Here’s the global payments news that got our attention this week, curated and provided for your weekend reading. Look for plenty of pre-Black Friday and holiday sales data and predictions, including a 14% increase in spending this year. Check out the estimated $30 billion organized retail crime wave. Amex gets approval to process payments in China, a US mobile payments snapshot, and much more payments news ahead.
Amazon is mailing a printed holiday toy catalog to millions of customers
Amazon is shipping its first-ever printed holiday toy catalog titled “A Holiday of Play,” to millions of customers starting this month. The catalog is roughly 70 pages long and comes with QR codes for many of the products featured. It is Amazon’s latest move to mimic traditional retailers. Read more…
For Walmart, Black Friday Begins on Wednesday
Walmart is jumpstarting Black Friday this year by launching its doorbuster deals the night before Thanksgiving. The No. 1 discount chain will pull the plug on its “special buys” Wednesday night at 10:00 p.m., two hours earlier than past years. The initial sales blitz will be available online only, with in-store availability to follow at 6:00 p.m. Thanksgiving Day. Read more…
Experian says 2018 holiday shoppers plan to spend 14% more
Experian‘s 2018 Holiday Survey shows holiday shoppers are in a generally positive mood about holiday shopping and plan to spend 14% more this year than in 2017. The 2018 survey provides useful insight into shoppers’ thoughts on spending plans, budgets and interesting differences between the shopper generations. Read more…
Best Buy’s Black Friday Barrage Begins on Thanksgiving
Best Buy has released its 52-page Black Friday ad, promising thousands of deals and doorbusters, while also whetting customers’ whistles with hundreds of early bird sales this week. The main event begins on Thanksgiving Day when the bulk of the promotions go live on BestBuy.com and store doors open at 5:00 p.m. Stores will close at 1:00 a.m., tidy up, and prepare for a second-wave sales event at 8:00 a.m. on Friday. Read more…
Shoppers Have Had It With Black Friday Crowds
Like phone booths and CDs, the retail tailgating queues that followed Thanksgiving dinner in anticipation of a 4:00 a.m. store opening have fallen victim to the digital era, as holiday shoppers continue their e-commerce migration. As further proof comes a Black Friday survey from none other than BlackFriday.com, which found that more than two-thirds, or fully 68%, will do their Black Friday shopping online this year. Read more…
Study: Threat of Organized Retail Crime Grows Larger
How pervasive is organized retail crime (ORC) in the United States? The National Retail Federation (NRF) estimates that ORC is currently a $30 billion problem for stores each year in the United States. Are NRF retailer polls truly indicative of the shoplifting epidemic or, as previous research suggests, is the majority of shoplifting not premeditated? Read more…
US online holiday sales will reach a record $124 billion
Adobe is forecasting a record $124 billion in US online sales during the 2018 holiday sales season. Based on Adobe Analytics data, Adobe says online sales will increase by 14.8%, totaling $124.1 billion, while offline retail spending is expected to increase a modest 2.7%. Sales on Cyber Monday alone could hit $7.7 billion, record and up 17.6% over last year. Read more…
Why Sears sagged in the e-commerce economy
Founded in Chicago in 1892, Sears, Roebuck & Company began business as a mail order catalog company. It began opening stores in the US in 1925 with its first store in Evansville, Indiana and was the largest-selling US retailer until Walmart surpassed it in 1989. Sears fall from grace and success has been well told leading up to today’s last-ditch fight for survival but it’s interesting to look at how e-commerce may have saved the company. Read more…
7-Eleven introduces hybrid mobile cashierless checkout
In 14 stores in its Dallas headquarters market, 7-Eleven is testing a mobile cashierless checkout app called Scan and Pay. Customers can pick up a Slurpee, snacks and other items, scan the product barcodes with a mobile app, pay by your favorite payment provider, display a QR code from your phone to a cashier-less checkout “confirmation station” in the store and exit. Read more…
AmEx wins China approval to clear card payments
American Express on Friday won approval to clear card payments in China, making it the first U.S. card network to gain direct access to what is set to be the biggest bank-card market by 2020. The move comes months after Beijing started allowing foreign companies to apply for licenses and ahead of a G20 meeting in Argentina where the United States and China will try to resolve their trade disputes. Read more…
The mobile payments series: US
This year, 55.0 million people in the US will use mobile payments, making up 20.2% of the population, according to eMarketer estimates. Compared with other markets like China, the US has been relatively slow to adopt this technology. We forecast that 79.4% of smartphone users in China have made a proximity mobile payment over the past six months; in the US, penetration is 25.3%. Read more…
Citizens Bank Will Launch Real-Time Payments for Commercial Accounts in 2019
Citizens Bank plans to phase in real-time payments for its commercial banking business starting in 2019. The bank, which is an owner bank of The Clearing House (TCH) has been a backer of real-time payments for three to four years, said Matt Richardson, head of product solutions in treasury management at the bank. Bank executives thought the US needed a better payments system, he said. Read more…
N26 launches in Denmark, Norway, Poland, and Sweden
Germany-based challenger bank N26 is bringing its services to Denmark, Norway, Poland, and Sweden. The launch in Liechtenstein and Iceland is planned for later this year. Initially, customers will be able to choose between the N26 free standard account and the N26 business account. With the expansion to European markets outside the monetary union, N26 is bringing its customers flexibility while traveling abroad and doing business with the eurozone. Read more…
QuotePro and Fiserv Partner to Speed Credit for Cash Payments Made at Self-Service Kiosks
QuotePro and Fiserv, Inc today announced that they are facilitating faster, next-day availability of funds and helping mitigate security concerns for businesses that accept payments in cash. QuotePro Kiosks are the latest generation of self-service machines that can provide a complete cashier solution to businesses that accept payments via cash, check, credit and debit card. Read more…
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