Today in retail, Pinterest enables a shopping page, while Flipkart introduces faster payments and easier onboarding. Plus, Aeropay and Flowhub offer cannabis sales via automated clearinghouse (ACH), and real-time data is improving consumer-packaged goods (CPG) companies’ promotional spending and fulfillment.
Pinterest Makes Itself More Shoppable as Platform Positions Commerce to Pick up Ad Slack
Pinterest has plans for Your Shop, a new feature enabling “a customized shopping page powered by our taste-driven algorithm informed by Pinners’ unique preferences and styles” along with the new Pinterest API for Shopping. The goal is to make the platform more shoppable, a trend seen from Meta and others in the space trying to make up for ad dollars lost to Apple’s recent iOS data privacy changes.
Flipkart Boosts Sellers Through Faster Payments, Easier Onboarding
eCommerce company Flipkart has announced several policy changes, including cutting payment settlement cycles and low return costs. The company has also announced travel benefits for sellers, partnering with Cleartrip. The company is focused on empowering various sellers and consumers and also promoting eCommerce in India. Flipkart has put in place a new product to help out with listing, making use of automation to convert any product image to Flipkart’s standard of quality.
Aeropay, Flowhub Team to Offer ACH for Cannabis Sales
Digital payments provider Aeropay has joined forces with cannabis sale platform Flowhub to offer ACH payments for more than 1,000 dispensaries using Flowhub’s software. Retailers who use Flowhub can now offer cashless payments at checkout, which can boost sales by more than 25% for each transaction. Customers scan a QR code that links to their bank to complete their purchases without needing to use cash or a card.
Real-Time Data Maximizes CPG Firms’ Promotion Spend, and Bottom Lines
John Gibson, advisor to Inmar Intelligence, told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster that omnichannel commerce, the huge swaths of real-time data available across supply chains and digitally savvy customers are changing the way trade funding is done. Paper promotions are giving way to new ways for CPGs to better manage trade spend. That spending covers everything from discounts to coupons to the money paid to retailers for prime in-store shelf locations.
Mattel Boasts Record-Setting $1B in FY22 Q1 Net Sales
If the reports about Mattel putting itself on the block are true, potential buyers could be getting a company on the upswing based on the toymaker’s fiscal 2022 first-quarter earnings report. The company broke $1 billion in quarterly net sales, ending the first three months of the year at a record-high $1.041 billion, up 19% from the same time one year earlier and up 22% in constant currency. The company also achieved its highest first-quarter operating income and EBITDA.
Resale Platforms and BNPL Power Sustainable Upmarket Purchases
Buy now, pay later (BNPL) is a growth industry that is already worth more than $125 billion, with projections to grow to $3.3 trillion by 2030. Some of that growth is expected to come simply from more consumers gaining awareness of the payment option, but economic pressures and aversion to high interest rates associated with other credit products also fuel its growth. That is not to say BNPL only appeals to those coping with economic uncertainty. Many high-income earners with good credit and no concern over their financial stability are turning to BNPL to make large-denomination purchases without running up interest-bearing debt.
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