Dec 7 Global payments news roundup

Lots of new developments, more holiday shopping news and results, and innovations to keep you ahead of the payments pack in this week’s global payments news roundup.

NFIB reports Small Business Saturday sales were strong

November 24 was a pretty good day for US Small Business Saturday, racking up a record $17.8 billion in sales at independent retailers and restaurants, according to the latest National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) data. The strong sales were up 27.5%, rebounding from $12.9 billion in 2017. Read more…

PayPal: Black Friday & Cyber Monday broke records with $1B+ in mobile payment volume

Black Friday broke records in terms of sales made from mobile devices, according to reports last week from Adobe. This week, PayPal said it saw a similar trend during the Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday shopping event. PayPal saw a record-breaking $1 billion+ in mobile payment volume for the first time on Black Friday — a milestone it hit again on Cyber Monday. Read more…

WSJ: Amazon testing cashierless technology for larger stores

Amazon reportedly began testing the enabling technologies behind its Amazon Go stores in larger spaces to find out how well they would work when in larger store formats. Amazon Go stores use a combination of sensors, computer vision technology, artificial intelligence, and deep learning algorithms to identify items that customers pick up, and make sure they are correctly charged, and payments are processed via mobile so customers can leave stores quickly. Read more…

GPShopper “Holiday Shopping Experience: Immediacy as Currency” report

GPShopper released new research into consumers’ holiday shopping preferences and found that Americans who shop for gifts during the holidays prioritize convenience. A majority (67%) of those interested in using tech in-store are interested in buying online and picking up in-store to ease their shopping experience this year. Sixty-two percent said they would not wait in an hour-long line to purchase a gift. Read more…

Consumers looking for a cyber-secure holiday shopping season

New research from the University of Phoenix shows consumers have heightened concern for their online security during the busy holiday shopping season. Two-thirds (66%) of shoppers in a survey by the University of Phoenix conducted by the Harris Poll say the convenience of online shopping during the holidays outweighs the risk of a potential data breach. 60% of consumers said they prefer online shopping over in-store during the holiday season. Read more…

GrooveKart Review: Taking e-commerce to the next level

It’s not often a new e-commerce platform launches but with its impressive features and cost savings for e-commerce, marketing, and other online sellers, we felt it was worth taking an inside look at GrooveKart. There’s a wide range of e-commerce platforms for everyone from small online sellers to experienced marketers with many online stores. Some, like Shopify, are well-established in the marketplace, delivering solid service for subscribers. GrooveKart is a new challenger. Read more…

This uncommon design shop is the anti-Amazon

In the age of online shopping and globalized commerce, it can be hard to find unique but useful gifts–and even harder to find a unique souvenir when traveling. Kiosk, the roving art and retail concept project started in 2005 by husband-wife duo Alisa Grifo and Marco ter Haar Romeny, has a strikingly keen ability to uncover unusual, everyday objects and housewares from around the world. Read more…

Walmart Dotcom Store raises the online shopping bar for competitors

Walmart keeps finding new ways to challenge Amazon’s dominance of online shopping. The company announced a new in-store app that gives Walmart store associates and in-store customers access to the entire Walmart.com inventory. Just grab a sales associate with a handheld device and they can order it for you on the spot, accept payment, and you can choose to have it delivered for pickup in-store or directly to your home. Read more…

Data: The newest holiday fraud threats

The first wave of data from this year’s holiday shopping season is in, providing insights into where the biggest fraud threats are likely to originate in the final weeks of the year. Phishing scams are on the rise globally, and authorities worldwide have reported a surge in spoof websites and other tactics designed to trick consumers into sharing payment card data to get steep discounts on brand-name goods. The newest areas of concern surround higher-than-average ticket size for suspicious transactions, P2P scams and a lower consumer caution around online and in-store shopping. Read more…

Alphabet’s Wing drone delivery business to take flight in Finland

Google parent Alphabet Inc’s drone delivery business Wing will launch its first European delivery service in Finland in the spring of 2019, it said in a statement on Tuesday. Wing was spun out of Alphabet’s X research division in July. Wing said it has spent the last 18 months testing drone delivery in south-eastern Australia, partnering with local businesses to deliver a range of food and drinks, medicine and household items. Read more…

iSignthis integrates Visa, Mastercard for European retail trading vendors

iSignthis has completed its Tier 1 integration that allows direct access to both Visa and Mastercard payments in the European Union. As part of the integration, iSignthis will be able to process Visa and Mastercard card transactions for retail trading companies in Europe and pave the way for commercial traction for its suite of regulatory technology (RegTech) products offered to businesses. Read more…