Booz Allen Hamilton predict that the payment online market will coalesce around two or three players. E-Payments To Become Mega-Market Paypal has gained more than a hundred million customers in only a few years since its launch in 1999 and handles more than US$17bn annually. Booz Allen predicts that Google Checkout will take even less time to establish itself as a major player. However, with enormous growth expected in this market there is likely to be room for a further one or two players. So that would be Google, Paypal, and perhaps one other.  More importantly is the threat to … Continue reading The e-payment Market Will Consolidate with 3-4 Players Controlling the Market

Dexit called together their staff this week, in one of those meetings reminiscent of the dot com days.  Nearly half the staff were laid off.  It seems they are serious about selling or amalgamation.  Significant reductions in their terminal acquiring base.  It seems all this years revenue was from one customer – Bell Canada. T.DXT – News Releases July 20, 2006 Dexit Announces Plan to Optimize Operations and Review Strategic Options Toronto – July 20, 2006 – Dexit Inc. (TSX: DXT) announced today that it has  formed a Special Committee of the Board, in response to overtures from several potential … Continue reading Dexit is finished

Aneace is dead on with his argument that the payment experience needs to be enhanced with customer focussed benefits tied to the transaction, to make the purchase experience more compelling.  Aneace’s Blog: Cool payment technology that makes contactless much more attractive for merchants I have no idea why a merchant would want to accept basic, “old way to pay” contactless cards that are not of much benefit, unless someone pays him to upgrade his POS terminals (which is what has been happening for the most part) and if interchange fees are dramatically cut. Giving merchants a simple way to target … Continue reading Cool payment technology that makes contactless much more attractive for merchants

This Forbes article, courtesy of Aneace, outlines some sobering facts regarding loyalty plans. Loyalty Programs Lose Points With Shoppers – Forbes.com The study also predicts that two-thirds of all retailers with an online presence will have a formal rewards program in place within a year, although there was no discernible difference in investment returns between companies that put resources into a formal rewards program and those that don’t. The key point is that there is no discernible difference to those having plans against those who do not. (emphasis mine) Segmenting return on investment for various retail companies as high (11% … Continue reading Do loyalty points make any difference?

This is the first part of a series that begins with 7 critical mistakes.  The first mistake for me is dead on, as the commoditisation of loyalty plans makes them less and less meaningful to consumers.  I would argue they still drive certain behaviours, such as which card to pull out first, but the the loyalty they create is fleeting.  Furthermore the benefits from the plans are really not that significant, when you translate them into dollars. Aneace’s Blog: Critical mistake #1: Focus on loyalty rather than the payment experience “Points for the sake of points is just buying off … Continue reading Aneace’s 5 key factors for a really successful EMV deployment

This is a most insightful article on Google Checkout from Om.  Worth reading is the piece on the implications for Yahoo, eBay, and Paypal. GigaOM : » Why Google Is Doing Checkouts? Going forward, the much talked about Google Payment system (the Paypal rival) could give them even more leverage and hurt rivals in the process. But in a larger scheme of things, it could be trivial. Why because for Google, the real advantage is not just to gain payments market share & revenue, but to increase AdWords sales and reduce click fraud through the creation of a fundamentally better … Continue reading Why Google Is Doing Checkouts?

Just picked up on this rather important nuance.  Debit cards are also accepted by Google Checkout.  Its also only US, although I am sure thats temporary.  So look out Certapay in Canada. Accept payments through Google – Terms of Service Payment Instrument: The credit card or debit card that is registered by a Customer with the Service to facilitate the processing of Payments Transactions. The Payment Instrument must be associated with a billing address in the United States. Relevance to Bankwatch: Banks must not continue to ignore the payments space.  Transaction revenue and balance loss are at stake as payment … Continue reading Google checkout is debit card too

Google has quietly launched their Checkout product, that simply allows you to make payments at participating merchants. Google Checkout: no PayPal killer For the vendor, Google takes a smaller cut of payments than eBay’s PayPal does. PayPal starts at US$0.30 plus 2.9 percent of the total payment, but Google lowballs that with $0.20 and 2 percent, respectively. In addition, merchants that use AdWords get a break on these fees to the tune of ten times the amount spent on advertising. In other words, spend $100 on AdWords campaigns and get up to $1,000 of your Checkout fees refunded, making the … Continue reading Gbuy launched as Google Checkout