News

Epson’s smart printers offer innovative peripheral connectivity for tablet-based POS
Long Beach, Calif. –- To meet the growing demand for cost-effective, reliable peripheral connectivity in mobile and tablet POS environments, Epson offers two new OmniLink smart printers, the TM-T88V-i and the TM-T20II-i.
Vantiv strategy paying big dividends
In the rapidly changing landscape for payments, market leader Vantiv is changing more rapidly than most as evidenced by dramatic growth in its transaction volume, revenues and profits.

Each of those measures surged during the company’s third quarter ended September 30. Thanks in large part to acquisitions, transaction volume in the merchant service group increased 31% which caused net revenue to increase 42% to $297.7 million. The company’s total revenue increased 31% to $697.1 million while adjusted net income increased 21% to $96.9 million, or 49 cents a share.

Verifone and MasterCard pilot card-linked taxi offers

San Jose, Calif. -- Verifone and MasterCard are providing Las Vegas taxi cab passengers with card-linked offers in a pilot program running from from Nov. 2-6. Targeted offers from merchants, in this case The Hard Rock Café on the Las Vegas strip, the Bali Hai and Royal Links golf courses and Dream Racing at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, are displayed to taxi passengers on VNET–Taxi TV screens integrated with Verifone payment terminals.
Black Friday to start early at Sears

Customers and Shop Your Way members can shop Black Friday deals at most Sears stores starting as early as 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Sears’ subsidiary Kmart, continuing a 23-year tradition as a destination for early-bird shopping, will open for 42 hours straight, from 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving to midnight on Black Friday.
Saks Fifth Avenue partners with MasterCard on holiday window display and light show

New York -- Saks Fifth Avenue’s flagship in Manhattan will unveil its holiday window display and light show on Monday, Nov. 24. Presented by MasterCard, the show will integrate LEDs, strobes, up-lights, video projections and music.
Saks holidays more festive than ever

Enchanted holidays are ahead for Saks Fifth Avenue and its shoppers. On Monday, November 24, Saks’ flagship store in New York will debut An Enchanted Experience – a new show featuring the unveiling of the store's holiday windows and a dramatic light display incorporating the entire building.

The Rockettes will perform on the opening night with a line of 36 dancers on the streets of Fifth Avenue. The windows and light display presented exclusively by Master Card will continue throughout the holiday season.
Forrester: Online holiday spending to rise 13% to $89 billion

New York --Forrester Research said Monday it expects U.S. online sales to reach $89 billion in November and December. That's up 13%, or about $10 billion, over a year ago. But Forrester analyst Sucharita Mulpuru noted that the expected growth is not as high as it could be due to a few unique constraints, including fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and capacity constraints in the already constrained carrier networks.
Advancing the Wounded Warrior cause

A powerful alliance formed by News American Marketing, Acosta Sales & Marketing and dozens of leading brands and retailers have stepped up again this veterans day to remind Americans to Believe in Heroes.

Believe in Heroes is an innovative cause marketing campaign created by Acosta Sales & Marketing in 2010 to generate awareness of the Wounded Warrior Project and raise funds for the critical services the group provides to veterans. News America, publisher of the SmartSource Magazine coupon insert, signed on to the Believe in Heroes program in 2011.
Kurt Salmon hires PwC vet in retail group

New York –- Kurt Salmon has named Brian Ehrig as a partner in its Retail and Consumer Products Group. Ehrig has spent the last 16 years creating new operational strategies and product offerings for retail and consumer goods companies, as well as leading transformation projects, including those for new market entrances and involving new retail concepts. Ehrig's most recent role was director at PwC.
Verifone expands secure commerce architecture, rebrands

San Jose, Calif. -- Verifone is making its secure commerce architecture, designed to significantly reduce merchant exposure to large-scale data breaches, available globally. The new architecture is also designed to reduce the certification burden on U.S. merchants, acquirers and other payment providers looking to enable EMV acceptance.