First Data Corp. released its Holiday Insights dashboard, which shows real-time U.S. holiday spending trends, such as total spend percentage increase, today’s most active categories with average ticket and total transactions, and regional payment volume. To date, it indicates retail spending from Thanksgiving through Black Friday increased 6.4% year-over-year. Cardfree Inc., …
Read More »Mobile Commerce Flourished on Black Friday At the Expense of Desktop Activity
More consumers took to their smart phones this past Friday, known as Black Friday, at the expense of shopping online with a desktop computer, finds Akamai Technologies, a Web-services company. Consumers using mobile devices accounted for 57.6% of online shopping on Nov. 23, compared with 35.9% for those using desktop …
Read More »Mitek CFO Decides to Stay and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 11/27/18
Mobile remote deposit capture software provider Mitek Systems Inc. reported that chief financial officer Jeffrey C. Davison, who in August said he would resign effective Nov. 30, has changed his mind and won’t quit. Mitek’s board of directors accepted the rescission. Long-time chief executive Jim DeBello recently left and has …
Read More »Consumers’ Small Business Saturday Spending Rose 38% This Year, AmEx Reports
After slipping the previous two years, spending at independent shops and restaurants jumped 38% to an estimated $17.8 billion on Small Business Saturday, American Express Co. and the National Federation of Independent Business trade group reported Monday. AmEx founded the Saturday-after-Thanksgiving promotion in 2010 to highlight locally owned businesses in …
Read More »Secret Service Targets Skimmers on Fuel Pumps and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 11/26/18
Worldpay Inc. and Paysafe Group announced a partnership to establish a payments platform for the U.S. online-gaming and sports-betting sector. The U.S. Secret Service lit up Operation Deep Impact last week in a nationwide initiative to find and remove credit and debit card skimming devices on fuel pumps. Following a …
Read More »Fuel Dispenser Vendor Offers Chevron, Texaco Dealers EMV Update Program
Chevron and Texaco fuel retailers have another option when considering EMV upgrades at the pump with the debut of a Gilbarco Veeder-Root program. Launched this week, the program enables these convenience-store operators to trade in their current non-EMV-compliant equipment from their pumps for the Passport POS service from Greensboro, N.C.-based …
Read More »Not All Financial Institutions Are on Board the Mobile-Banking Train
Payments experts may think mobile technology is crucial for banks and other financial-service providers, but it turns out a significant chunk of financial institutions don’t agree. Fourteen percent of respondents in a survey this summer of banks and credit unions said they not only don’t offer mobile payments and other …
Read More »Pineapple Payments Links With Software Vendor and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 11/21/18
Processor Pineapple Payments said it is offering merchant services on the platform of OnPay Solutions, a provider of accounts-payable and accounts-receivable automation services for businesses. First Data Corp. launched its Clover Mini and Clover Flex smart point-of-sale terminals in Argentina. Elo, a bank-owned payment network in Brazil, agreed to work with …
Read More »Consumers’ Comfort Level With Big-Ticket Mobile Purchases Grows, Comscore Says
As merchant acquirers prepare for an expected tide of holiday purchase transactions, they might notice that more big-ticket spending will be originating this year from mobile devices, according to Internet metrics firm Comscore Inc. Purchases of big-ticket items, which Reston, Va.-based Comscore defines as those costing more than $500, “hit …
Read More »Online Fraud Losses Will More Than Double in Five Years, Juniper Forecasts
Payments companies and retailers have a sobering forecast to ponder for online fraud. By 2023, global online fraud losses from e-commerce, airline ticketing, money transfer, and banking services will grow from $22 billion projected in 2018 to $48 billion, says Juniper Research in a new report. Thanks to the proliferation …
Read More »