Expect the Unexpected in Covid-19’s Wake In the uncertainty that surrounds the coronavirus, Silvio Tavares, CEO of industry trade association Cardlinx, shared perspectives with member executives around the world. Among topics discussed? Travel’s stalled, with hotel occupancy at just 15% and properties slated to close; credit card use is down, impacting the U.S. and other countries where consumer spending accounts...

Amazon announced the availability of its Just Walk Out technology to rival merchants. Shoppers use credit cards to enter the store. Items are selected and automatically billed to the card—with no scanning, checkout (or waiting in line) required. The tech is similar to that used in Amazon Go stores. CardLinx Insight: Amazon’s new cashierless technology will face an uphill battle...

Google Growth Slows as Card-linking and New Digital Ad Players Gain Google reported sharply slowing revenue growth for its digital ads business as new competitors including card-linked marketing platforms and Amazon, Walmart.com gain traction. Google’s  first quarter revenues were up 17% year-over-year, compared with 26% in last year’s first quarter. Google’s performance was in sharp contrast to Amazon that achieved record...

Facebook’s Instagram Goes Amazon Instagram, Facebook’s photo sharing platform, is enabling consumers to tap and buy products right from the app. Checkout, the new shopping feature, circumvents traditional merchants and allows manufacturers of popular brands to sell direct through the Instagram feed without the user even having to leave the Instagram. Consumers enter their payment card details and billing address...

WorldPay Inks Deal to Enable Amazon Pay Worldpay one of the top 10 payment acquirers and processors in the US announced a deal to enable Amazon Pay as payment option alongside MasterCard, Discover, Visa and other popular payment methods. Amazon Pay is today primarily used on Amazon and not commonly used outside of that eco-system. CardLinx Insight Earlier this week...

Amazon tries another tack and plans to open its own grocery stores According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon is planning to start a brand new grocery store chain that would be a better vehicle for its ambition to transform retail shopping. Amazon plans to open the first store in Los Angeles and has signed two additional leases although Amazon may...

Retail giant starts monetizing their untapped data assets Walmart announced at their annual supplier meeting today that they will be merging their in-store and digital advertising efforts into one internal group. Walmart cites streamlined and integrated marketing campaigns for their suppliers as a benefit of this change. According to Forrester Research, Walmart has more customers than its online-native counterparts like...

Re-alignment for e-Commerce Giants According to a report by Bloomberg News, Walmart has recently withdrawn from Google’s Shopping Actions, an e-commerce service, as well as Google Express, a delivery service. Shopping Actions and Google Express are part of Google’s plan to challenge Amazon’s dominance in e-commerce. Amazon is reported to have a 50% market share in US e-commerce and has...