We at PYMNTS hope you had a terrific week, and that you did not miss any big news from the worlds of payments and commerce. We have you covered in the latest edition of the PYMNTS Weekender. You can read about how food trucks can help untangle the marijuana payments knot, the link between the Netflix series “Stranger Things” and Big Tech, Google’s rebound, PayPal’s problems and much more.
Top News
Uber Debuts Subscription Service Bundle
The pass, which costs $24.99 per month, offers a fixed discount on rides, free Uber Eats delivery and free rides on JUMP bikes and scooters. Uber is testing various discounts in different cities, including San Francisco and Chicago. Other iterations of the pass include free Uber Eats delivery after a certain price threshold is met.
Visa CEO: FY 3Q, Acquisitions Continue Drive to Be ‘Network of Networks’
Visa posted fiscal third-quarter results that showed a rebound in cross-border transactions, and continued gains in payments volumes overall.
Nevada Marijuana Dispensary Uses Food Trucks to Sidestep Cards Regs
No one would ever mistake a marijuana dispensary for a food truck, but that is what one shop in Reno, NV calls itself when charging customers’ credit cards.
PayPal’s Q2 Rattles Investors
According to PayPal, you can call it a hiccup or a delay, but not a loss – and not lost sales. Either way, Wall Street was down on PayPal’s growth forecasts when the payments giant reported earnings, sending shares skidding roughly 7 percent.
What “Stranger Things” Teaches Us About Attacks on Big Tech
The current complaints about Big Tech are pretty much the same as complaints that go back hundreds of years (based on the paper trail), or perhaps longer. Karen Webster digs deep in a new column.
Alphabet Spells Out Google’s Rebound; Ad Revenues Gain 19 Pct
In the latest quarter, as has been seen before, the bulk of revenues, at roughly 84 percent, were driven by the advertising business, where growth rebounded to almost 20 percent year on year to $32.6 billion – and where growth in the first quarter had moderated sharply from rates that had been north of 20 percent and a bit more than 15 percent in the most recently reported quarter.
Amazon’s Third-Party Sales Grow 23 Percent in Q2
Nothing lasts forever – and even for Amazon, the good times cannot always roll. A week and a half after celebrating its biggest-ever day in terms of sales and member sign-ups on Prime Day(s) 2019, Amazon is facing a rare rash of investor skepticism after falling short of analysts’ pre-release predictions.
Trackers and Reports
Inside N26’s Fraud Protection Strategy
Fraudsters are muscling their way into new territories when it comes to how they approach consumers for their personal information. As such, both banks and businesses are looking to artificial intelligence (AI) and biometrics to keep fraudsters at bay.
Supplier Onboarding: What 1,040 AP Professionals Say They Would Change
There is no standard onboarding process, so businesses are largely free to design their own. Most firms cover the basics, by collecting suppliers’ names and addresses (72.5 percent do this) and credit information (65.9 percent). Still, others use onboarding to verify much more specific information, like new business partners’ ownership structures (30.7 percent do this) and whether a new supplier is restricted by international sanctions (26.7 percent).
Fun, Cool and Otherwise Interesting
Libra’s Long Week in Washington
While we cannot accurately say that David Marcus’ were the worst two days a Facebook executive has ever had in front of Congress, that statement is more a testament to how rough some of Facebook’s recent congressional hearings have been. PYMNTS digs deep.
Pro-Pot SAFE Banking Act Hits Roadblock in US Senate
Among the main stories in payments in recent months has been the increasing push to reform federal banking laws so that legal cannabis retailers can move away from their cash-based businesses and further into the world of the digital payments. On Tuesday (July 23), that push lost some steam, at least temporarily.
Amazon Go Has Spawned Imitators, But Also Innovation
The online retailer launched its 13th store in New York City last month and features the ability to use cash, answering a complaint that has been lodged at unattended retail generally.
Pet Retail and CBD Combine Innovative Forces
Retail trends and innovation can come from unlikely places, and that seems to be the case now when it comes to pets and CBD, two hot areas of commerce that are intersecting.
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
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