The payments industry is a compelling space, but it’s a time consuming one as well. You might not have time to keep track of every major story and trend or every funny and fascinating tidbit that we cover on everyone’s favorite payments site.
With that in mind, we bring you What’s In And What’s Out: a weekly look at the best stories from the PYMNTS.com EMEA newsletter, and a bit of light reading before you take off for the weekend.
Make sure to understand What’s In so you avoid being part of What’s Out!
Online Shoppers Confide In Social Media
What’s In: Reading online customer feedback on Facebook pages, product conversations on Twitter and using blog reviews to help determine which pair of jeans will fit your body best.
What’s Out: Buying a new pair of jeans online and asking your boyfriend if they make your butt look big. If he says no, he could be lying. If he says yes, it could be his last word …
What Happened: Avoid breakups and breakdowns when you receive items you’ve purchased online with the help of social media. A new study by HubSpot surveyed online shoppers from around the world and asked them how they used social media networking to make purchasing decisions.
PYMNTS.com found out that 59 percent of consumers follow their favorite brands or stores on social media sites such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Those interacting with such sites said they found product reviews to be informative and effective. Moreover, 52 percent of businesses claimed many new consumers were often recruited through Facebook “like” pages.
One thing is certain: We can count on social media to speak the truth. They don’t have anything to lose by telling online shoppers those jeans could be a tight squeeze.
Fast Food Gets Faster In Britain And Kuwait
What’s In: Expediting the wait time for yourself and others by using NFC capable technology. Use your smartphone or contactless card to pay for your routine Starbucks cup in the UK, or a cheeky Big Mac run in Kuwait.
What’s Out: As always, digging for exact change or typing in a PIN number is never a good look. Keep in mind, coffee-deprived customers can be frightening, and this can be equally true for those craving a McDonald’s fix.
The choice is yours.
What Happened: This was an NFC-charged week in the international payments space. U.S.-based Starbucks announced the launch of contactless payment terminals in UK stores. Further east in Kuwait, fast-food chain McDonald’s and Kuwait International Bank selected Seamless to launch an NFC payments pilot.
Both countries are really emphasizing the “fast” in fast food with these new contactless solutions.
Packing Light For European Holidays
What’s In: Traveling to Ibiza for a summer holiday and traveling to the beach with a feather-light wallet free of cash. (Maybe next summer Europeans will start traveling with just an eWallet.)
What’s Out: Traveling to Ibiza for a summer holiday and losing all of your coins in the sand because your purse tipped over at the beach.
How will you pay for those tropical drinks now? No bueno!
What Happened: This summer Europeans are saying “no” to cash, as new research from MasterCard revealed that holiday-goers prefer to reach for plastic when making payments.
Interestingly, MasterCard’s report indicated that the majority of Europeans even think having a card on hand during holiday trips was more important than having it at home. Ninety-one percent said they would rather pay with card over cash when traveling, compared to the 60 percent who claimed to have this preference at home. Moreover, 53 percent said they would like to make more purchase on card when away.
Read the full report to see how Europeans are making payments on holiday this summer.
Buy It With Barclays’ New App
What’s In: Walking by a cosmetics advert in Waterloo Station and scanning the QR code with your smartphone to purchase your fourth bottle of nail varnish this week.
What’s Out: Walking by a cosmetics advert in Waterloo Station and running into Boots to buy the featured nail varnish, only to miss the last train home. It’s a shame you didn’t download the new Buyit app.
What Happened: This week Barclays announced its customers using the Pingit payment app will soon be able to scan QR codes on billboards and print ads to shop via mobile. The initiative has been dubbed “Buyit,” but Barclays left us hanging, and said the launch would come “shortly.” Watch this space!
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
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