Mobile Commerce

Retail sales, excluding the automotive and gasoline categories, grew 3% in the Oct. 11 to Dec. 24 period year-over-year, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse. E-commerce sales volume grew 49% in the same period compared to the year-ago period.Some Walmart stores in north Alabama stopped accepting credit cards when the stores’ Internet service failed owing …

The payments industry operates on a continuum of varying degrees of politicization, imposed and self-imposed. For maximizing value, less is better. Increased politicization will challenge the payments industry in 2021. U.S. regulators have already exercised enormous discretionary power over payments, sometimes lawlessly. Hatched by the Department of Justice in 2013, …

Just as businesses are fast-tracking their efforts to accept digital payments as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, so too are houses of worship. Pushpay Holdings Ltd., a Redmond, Wash.-based independent sales organization, says the number of churches using its donor-management system is growing rapidly. While churches were already adopting …

NCR Corp. said Big Y Foods Inc., with 85 New England locations, selected the NCR Emerald point-of-sale system for its checkouts.With the pandemic shutting down casinos, gambling is moving online, where the volume of wagers is expected to nearly double to $92.9 billion in 2023 from $59 billion this year, Statista forecasts.Payments provider Paysafe …

The confluence of digital payments and economic hardship during the Covid-19 pandemic has led another major supermarket chain to offer SNAP EBT acceptance through its mobile app and on its Web site for curbside pickup and home-delivery orders. H-E-B, with 329 stores in Texas and another 55 in Mexico, said …

Bill payment provider Plastiq launched cash payments, which allows users to make any payment through a linked bank account. Plastiq already enables bill payment via credit cards.InComm Payments has launched an App Store card in Taiwan in partnership with Apple Inc. The cards are being sold through 9,500 7-Eleven and FamilyMart stores on …

Card-not-present transactions continue to grow at financial institutions that use PSCU, a credit union service organization. In its weekly report released Monday, PSCU said CNP accounted for 55.5% of credit card purchase volume and 47.9% of transactions for the week ending Dec. 13. For debit, CNP represented 43.9% of purchase …

Mega-merger fever hasn’t subsided in the payments industry. A combination of FIS Inc. and Global Payments Inc., which have reportedly broken off talks to merge in a deal that could be valued at $70 billion, would represent a continued push for yet more economies of scale in a business whose …

Fast-food chain Burger King is depositing $1 into random Venmo accounts to promote the chain’s $1 Your Way Menu, which features all items at a price of $1. Venmo is a peer-to-peer payments provider owned by PayPal Holdings Inc.Blackhawk Network said it has added a capability to order gift cards for curbside pickup …

A new report finds that debit card use is gaining favor among consumers compared to credit cards immediately following the national election in November. That’s according to The Future of Money Report 2020 from Logica Research. “This unprecedented year has uncovered contrasts between challenges and opportunities in the world as …