Mobile Commerce

When it comes to making a purchase, who doesn’t use a credit or debit card? Most of the world, that’s who. While paying with a credit card is standard in the United States and much of the Western world, that’s definitely not the global norm. It’s estimated that less than …

Commerce platform Shopify Inc. has released a refreshed point-of-sale appliance and suite of features. Announced Monday, the revised Shopify POS system is a tablet set on a stand with additional software capabilities. Among the new features is mobile checkout that enables payment acceptance in store or at curbside, an especially …

The three months ended March 31 were an eventful time for Apple Inc., as they were for most companies, but unlike many the company managed to largely contain the damage wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic. “We’ve seen our products take on renewed interest” in the wake of Covid-19 and the …

E-commerce sites have been beneficiaries of shelter-at-home policies, and on Wednesday eBay Inc. indicated its marketplace has been no exception. But growth was tempered by a downdraft in classified listings and a widening trend toward state Internet sales taxes, the company said. Meanwhile, eBay’s venture into running payments for sellers …

Mastercard Inc. managed to remain profitable in the first quarter as the Covid-19 pandemic began to sweep the world, and its volume and transaction data for April indicate a possible bottoming out of the steep decline in consumer and business spending. U.S. dollar volume switched over Mastercard’s network in the …

Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been much talk about managing exposure in stores and other public places with technology such as contactless payments. But now a company has launched mobile technology to help protect patients as well as caregivers from infection at the doctor’s office. The …

Money-transfer specialist and ATM operator Euronet Worldwide Inc. reported 27.4 million money-transfer transactions in the first quarter of 2020, up 3% from 26.6 million a year ago. Euronet said its ATM count of 42,176 at the end of the quarter is up from 42,034 last year. The company just acquired Dolphin Debit, a …

Payments fraud was already rising, and now experts predict increased online usage brought on by stay-at-home orders will only exacerbate the trend. While losses haven’t shown up yet, e-commerce activity taking place now is sowing the seeds of a dramatic jump in coming months. “Fraud is always a trailing activity,” …

A trend toward a near-total collapse in travel-and-entertainment spending helped drive down overall first-quarter card volume and discount revenue for American Express Co., the company reported Friday. “March was a very difficult month,” Stephen Squeri, AmEx’s chairman and chief executive, told stock analysts during a morning conference call. As with …

Discover cardholders might not jet around the country like many American Express cardholders do, but it’s still telling that Discover’s travel spending volume has plunged 99% this month as governmental stay-at-home orders and business closures to control the Covid-19 pandemic chill the economy. The near grounding of travel spending was …