Competitive Strategies

Hard to believe, but e-commerce is a quarter-century old. Along the way, e-commerce radically changed retailing and payments, and now it’s heading into a future with more growth certain but where payments are more in the background. Visa Inc. this week reported in a blog post that the first e-commerce …

Accenture released its 2019 Cyber Threatscape Report that examines cybercrime operating models and the effects of ransomware.Point-of-sale equipment maker Star Micronics said Square Inc. now supports its mG-Scale products.In a survey of 100 small businesses, installment-payments provider Klarna found that 40% of online retailers said operational size was the biggest barrier to adopting new payment options.Agreement Express …

Apple Inc. says 12 U.S. colleges, with more than 100,000 students, will enable contactless student IDs in Apple Wallet this school year. The students will be able to use their student IDs on iPhones and Apple Watches to enter buildings protected by keycard access, buy meals, and make purchases in college …

With real-time payments in the headlines these days, it’s not surprising payments companies are jumping on the faster-payments bandwagon. But some, like PayPal Holdings Inc., are finding ways to use speedier funds to bolster revenue. PayPal on Monday announced its latest instant-transfer service, this one allowing Venmo users to move …

Repay Holdings Corp. launched its Instant Funding product in Canada. The service uses Visa Inc.’s Visa Direct service to send funds directly to eligible Visa debit and prepaid cards. Repay said Canadian lenders and finance companies can disburse funds electronically and eliminate traditional checks and electronic funds transfer transactions. Repay also …

From cities to stadiums to quick-service restaurants, more and more places are grappling with the idea of going 100% cashless. According to the Pew Research Center, almost a third of Americans have stopped using cash for their typical weekly spending. Even Monopoly, many children’s first interaction with money and the …

Wells Fargo & Co. said former Mastercard Inc. executive Colleen Taylor is joining the bank as head of Wells Fargo Merchant Services, the bank’s merchant-acquiring joint venture with Fiserv Inc. Fiserv took over the operation as part of its acquisition of First Data Corp., which last year reached an agreement with Wells …

Pursuing integrated payments and software developers that facilitate the payment type appears to be paying off for i3 Verticals Inc. The Nashville, Tenn.-based firm said integrated payments accounted for 51% and 49% of its payment volume in the third quarter and nine-month period, respectively. That’s up from 49% in the …

451 Research projects that contactless mobile payments will control less than 2% of U.S. retail sales in 2019, owing to lack of a “measurably better value proposition” for mobile payments vs. cards, as well as other factors.Chase Bank, a unit of JPMorgan Chase & Co., has canceled all credit card debt for …

Ride-sharing leader Uber Technologies Inc. reported Thursday that it’s had some success in reducing payment card acceptance costs, though it didn’t say by how much. “We continue to make good progress,” Nelson Chai, San Francisco-based Uber’s chief financial officer, said on a late-afternoon conference call with analysts to review the …