Data & Analytics

Walgreens plans to launch a full suite of integrated financial services, Balance Financial, in phases throughout the next few months. 

The services are all built around the chain’s new Balance Financial Prepaid MasterCard. Balance Financial is currently offered to customers of more than 250 Walgreens locations in Detroit, Milwaukee and Nashville, with a nationwide card rollout expected before year end and additional financial services in 2014. Balance Financial is powered by Galileo, a leader in advanced payment processing solutions.

The 2014 International CES will feature a new exhibit area called “FashionWare,” focused on the latest innovation in wearable technology, event organizers announced.

Scheduled for January 7-10 in Las Vegas, the CES show, the timing is right for the FashionWare concept because the worlds of apparel, accessories and technology are becoming integrated, so much so in fact that event organizers are planning a wearable technology fashion show.

New York -- Shoppers in the United States are most likely to combine online and in-person sources when buying consumer electronics (70%), toys (66%), apparel (58%), and home appliances (57%), according to a new study by Gfk. At the low end of the omnichannel spectrum in the United States are cleaning products (14%), OTC medications (15%), and food and beverages (15%).

The study shows that, across 12 categories, 37% of U.S. shoppers – and 29% globally – are turning to both online and in-store shopping when making purchases.

Most retailers now have some sort of social presence, but too often it consists of having an account on popular social media networks and little more. Following are five examples of recent retail social media offerings that leverage social media’s unique ability to engage consumers, improve operations and boost profits.

American Eagle – ‘Rock Your Walk’

New York -- Instagram is adding advertising to its application. The popular photo-sharing app, which was acquired by Facebook last year, informed users about the change on its blog.   

BitPay, a payment service provider specializing in e-commerce, B2B and enterprise solutions for virtual currencies, is now offering translations into 10 languages plus English for its entire checkout experience.

Merchants servicing international customers can now present bitcoin payment instructions in the buyer’s native language, allowing merchants to more easily conduct business in emerging markets.

A recent string of media reports has focused on major retailers that track customers who return merchandise. While the plaintiffs’ bar and the media are seeking to transform return monitoring into a headline-grabbing consumer privacy issue, the practice is hardly new, it is certainly justified as an anti-fraud measure and any litigation or compliance risk should be mitigated by appropriate disclosures.

By Pascale Juan, I Love Velvet

As the payments industry moves at lightning speed and technology changes rapidly, it can be a challenge to keep pace with the security payments and standards of the mobile payments industry. In addition, one of the most frustrating areas of mobile security is the challenge of navigating global security requirements. As a global brand, using mobile point-of-sale (MPOS) requires compliance with the differing security certifications and methods in various countries.