
When it comes to general-purpose mobile payments, PayPal Inc. is far and away the leader, having posted $46 billion in mobile charge volume last year. But recently, the mobile-payments spotlight has been trained on Apple Inc. with its new Apple Pay service, Google Inc. and the suddenly brightening prospects for …
Read More »Heartland Begins a ‘Trusted Dealer Program’ to Bolster Multiple Product Sales
Heartland Payment Systems Inc. is building a point-of-sale system reseller network in hopes it will increase the number of multiple products sold to a single merchant. Announced Friday, the program is part of Heartland Commerce, and signals a shift in Heartland’s selling strategy. The company will no longer use a …
Read More »Consumer Readiness for EMV Is Rising in Wake of Breaches And As Deadline Nears
With the payments industry working against an implementation deadline that’s less than eight months away, networks and issuers are looking more closely at just how ready cardholders are for Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) chip cards. The latest research from MasterCard Inc. indicates some 60% of consumers are now at least aware of …
Read More »Seeking an ‘Integrated Mobile Offer,’ Ingenico Completes Takeover of Roam Data
Point-of-sale terminal maker Ingenico Group now owns all of Roam Data, a mobile POS company it first invested in in 2009. France-based Ingenico says the Roam brand will continue to be used on products, but the company name will be wrapped up into Ingenico. “With 100% of Roam, we will …
Read More »New Verifone mPOS Device, Android Tablet Among Flurry of NRF Announcements
Several payments-industry vendors are making product and services announcements in conjunction with the National Retail Federation’s annual Big Show convention this week in New York. Verifone unveiled the PayWare Mobile e355, a mobile point-of-sale terminal that accepts magnetic stripe, near-field communication (NFC), Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV), and Apple Pay transactions. Available in …
Read More »ISO Merchant Warehouse Rebrands as Cayan in Effort to Better Reflect New Business Focus
Merchant processor Merchant Warehouse announced Monday it has changed its name to Cayan LLC. The 17-year-old Boston-based company’s rebrand takes effect immediately and is reflected on a redesigned Web site that includes a new tag line, “The Payment Possibilities Company.” It will also be promoted at next week’s National Retail …
Read More »Gift Card Sales To Surpass $124 Billion in 2014
Gift cards sales in 2014 will top $124 billion in the United States, but that comes amid slowing growth, says a new report from CEB TowerGroup. The Arlington, Va.-based advisory firm predicts that gift card sales will see annual growth rates from 5% to 6% through 2017, an indication …
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