5 Things to Start Your Day: Fed Top Cop Slot; Cross-Channel Retail; Card-Not-Present Friction; Amazon-Walmart Smackdown; Buy Now, Regulate Later 

It’s Wednesday, April 13 and retail news is topping headlines as the buy now, pay later sector goes under the microscope of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Card-not-present transactions are also being scrutinized for having oddly high decline rates, and cross-channel retail rules the shopping landscape.

1. Fed Top Cop Slot: Getting nominees squeezed past the 50-50 split Senate has proven an arduous task for the Biden administration, once again trying to fill the slot of vice chairman of banking supervision for the Federal Reserve. Michael Barr, former assistant treasury secretary for financial institutions during the Obama administration, is rumored to be the leading contender. READ MORE
2. Cross-Channel Retail: The pandemic necessity of pickup and delivery at retailers is now an ongoing necessity because consumers demand it. Failing to offer all means of shopping — including physical stores — could leave merchants behind. The 2022 Global Digital Shopping Playbook: U.S. Edition by PYMNTS surveys consumers and businesses about the trends that drive consumers’ shopping decisions. READ MORE
3. Card-Not-Present Friction: Everyone loves card-not-present (CNP) transactions — until the unexplained declines start adding up to lost sales and angry customers. CNP declines are three times higher than declines with card present transactions, Bank of America’s Sara Walsh told PYMNTS’s Karen Webster. And the reasons for the higher declines aren’t clear.  READ MORE 
4. Amazon-Walmart Smackdown: Amazon knocked Walmart from retail top spot last year for the first time in its 27-year history. The eCommerce giant rings up more retail sales in every category except three — food and beverage, consumer health and personal care – and it is gaining even more ground against its competitor in two of them. In Amazon Versus Walmart Q4 2021: The Ongoing Battle For Consumers’ Retail Spend, PYMNTS takes a deep dive into how much of total consumer retail spend Amazon and Walmart managed to win in the final months of 2021. READ MORE 
5. Buy Now, Regulate Later: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sought comment to learn more about the buy now, pay later (BNPL) industry, which topped $97 billion last year. Michael Emancipator, vice president and regulatory counsel at the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), told PYMNTS that BNPL providers should be subject to additional regulatory oversight to ensure consumers are protected.  READ MORE