Marketing

The holiday shopping season may be coming to a close, but mashups between mobile-wallet providers, merchants, payment card networks, and card issuers are likely to continue indefinitely as all groups seek more transaction volume from consumers. Apple Inc. has been active this holiday season. In one promotion, Apple is offering …

Shares of the small merchant processor Net Element Inc. surged more than 200% Wednesday morning, apparently for no other reason than the company announced it was creating a business unit to pursue opportunities in the nascent blockchain industry. At about 11:30 a.m. Eastern time, Miami-based Net Element’s stock was priced …

Whether he intended to or not, Ken Chenault may well have touched off a debate about what constitutes the ideal governance structure for a global payments network. Chenault, who will retire early next year as chairman and chief executive of American Express Co., charged this week that his two big …

Target Brands Inc. finally unveiled its long-rumored mobile-payments service. Announced Monday, Wallet resides in the Target app for iOS and Android devices. Consumers can only enroll a Target RedCard, available as a debit or credit card, in the app. Target gift card enrollment is coming, too, the company says. To …

The consumer shift to online shopping on Thanksgiving and the following Friday, known as Black Friday, continues to increase, now accounting for 29% of shopping on these two days compared with 25% a year ago, finds research from First Data Corp. Based on data from transactions at 1.1 million brick-and-mortar …

Early reports about consumer spending over the long Thanksgiving weekend indicate that merchant processors serving both brick-and-mortar and online merchants can expect more payment volume this year than last. With CyberMonday, the Monday after Thanksgiving, now in full swing, the outlook for online sales is strong if a report from …

Mobile technology has enabled people to be connected virtually anywhere and use their smart phones for pretty much anything, including gaming, photography, GPS navigation, and online shopping for both big and small purchases. However, there is one element of smart-phone technology that isn’t being utilized to its fullest extent. Adoption …

E-commerce platform BigCommerce Pty Ltd. announced a new app for its client merchants that allows them to offer customers credit, access working capital, and glean marketing insights through PayPal Holdings Inc.’s services. BigCommerce clients using the service will be able to include a standalone PayPal Credit button on their e-commerce …

It’s the time of year when the mind turns to gift-giving, and now there’s an alternative to the mundane gift card. Amazon.com Inc. last week received a patent for a new type of digital card that allows the recipient to buy anything that falls within so-called gift rules set by …

Online marketplace eBay Inc. will add business-to-business gift cards from Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. to its roster of products, Blackhawk announced Wednesday. The expansion—Blackhawk already provides other gift card services to eBay—will help the marketplace with its B2B sales, Blackhawk says. Now, businesses can order eBay gift cards to reward …