Mobile Commerce

Not all countries, companies, and persons will suffer equally from inflation in 2023, as Europe will see a decline in economic activity while the U.S. market will experience limited economic growth, forecasts the Mastercard Economics Institute. Food-service provider Sodexo North America’s InReach unit has contracted with payments provider Cantaloupe to upgrade 18,800 vending machiens and …

Digital bill payment has become table stakes for billers as consumers have increasingly gravitated toward paying their bills through mobile and online channels the past two years, according to a recent survey by EngageSmart, a provider of a customer-engagement and payment applications. The study reveals that 50% of respondents say …

Jitters about the economy and the impact of the FTX implosion may have combined to clobber the cryptocurrency market, but new data shows that app downloads peaked as long as a year ago. In fact, downloads of crypto trading apps from the App Store, and Google Play, along with direct …

The messaging app Clickatell added updates to its Chat Commerce Platform, including a new integration of Chat 2 Pay, which allows travel brands to accept payments as part of business messages. The card-issuing platform Marqeta Inc. announced it has integrated Mastercard Track Instant Pay, which enables immediate payment of supplier invoices. The virtual-card platform Extend announced …

Curve OS Ltd. said it secured a deal with Credit Suisse to fund its first $1 billion in installment loans, via its Curve Flex product, in the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States. London-based Curve announced Curve Flex in 2021. A survey from Bango PLC of 2,500 U.S. subscription users found that 65% said …

Vending and unattended payments specialist Cantaloupe Inc. has closed on its $41 million acquisition of Three Square Market, known as 32M, and intends to use it as a springboard for expansion and improved profit margins. Three Square Market, with headquarters in River Falls, Wis., will generate an estimated $19 million …

Digital-currency platform Circle Internet Financial Corp. said it and Concord Acquisition Corp. have agreed to terminate a merger the companies had agreed to in July 2021 and amended in February. Nine-year-old Circle posted its first profit in the third quarter, with net income of $43 million. A 2-year-old U.K.-based e-commerce payments provider called Wamo said …

To counter the rising tide of first-party misuse chargebacks, also known as “friendly fraud,” Chargeback Gurus has introduced ARI, a predictive-analytics engine the company says can identify transactions likely to be disputed by the cardholder, even though the transaction is legitimate. ARI uses artificial intelligence to analyze data gathered from …

Buy now pay later (BNPL) solutions have seen steady growth over the past few years. The lack of regulations and consumer protections have allowed financial institutions to maintain an edge in this product. But for how much longer? BNPL is now threatening the status quo, with 57% of customers saying …

Buy now, pay later provider Splitit Inc. said data from the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping events found that the top spending categories on its platform were electronics, fine jewelry, fitness and outdoors, home furnishings, and health and beauty, based on merchant sales volume. Consumers have hidden bill pay costs of …