E-commerce processor Shopify Inc. opened its first brick-and-mortar “entrepreneur space” in downtown Los Angeles. The site will provide in-person support, training, and education to Shopify merchants, and the company’s suite of retail hardware products will be available. Shopify says it has 10,000 merchants in L.A. and 80,000 in California. Cybersecurity …

Sarah Friar, chief financial officer of merchant processor Square Inc., will leave the company in December after six years to become chief executive of Nextdoor, developer of a private social-network app for neighborhoods. David Viniar, Square’s lead independent director, will lead the search for a new CFO. Square’s stock fell …

Online-commerce analytics firm eMarketer Inc. is out with its 2018 holiday spending forecast, and it has some encouraging news for merchant acquirers, especially those in the e-commerce and mobile-commerce space. New York City-based eMarketer’s “Holiday Shopping 2018: A Strong Economy Sets the Stage for a Spending Surge” report predicts total …

Merchant processor Elavon rolled out its self-test platform for providers of payment hardware and software developers to streamline needed certification processes from the card networks and for EMV chip card acceptance; Elavon says the platform can reduce previous four-week certification times to 24 to 48 hours and eliminate the need …

Small merchants are generating more payment volume, and health-care providers handily outlive restaurants and bars in their relationships with merchant acquirers, according to a new analysis from The Strawhecker Group. Data from the Omaha, Neb.-based consulting and research firm’s Acquiring Industry Metrics service shows that the average small and mid-size …

Terminal maker Verifone Systems Inc. launched EX-Receipt, a cloud-based system that generates an electronic receipt at gas pumps via text or email for enrolled customers, replacing the customary paper receipt. NCR Corp. introduced mobile-payment and -loyalty capability for Enmarket Convenience Stores, a chain of 123 c-stores and 14 quick-service restaurants …

It’s no secret contactless payments have struggled in the United States, but less discussed is what needs to be done to boost usage. A paucity of dual-interface cards—EMV plastic that can either be inserted into terminals or tapped on them—is much to blame, but it turns out the answer goes …

Among debit card issuers Apple Pay made up 77% of mobile-wallet transactions, Auriemma Consulting Group said in an analysis of mobile wallets. Samsung Pay and Google made up 17% and 6% of transactions, respectively. Rich Consulting and Double Diamond Group launched a suite of services to aid acquirers, independent sales …

Payments and software provider SpotOn Transact LLC  acquired EmaginePOS, a vendor of point-of-sale software for restaurants and bars. Terms were not announced. Business-services provider CSG Systems International Inc. bought Forte Payment Systems Inc., an independent sales organization, for an undisclosed amount. Credit and debit card information of more than 28,000 …

The EMV liability shift for fuel dispensers may still be two years away, but some are not waiting to get their EMV-compliant products and services installed in convenience stores and fuel stations. Gas Pos launched a service Wednesday that puts EMV-compliant card readers in fuel dispensers and in stores, all …