Karen Webster

Why OpenAI, Amazon and Apple Want to Be the Smartphone in Your Pocket
Why OpenAI, Amazon and Apple Want to Be the Smartphone in Your Pocket
May 06, 2026  |  Artificial Intelligence

On January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs stood on stage at Macworld and introduced three products. An iPod with a bigger screen and touch controls, a...

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65% Call Insurance Essential. Why Most Spending Isn’t So Clear-Cut 
65% Call Insurance Essential. Why Most Spending Isn’t So Clear-Cut 
April 22, 2026  |  Consumer Insights

Picture two families living four miles apart in the same mid-sized American city. Both earn about $85,000 a year. Both have two kids in elementary...

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Why the Offers Economy Is Broken
Why the Offers Economy Is Broken
April 15, 2026  |  Retail

Picture a woman standing in the checkout line at her local grocery store, frantically thumbing through her phone looking for a promo code she was...

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The Battle for AI Isn’t About Models. It’s About Habits
The Battle for AI Isn’t About Models. It’s About Habits
April 09, 2026  |  Artificial Intelligence

Think about how you shop. Not how you used to shop, but how you actually shop now. You probably do most of it on Amazon....

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Why AI Shopping Is Still Just a Smarter Search Bar
Why AI Shopping Is Still Just a Smarter Search Bar
March 18, 2026  |  Artificial Intelligence

More than a year ago, I asked AI to help me buy a toaster. Not to browse. I knew exactly what I wanted, down to...

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The Next Battle in Credit Won’t Be for Top of Wallet
The Next Battle in Credit Won’t Be for Top of Wallet
March 11, 2026  |  Credit Cards

The credit industry has spent decades competing for something consumers were never actually optimizing for. Top of wallet. Issuers built elaborate rewards architectures to win...

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Welcome to the Transactional Economy
Welcome to the Transactional Economy
March 04, 2026  |  Payroll

There is a young woman in Chicago who earns money five different ways before noon on a Tuesday. She drives a rideshare app in the...

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The Three Blind Spots in How Consumer Sentiment Is Measured
The Three Blind Spots in How Consumer Sentiment Is Measured
February 26, 2026  |  Consumer Insights

In March 2020, government officials and epidemiologists were telling Americans to brace for a two-month shutdown. PYMNTS Intelligence went into the field and asked 1,923...

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What Happens to Stores When AI Agents Do the Shopping?
What Happens to Stores When AI Agents Do the Shopping?
February 18, 2026  |  Artificial Intelligence

Fifty years ago, Susan was one of more than a hundred million Americans who drove to a shopping mall an average of once a week...

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