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Holiday Retail eCommerce Sales Promise Growth But Fraudulent Activity Also Rising
Friday, November 18, 2016 Erika Dietrich to Payments Risk Management, Merchant RetailThere is no question that peak trading days provide major revenue opportunities for eCommerce merchants. Amazon UK is reported to have sold around 86 items per second on Black Friday in 2015, and total U.S. online sales (across merchants) on Cyber Monday rose 16 percent from the previous year, to $3.07 billion.
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Analyzing Annoyance? Online Shopping Behavior at the Checkout
Thursday, November 17, 2016 Christopher Taine to eCommerceIf you’re standing at the checkout in a brick-and-mortar store, it’s easy enough to see when fellow customers become agitated and annoyed. Impatiently checking the time, audible ‘harrumphs’ and negative body language are all tell-tale signs that the payment process is not proceeding as smoothly as desired. But how does this frustration manifest itself in online shopping behavior?
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Bold Demonetization Plan Leapfrogs India Ahead in Electronic Payments
Thursday, November 17, 2016 Shekhar Ganapathy to Retail Payments, Payments and Industry TrendsIndian Prime Minister Modi’s demonetization program launched on November 8th—with the objective of curbing fraud by removing counterfeit and illegally gained currency (aka “black money”) from circulation—is an incredibly bold initiative, which has short and long-term impacts for India and the global economy. Some have called this “the single biggest decision taken by the Indian government since Independence.” The surprise move will invalidate approximately 86% of all cash, as hundreds of millions of people exchange currency in the lead-up to the December 30th deadline to replace all invalidated notes.
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Sweeping (and Overnight) Changes in Indian Banking Sector—and Why the Demand for Managed Services is Increasing
Wednesday, November 16, 2016 Shekhar Ganapathy to Payments and Industry Trends, Retail PaymentsIn August, 2015, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved 11 Payment and Savings Bank licenses to firms across India, which will be allowed to accept deposits, provide payments services and distribute third-party financial products, but not to lend or issue credit cards. Ranging from nascent FinTechs to established stalwarts like the Department of Posts (the mail delivery system of India), the progressive introduction of payment banks will make way for new entrants serving hundreds of millions of banking customers in India—and these new banks won’t require all of the formalities of traditional banks to bring competition to the marketplace.
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Connecting European Merchants and Chinese Shoppers with Alipay
Friday, November 11, 2016 Adam Bowman to eCommerceDespite its size and reach, Alipay is still an emerging player outside its home country, China. Launched in 2004 as part of the Alibaba Group, its e-wallet is the world’s leading third party payment platform. Part of its success stems from the fact it is embedded in many of the Alibaba Group’s merchant services; including Taobao, an online consumer-to-consumer shopping platform; AliExpress, an online retail service for small Chinese merchants selling outside China; and TMall, an online platform for global brands selling to affluent Chinese shoppers.
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Risky Business? Open Invoice Payments In Germany
Monday, November 07, 2016 Christopher Taine to eCommerce, Payments Risk ManagementPayProtect is used by merchants and payment service providers to manage the risk around 'purchase on account' – a payment method that is a must when operating in the large German eCommerce marketplace. Jens Kühle, MD of GPP, a company of the GFKL-Lowell Group, sat down with us to explain the specifics of eCommerce risk management in the German market.
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Cross-Border Payments: The Next Big Frontier
Friday, November 04, 2016 Domenico Scaffidi to Payments and Industry Trends, Transaction BankingIt is no secret that the majority of European banks and financial institutions are currently faced with making big and strategic decisions: The pan-European instant payment initiative is due to go live in 2017, new regulations such as PSD2 will come into effect soon and the digitalisation of the sector is well under way, with customers demanding new services and payments methods.
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Defining 'Openness' in the Context of eCommerce Payments
Thursday, November 03, 2016 Annett van de Bunt to eCommerceOpen payments is a relatively new idea that lacks an agreed-upon definition within the payments industry. The “Openness” trend emerged from outside the industry, but disruptors and forward-thinking established players have brought it to the fore in payments.
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China Singles Day: Does 11.11 Have Legs?
Monday, October 31, 2016 Christopher Taine to eCommerceBlack Friday and Cyber Monday are just around the corner, and while sales are likely to exceed the records set in 2014, what is certain is that the biggest single day of the year for eCommerce will once again be China Singles Day. Alibaba reported USD $14.3 billion in online sales on 11.11 in 2015, a 60% increase on the same day in 2014. In fact, the previous year’s total of USD $9.3 billion was eclipsed within 14 hours of trading, so Alibaba beat its own record without so much as breaking a sweat.
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Ranking Our Top 5 Candies And Their Payment Alter Egos
Monday, October 31, 2016 Dan Ring to Payments and Industry TrendsMark, I can imagine that in your neighborhood during Halloween, kids don’t get mini candy bars when they trick and/or treat…they get keys to Teslas. So what are you dressing up as for tonight? I’m donning my Willy Wonka costume in honor of the late great Gene Wilder. And that actually got me thinking about his filmography. So many classics, leading to so many debates about rankings. I think my top 3 Wilder films are Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein and Start the Revolution Without Me. And speaking of rankings (and rantings), in advance of our respective sugar highs, it might be prudent to pontificate a lil’ bit (not to be confused with Bit-O-Honey, among the worst of candies for one’s teeth). I’d rank Raisinets higher than Bit-O-Honey (and I hate raisins).
