Новости за 23.11.2021

It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue: “the $1.25 store.” But such is fate in the trenches of discount retailing these days, where the worst inflation in 30 years — coupled with increased shipping and wage costs as well as supply constraints that have sharply reduced inventory — calls for drastic action.  Taken together, this […]

Global payment company UnionPay has reached an agreement with European payment services provider Nets that will allow UnionPay to expand its contactless acceptance throughout the Nordic region, according to a Tuesday (Nov. 23) press release. The partnership will further expand UnionPay’s more than 100,000 point-of-service terminals in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. In addition, the effort […]

With ride-hailing prices on the rise during the COVID pandemic, customers in some of America’s big cities have rediscovered taxicabs. As MarketWatch reported on Tuesday (Nov. 23), cab ride volume has risen in cities such as New York, Chicago and San Francisco over the past several months, a trend that coincides with both the pandemic […]

Connected health is having a lively year in the wake of a pandemic that exposed weaknesses in several areas, including how patient data is shared and how payments are handled.  The latest deal confirming the trend came in the announcement on Monday (Nov. 22) that athenahealth is being jointly acquired by affiliates of private equity […]

Retailers are relying more heavily on the metaverse to make sales and are using artificial intelligence to boost shoppers’ confidence in secondhand markets. Plus, small businesses need to use digital technology to win customers this holiday season. Data: $3T: Size of the retail counterfeit industry. $4,115: Highest price for a virtual Gucci bag sold online […]

If those Thanksgiving Day doorbuster stampedes of yore aren’t officially dead, they’re definitely on life support.   This unseemly holiday afternoon spectacle, a staple of evening newscasts for the past 20 years — where eager shoppers are televised standing in line and then running into retailers (often injuring themselves or others) in order to grab whatever […]

Executives at Virginia-based discount retailer Dollar Tree said Tuesday (Nov. 23) that the majority of its merchandise will be sold for more than $1 by the end of April, a shift away from the approach that has been a cornerstone for over three decades. The decision to raise prices to $1.25, which the retailer said […]

In the early 2000s, the heart-shaped pendant sold by Tiffany & Co. was a must-have item for young girls — for a few hundred dollars, anyone could have access to the Tiffany blue box experience, from celebrities to recent graduates. Now, nearly two decades later, Tiffany has teamed up with clothing and lifestyle brand Supreme […]

Online luxury watch retailer WatchBox on Tuesday (Nov. 23) announced it had closed a $165 million fundraising round for equity capital that it plans to use to scale its digital platform, expand into new geographic markets and boost its inventory.  The Radcliff Companies and The Spruce House Partnership led the WatchBox funding, with CMIA Capital […]

Dick’s Sporting Goods spent the early part of 2021 focusing on experiential retail and bringing products to consumers in new ways, as shoppers returned in higher numbers to stores when the spread of COVID-19 began to slow down and more people were vaccinated against the virus. That plan has paid off in a major way […]

Cryptocurrency payments have taken flight at Fast Private Jet in Italy, with one-third of bookings being paid using digital currency since the company introduced the payment option last year. The charter-flight company became Italy’s first private jet provider to accept payments in major cryptocurrencies — Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, XRP and others. Most major commercial […]

Visa, Mastercard and other payments stocks were on the decline on Tuesday (Nov. 23) amid a spike in COVID-19 cases in Europe. As MarketWatch reported, this resurgence has led to fears of new lockdowns, which could in turn result in plummeting consumer spending. Visa fell 2.6% on Monday (Nov. 22) and was down 0.6% on […]

B2B spend management startup Payhawk closed a $112 million Series B all equity round, the biggest Series B in Central and Eastern Europe for a B2B company, and comes just seven months after a $20 million Series A. The Series B was led by U.S. investor Greenoaks, with participation from QED Investors, Earlybird Digital East […]

Small-format locations, outlets, virtual stores and an increased presence in the healthcare category are among the initiatives that Best Buy executives say will carry the electronics retailer into the future and help connect with consumers. Best Buy CEO Corie Barry said the demand for convenience and experience on the customer’s terms “has exponentially driven change” […]

After over a year of offering consumers free delivery, discounted prescription drugs and other benefits, the growth of Walmart+ remains in neutral, with nearly 1 in 10 consumers who have access to the service getting it through a free trial. Amazon Prime, on the other hand, has nearly three-quarters of its subscriber base paying for […]

White-label eCommerce firm Thirstie is launching gift cards for liquor brands, the first offering of its kind in the U.S., according to a press release emailed to PYMNTS on Tuesday (Nov. 23). Thirstie connects alcohol brands with consumers, and its gift card solution will feature major alcohol and celebrity-backed brands to meet consumer demand for […]

The conventional wisdom in payments holds that over the past few years, everything has changed. Ben Cukier, founding partner of Centana Growth Partners, an equity fund focused on FinTech and financial services, said that depending on where you look within the industry, the conventional wisdom doesn’t necessarily hold. As Cukier told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster in […]

Dublin-based tax automation startup Fonoa has raised $25 million in a funding round, which the company plans to use to expand businesses’ tax compliance, according to a company blog post Monday (Nov. 22). Fonoa’s services offer an application programming interface (API) that lets companies analyze whether customers and suppliers are taxable. It then works to […]

Online wholesale marketplace Faire has closed a $400 million Series G round, which will allow it to continue working on its marketplace for smaller retailers, the company announced last Tuesday (Nov. 16). The new funding will let the company keep hiring talent and adding more brands to its marketplace, along with adding the company to […]

In today’s top Europe, Middle East and Africa news, Ericsson acquires Vonage in $6.2bn stock deal, and the U.K. leads the EU in driving global growth in the HealthTech sector. Plus, why Dutch firm Booking.com has made payments a strategic priority, Polish consumers embrace open banking and buy now, pay later (BNPL) solutions, and UK […]

The United Nations wants to help prop up the banks of Afghanistan as there has been an increase in people who can’t pay back their loans, along with lower deposits and a cash liquidity crunch, a Monday (Nov. 22) Reuters report says. Without intervention, that could all cause the financial system to collapse “within months.” […]

In the spirit of living and learning, Walmart said Monday (Nov. 22) it is taking the knowledge gained from 15 livestreamed shopping events it hosted on TikTok and YouTube over the past year and doubling its commitment to social commerce by expanding it to Twitter. “We believe the future of retail lies in social commerce,” […]

U.S. football player Odell Beckham Jr. plans to accept his salary for the Los Angeles Rams in bitcoin, Bloomberg reported Monday (Nov. 22). In a tweet Monday, Beckham said the arrangement came about because of an agreement with Cash App, the Square-backed mobile payments service, and called it the “start of a new era.” Beckham […]

Consumers crave the convenience of the connected economy, but they still want the security of knowing that their money is safe if they share their bank account credentials with a third-party app.  While analyzing findings from a survey of 2,368 consumers, PYMNTS identified four groups — or personas — based on their sentiments regarding connecting bank accounts to financial apps.  […]

Consumers crave the convenience of the connected economy, but they still want the security of knowing that their money is safe if they share their bank account credentials with a third-party app.  While analyzing findings from a survey of 2,368 consumers, PYMNTS identified four groups — or personas — based on their sentiments regarding connecting bank accounts to financial apps.  […]