American Express Co. launched “Stand for Small,” a platform of more than 40 companies who have agreed to lend expertise to small businesses impacted by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.The World Bank predicted in a new report that global remittances will fall by about 20% this year because of the economic crisis …
Read More »Google Dangles Free Listings for Merchants on Its Google Shopping Tab
Alphabet Inc.’s chief subsidiary Google revealed Tuesday that merchants can soon have free listings on its Google Shopping tab. No-cost listings will become available in the United States next week and elsewhere before the end of 2020, Bill Ready, president of commerce at Mountain View, Calif.-based Google, said in a …
Read More »Synchrony Sounds Notes of Cautious Optimism As the Pandemic Takes Its Toll
The nation’s largest issuer of store cards sounded a note of optimism Tuesday as the Covid-19 crisis continued to ravage consumer spending. “Believe it or not, there are deals in the pipeline [with merchants],” said Margaret Keane, chief executive of Synchrony Financial. “We’re not sitting back. We’re highly engaged.” Keane …
Read More »Coinqvest Debuts Crypto Processing Service and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 4/21/20
Coinqvest launched its enterprise cryptocurrency processing platform. With it, merchants can be paid online in cryptocurrencies and convert them into traditional currencies.The New York City Department of Transportation announced two apps can be used to pay for parking at more than 80,000 metered spots. In addition to the ParkNYC app, which …
Read More »Airlines Urged To Have Payments Options Ready Once Pandemic Restrictions Ease
Nearly empty commercial airline flights mean a lot less tickets being purchased. This result of efforts to tamp down the Covid-19 infection packs a wallop for the travel industry. But, the time can be put to use taking care of formerly delayed payment projects and preparing for the resumption of …
Read More »eBay Payments Expands and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 4/20/20
In an update, eBay Inc. said it will expand its managed-payments platform later this year to Australia and Canada. The platform, which funnels payments to a variety of processors through a gateway provided by Adyen, has processed more than $2 billion so far for more than 25,000 sellers in the United States, …
Read More »Yiftee Adds Facebook And Instagram Promotion to Support Digital Gift Cards for Local Merchants
Among payment devices, gift cards are unique in that they can promote a business as well as enable payments at the store or online. That’s an edge at a time of a pandemic, and now technology platforms that support digital gift cards are leveraging that advantage. Yiftee Inc. late on …
Read More »FreedomPay Adds Google Pay Support and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 4/17/20
Payments provider FreedomPay has added support for Google Pay, enabling Google Pay users to make e-commerce payments in Android apps and in Web browsers. This can be done on a merchant’s Web site regardless of browser or operating system or within an Android app, with FreedomPay securely integrating to the Google Payments …
Read More »Stripe, Prepaid Card Providers Try to Capitalize on Pandemic-Spawned Opportunities
They say that in every crisis there’s an opportunity. E-commerce merchant processor Stripe Inc. and several providers of prepaid accounts think they’ve found some in the Covid-19 pandemic sweeping the globe. San Francisco-based Stripe announced Thursday it had raised another $600 million in an extension of its Series G funding …
Read More »Moderation in Sales Trends Emerges in E-Commerce and Among Small Businesses
Two reports analyzing sales at e-commerce merchants and small businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic indicate moderation in some categories may be happening. Many categories among e-commerce merchants moved a few percentage points for the week of April 7-13, according to the Covid-19 Weekly Pulse Report for E-commerce from San Jose, …
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