As the end of the dog days of summer approaches, we’ve got our weekly global payments news roundup for you. First, we look at the 25th anniversary of Visa’s first e-commerce payment and a bit of online payments history. Next up, the logistics industry is getting a new faster payments platform from RoadSynch. Second Measure says Walmart has 62% more online grocery shoppers than nearest competitor Instacart. Square launches a cool new retail payments Terminal in Canada.
In the global news roundup, we’ve got Wirecard’s new Grab & Go store prototype and Flatfair’s new service which aims to be the PayPal of property rentals. French DIY marketplace ManoMano reported 85% revenue growth and a new €110 million funding round. New research shows Amazon returns in Kohl’s stores generated a 24% increase in in-store foot traffic for the retailer. Square launched a new Orders API for retailers to help manage inventory, invoices and business data. Moscow’s Dostavista is targeting the Russian same-day delivery market and has $15 million in new funding to help. Happy reading and enjoy your weekend!
Visa’s 25-year anniversary of first e-commerce payment
Hard to believe I know but 25 years ago, on August 11, 1994, Visa processed the first-ever online payment. And what was that first purchase? The buyer obviously had great musical taste because it was the sale of rock star Sting’s CD “The Summoner’s Tale” by Swarthmore college student Dan Kohn. He sold it to a friend in Philadelphia for $12.48 plus shipping and e-commerce was underway. Read more…
Speed of payments drives logistics industry
If there’s one thing that defines the $1.8 trillion US logistics and transportation industry, it’s speed. How fast can we get the product to the customer? What’s the cost of facilities, fleet and the last mile for the fastest possible delivery? What’s the impact of speedier delivery on our bottom line? Digital payments platform RoadSync just introduced a new service to meet the challenge of faster payments throughout the logistics and transportation chain. Read more…
US online grocery market grows, customer loyalty strong
The US online grocery market has plenty of room to grow, but new research shows some interesting market dynamics. According to a research report from Second Measure, Walmart had 62% more online grocery shoppers in June 2019 than its nearest rival Instacart. So much for the perception that tech upstarts dominate the online grocery market, although there are plenty of them. Read more…
Canada gets Square with new payments terminals
It’s sleek, undeniably cool-looking, and onscreen the new Square Terminal is faster, friendlier and aimed at breaking the chokehold held by traditional in-store and online payments providers who dominate today’s retail and e-commerce channels. Last week Square CEO Jack Dorsey introduced the Square Terminal to the Canadian market, with hopes that better tech and more pricing transparency will mean new retail and e-commerce business customers. Read more…
Wirecard drives the future of customer centricity with Grab & Go Store
Wirecard, the global innovation leader for digital financial technology, continues to break new ground in the future of shopping with its prototype of an unmanned store. The Grab & Go Store concept offers shoppers a convenient, seamless purchasing experience through AI: consumers enter the store via smartphone, pick products which are scanned automatically, the payment happens when leaving – with this, lines, checkouts and opening hours are eliminated, and the payment process happens in the background. Read more…
UK-based fintech scale-up flatfair raises over £9 million to become “the Paypal of property rental”
British fintech scale-up flatfair raised over £9 million in a funding round led by Index Ventures to expand its deposit-free renting platform. Before flatfair, deposits were the only form of tenancy security that landlords trusted, the company says. According to a report by Generation Rent, a campaign group, tenants lose out on more than £80 million a year in interest on the £4 billion of their money held as deposits, with only two percent receiving interest when they get their deposit back. Read more…
French DIY e-commerce platform ManoMano raises €110 million
French online DIY marketplace ManoMano has raised a €110 million funding round from Eurazeo, Aglaé Venture, and Bpifrance, as well as existing investors CM-CIC, Partech, Piton, and General Atlantic. Founded in 2013, ManoMano has raised a total of €186 million, including the current round. The startup claims to have 2.5 million customers and attract 20 million visits per month. It employs 370 people and has reported an 85 percent increase in revenues in 2018. Read more…
Amazon returns helped boost Kohl’s traffic a staggering 24%, data shows
Foot traffic to Kohl’s stores is soaring since it started accepting Amazon returns at its stores nationwide last month, according to the location data advertising firm inMarket. Shopper visits to Kohl’s stores rose nearly 24% in the three weeks after the program launched, compared to the previous three weeks, data from inMarket showed. Short visits lasting under five minutes increased the most, by roughly 17%, according to the data. Read more…
Square’s new Orders API lets merchants consolidate order fulfillment
Square is rolling out a new API for online ordering that it says will make it easier for developers to build digital in-app payment services. For merchants using one of Square’s point of sale products, the new Orders API lets them track and manage the lifecycle of a purchase — whether the purchase is made online, in-person or in-app — and consolidate order fulfillment into one central POS system. Read more…
Moscow-based Dostavista secures $15 million in Series B funding for its same-day delivery service
Dostavista, a Russian same-day delivery service operating globally, has raised $15 million in a Series B funding round led by Vostok New Ventures to focus on product, marketing, and sales. Dostavista claims it enables delivery in 90 minutes or precisely on time, via any route, any transport, any weight or size, for a competitive price. Read more…
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