Newsletter Articles
The Future of Payments is Red Hot
Omni-channel retailing and customer centricity have been sweeping their way through the customer-facing side of the retail industry for at least the last five years. But one area that has languished in the portfolio of customer-facing interactions impacted by this wave of transformation is payments. However, I think we can safely say, no longer. The [...]
SQUARE: Next-Gen Payment Tech in Entrepreneurs’ Hands
Last March, we mentioned in a Retail Paradox Weekly article that Twitter creator Jack Dorsey had formed a new startup, Square, to offer a little square credit card swipe device for the iPhone, Android, and other smart mobile devices, plus the enabling application and the cloud-based service to handle the transactions. In December 2009, CNN [...]
ARTS Standards & Next-gen Payments: Chickens and Pigs
The ARTS (Association of Retail Technology Standards) has been an influential offshoot of the National Retail Federation for over a decade. In fact, it was an idea hatched before the NRF’s involvement by a retail CIO, Richard Mader, who continues to be its guiding light within the NRF today. When taking on the idea, the [...]
Payments and Security: Complexity Breeds More Complexity
Retail payment systems are in the throes of a revolution. Alternative forms of payment are emerging, offering new flexibility to consumers both inside the store and in new shopping channels, and causing a shift from cash and checks as the primary tender in favor of credit and debit, stored value and gift cards, and even [...]
A Surefire Indicator of Recovery?
First things first: there is no such thing as a sure-fire predictor of anything except heat in the summer and rain in the winter (in California at least). And when it comes to the two-steps-forward-one-step-back recovery from the Great Recession of 2009, our consumer-driven economy sometimes seems like a stumble-drunk in the dark. However, barring [...]
Payments: Redefining the “Moment of Truth”
For retailers, the moment of truth comes at that exact second in time when the customer gives the clerk money in exchange for merchandise. Retailers know that tendering the transaction is the last impression that the customer has of the shopping experience, and a poorly handled ring-out can undo all the goodwill created with beautiful [...]
Merchant Mobility: Tall Oaks from Little Acorns Grow
RSR has talked a lot about mobile payments, usually in the context of consumer mobility. Most recently we discussed the news that Apple would offer NFC-based payment capabilities on next the iPhone (NFC & Mobile Payments: Is Apple Behaving like ‘70’s Era IBM?, 2/1/11). But what about mobility for the merchant for payment handling? There’s [...]