Summer has traditionally been thought of as a slow time for e-commerce sales. This generally has to do with people spending more time out of the house during the summer and away from their computers. But in recent years, a few things have happened to help boost sales during these months. One factor is the growth of mobile. Because it's gotten so much easier to make purchases from a mobile device, consumers no longer need to be at home to buy. Two of the Internet's biggest companies have also taken strategic steps to entice consumers to buy during the summer. The first of those companies is eBay. During the 4th of July, they distributed 20% off coupons to lots of buyers. These coupons were good for virtually anything on the site and eBay fully absorbed the cost. While this has kept eBay's summer 2018 sales moving right along, another e-commerce giant had already mastered the art of ramping up summer sales. That company is Amazon, and they accomplished it by creating Prime Day. First held on July 15th of 2015,… Read more

If the World Cup is any indication, it appears that 2018 is the year that contactless payments are really taking off. After years of developing and rolling out this technology, it seems to be an option that lots of consumers have embraced. Data collected from the World Cup found that for every five transactions involving a Visa card, one was done with contactless payment technology. While cell phones are the obvious choice for making this type of payment at the World Cup in Russia, consumers are using some of the other forms of technology we've covered in the past. Those options include both payment rings and bracelets. Who's Spending Money at the World Cup? Because the excitement of the World Cup brings so many fans from all over the world, it's an amazing opportunity for Visa to collect some really interesting payment data. One example is how much the average fan is spending on each transaction. Based on data collected across a total of eleven host cities, the average transaction amount is $56.65. US fans have been the biggest spenders,… Read more

A couple of months ago, eBay and PayPal announced plans to end their current agreement in the coming years. While some people thought this might simply be a ploy to negotiate rates, it seems like both companies are set on expanding in different directions. As of now, both PayPal and PayPal Credit will be available as payment methods on eBay through July of 2023. But what's different from the current arrangement is eBay will take more control of payments on their platform. This will be done by utilizing Ayden, which is a popular payment platform currently used by companies like Etsy and Uber. On PayPal's side, they aren't letting this change slow them down. In fact, they've already made some notable moves to help fuel growth. One of the most significant of those moves is their acquisition of Hyperwallet. Because they paid $400 million to acquire this company, we want to cover all the details of the deal, as well as what it may mean for online payments as a whole. What is Hyperwallet? Although PayPal paid a lot to… Read more

Given that so many areas around the US are hitting their highest temperatures of the year, it's easy to forget that the holiday season is less than six months away. While that may still seem like a very long time, taking some time off during the summer combined with the rush when fall arrives means Q4 will here much sooner than it probably seems now. Because Q4 is such a vital time of the year for just about any business that sells products, it's worth putting in as much preparation as possible. If you agree with that position but aren't exactly sure how to take productive action towards getting ready for the holiday rush, we want to provide some tips that you can start utilizing: Think Omnichannel Most businesses aren't going to benefit from choosing between online or offline. Instead, what's going to drive the most revenue for your business is taking time to optimize both of these channels. Creating a seamless experience will allow customers to connect with you exactly how they want. Find Your Competitive Edge Finding ways… Read more

In November of last year, we wrote about the end of signing some credit card receipts. We discussed that Mastercard was the company pushing forward with this initiative. While there are some credit card processing ideas that come and then disappear without being fully realized, Mastercard has officially made this one a reality. Why Did Mastercard Say Goodbye to Signatures? Because Mastercard's requirement of signing credit card receipts officially ended on April 13th, the first question you may be asking is why. There are actually a few reasons. Relevant data released by Mastercard includes how few things people now sign on a monthly basis, along with just how annoyed the majority of consumers get by having to wait longer in line because of slow transactions. Traditionally, the main purposes of requiring signatures were security authentication and documentation for resolving disputes. In regards to the former, it's no secret that sloppy credit card receipt signatures are very easy to forge. If someone wants to commit credit card fraud, this requirement isn't going to stop them. And as far as documentation goes,… Read more