News

Loyalty & Rewards
Brooklyn Dumpling Shop CEO: Inventory Management Key to Customer Loyalty
August 14, 2023

As restaurants’ loyalty efforts become more important amid today’s macroeconomic pressures, inventory management technology can be key to customer retention. In an interview with PYMNTS, Stratis Morfogen, owner and CEO of Brooklyn Dumpling Shop, an automat-style chain with a handful of locations in the Northeast (and more...

Artificial Intelligence
From PopeGPT to the Pentagon: All Eyes on Gen AI Oversight
August 14, 2023

Artificial intelligence (AI) holds seemingly unlimited potential to impact nearly all areas of human activity across personal, professional and social life, as well as politics and the global economy. AI has even captured the attention of organizations as disparate as the Pentagon and the Catholic Church’s...

Retail
A Tale of 2 Brands: Macy’s Ramps Up Private Labels as Amazon Backs Away 
August 14, 2023

While Macy’s is making its plans public to enhance its private business, Amazon is reducing its focus on private-label operations.   This summer, Macy’s announced its plans to launch four private brands by the end of 2025. The first brand, called “On 34th,” is scheduled to...

Investments
Mastercard Investment Values MTN’s FinTech Group at $5.2 Billion
August 14, 2023

South African telecom MTN now counts Mastercard among its investors. The company announced Monday (Aug. 14) that the payments giant had agreed to a minority investment in its FinTech group, valuing that side of the company’s business at $5.2 billion. At the same time, MTN made a commercial agreement with Mastercard...

Security & Fraud
The Trade-Off With That Free, Unexpected Package You Received — Your Identity
August 14, 2023

Have you received an unexpected package lately? It might be from Amazon, Home Depot, or any other retailer you can think of. While receiving an unsolicited package might seem like a pleasant and cost-free surprise, it’s important to keep in mind that nothing truly comes...

Payments Innovation
Dynamic Routing Boosts Merchant Conversion Rates and Customer Loyalty
August 14, 2023

Andy McHale, senior director of product and market strategy at Spreedly, told PYMNTS in an interview that in the age of digital commerce, dynamic routing can be key to customers’ loyalty to merchants. And to get there, it helps to differentiate payments orchestration from payments optimization....

Social Commerce
Report: ByteDance Seems to Be Mixing TikTok With Lemon8
August 13, 2023

TikTok is apparently attempting to integrate with Lemon8, its sister social media platform. That’s according to a report Friday (Aug. 11) by TechCrunch, citing information by product intelligence company Watchful.ai. The collaboration appears to involve TikTok creating a feature that lets users sync Lemon8 posts to TikTok, and...

Payment Methods
Amazon’s Palm Payment System Aims to Challenge Apple and Google
August 13, 2023

Is Amazon’s palm payments method a serious challenger to Apple and Google? Or is it a “solution in search of a problem?” A report Friday (Aug. 11) by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) examines those questions as Amazon prepares to launch its Amazon One palm scanning payment method at more than...

Retail
McDonald’s, Domino’s Launch Merch Collections, Will You Bite?
August 12, 2023

Food meets apparel. It’s an interesting twist that many restaurants, specifically quick-service-restaurants (QSRs), have pursued in a bid to diversify their offerings, tapping into a wider audience and expanding their reach. QSRs are looking to engage customers beyond their dining tables or screens, and fashion...