Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
• A survey released by RestaurantOwner.com, a resource enterprise for independent restaurant owners, found that the average cost of a restaurant POS system is $13,344, compared with $18,000 in 2012. Only 10% of the 1,190 respondents said they use pay-at-the-table devices, and only 31% used EMV-compliant systems.
• Restaurant Brands International, parent company of the Burger King and Tim Hortons chains, plans to release a smart-phone app this spring in Canada with an order-ahead and pay feature.
• Square Inc. will market its point-of-sale hardware and software to small-business clients of credit unions through an arrangement with CU4Business, a technology and marketing platform that helps credit unions offer solutions to established and startup businesses.
• Target Corp. plans to add payment features to one or more of its mobile apps later this year, a top executive with the discount-store chain told Recode; it’s unclear if payments functions will be added to Target’s main mobile app, its Cartwheel coupon app, or both.
• Merchant processor First American Payment Systems L.P. is teaming up with VetOfficeSuite.com, an online veterinary practice-management system, to offer integrated payment services to veterinarians.
• National Retail Solutions announced it is marketing its point-of-sale terminals for grocery stores through Jetro, a grocery wholesaler. The devices include cashier- and customer-facing screens and can show ads and promotions during the transaction.
• Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, said to be Scotland’s largest regional transport partnership, will be the first to pilot a mobile transit-ticketing solution based on host card emulation and offered by ticketing-software provider Rambus Ecebs. The pilot will be managed by Nevis Technologies, a joint venture between Rambus Ecebs and SPT, and will feature a ticket wallet service and ticketing app.
• Zoho Corp., a provider of cloud-based business applications, launched Zoho Checkout, a tool that allows businesses to set up a checkout page to accept one-time and recurring online payments. The tool is compliant with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard and integrates with Stripe, WePay, and Razorpay for cross-border payments.
• NACHA, the governing body for the automated clearing house system, said Commerce Bank, a unit of Commerce Bancshares Inc., joined the organization as a direct financial-institution member.
