In this week’s news, we saw Robinhood lure new clients with a $100,00 giveaway, and WWE SummerSlam vendors victimized by systemwide outage. The Weekender is here to catch you up.
News
Robinhood To Give Cash To New Clients
Low-cost brokerage company Robinhood has scheduled what it’s calling a “$100,000 summer giveaway sweepstakes” to attract new clients, according to an announcement.
Program participants don’t have to join Robinhood or use its services to win one of 200 $500 prizes, but they must apply for Robinhood brokerage accounts and link their bank accounts to Robinhood or refer someone else who applies successfully for a Robinhood account and links a bank account. Winners will be notified by Sept. 16.
Walmart Launches GoLocal Last-Mile Delivery For Other Retailers
Walmart has unveiled a white-label, last-mile delivery service in the U.S. to help other retailers meet their customers’ delivery demands.
Walmart GoLocal builds on the retail giant’s know-how in getting merchandise to people’s doorsteps to and from every corner of the country, according to a press release on Tuesday (Aug. 24).
Visa Jumps From Payment Rails To A Ride On The Red Hot NFT Train
Visa Vice President and Head of Crypto Cuy Sheffield told Karen Webster using NFTs to buy, sell and own digital goods will pave the way for new ways of collecting — and conducting commerce across social media, retail and entertainment channels.
NFTs, he said, provide a way to make sure that what we buy is authentic, that ownership is uncontestable and that scarcity value (for those one-of-a-kind offerings) is appropriately assigned.
TSYS Payment System Outage Slams WWE Event At Cashless Las Vegas Stadium
As tens of thousands of fans watched the WWE SummerSlam, a nationwide payment system outage took home the championship belt.
Vendors were unable to complete transactions in the cashless stadium. That led to a dearth of alcohol sales — but there were reports of free soda and food being given to fans. Reports had vendors, who had been planning on the event to sell their products, not being able to sell them due to the outage.
East Africa’s Pesapal Can Operate In Kenya, Tanzania After Getting Approvals
Kenya-based Pesapal, a provider of payments processing services — primarily point of sale (POS) — is touting two recent approvals for conducting business in major East African markets.
One approval came from the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), according to a press release. Pesapal also received formal approval to do extensive business in Kenya, according to a separate press release.
Trackers And Reports
Report: Three-Quarters Of Younger Consumers Want Healthcare Payment Plans
“Generation HealthTech: How Digital Tools Amplify Millennial Patient Loyalty,” a PYMNTS and Rectangle Health collaboration, finds that millennials are more willing than older generations to switch providers to find the right mix of care and customer experience options, as well as being likelier to avoid regular engagement with a primary care physician.
Forty-four percent of older millennials are already struggling with chronic ailments, meaning medical care services must discover the digital healthcare management options that matter most to this generation and learn how to leverage them to drive millennial engagement.
New Data Shows Two-Thirds Of SMB CFOs See Payments Innovation As Key To Growth
As chief financial officers (CFOs) can attest, the past 17 months have fundamentally altered the long-term growth plans of their businesses, putting accounts receivable (AR) and accounts payable (AP) digitization front and center of their strategic visions.
Ninety-two percent of all small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the United States alone are now working to digitize their accounting functions, and 63 percent are digitizing their customer and vendor invoicing processes, according to “The Strategic Role Of The CFO Playbook,” a PYMNTS collaboration with Versapay. There are also 47 percent that are digitizing their payments processing and 26 percent digitizing collections.
Report: Lyft Uses Same-Day Pay, Free Bank Accounts To Build Driver Loyalty
The United States eCommerce sector rose 39 percent compared to the same period one year ago. Global business-to-business (B2B) payments slipped between January and June, however, and it appears that convenience, or a lack thereof, is the crux of the issue.
The August Global B2B Payments Playbook® examines the latest B2B payment developments, including why the increased use of banking as a service (BaaS) is making waves in the B2B space.
Fun, Cool And Otherwise Interesting
Get Ready To Meet Tesla’s Humanoid Bot Powered By Vehicle AI
Tesla’s AI Day event featured the introduction of a humanoid bot powered by the car’s autonomous fleet technology, CNET and other news outlets reported.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk provided a theatrical dancer dressed like the in-the-works bot. Little information was revealed about the humanoid — expected to be launched sometime in 2022 — except that it will be 5 ft. 8 in. tall and weighs 125 pounds. There was no prototype available at the AI Day announcement.
Topps’ Blank Check Merger Plan Strikes Out
Baseball card company Topps’ plan to go public through a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) has fallen through.
The trading card giant had struck a deal in April to become publicly traded by merging with a SPAC called Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corp. II. However, the deal collapsed when Major League Baseball and its players’ union reached new licensing deals with the online sports merchandiser Fanatics, Inc. Topps will now remain private.
OpenTable, CLEAR Simplify US Vax Proof At Restaurants
OpenTable and secure identity company CLEAR have partnered to give U.S. restaurant diners an easier way to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination through CLEAR’s free digital vaccine card, according to a press release. The integration is expected to launch in September on OpenTable’s iPhone and Android apps, the release stated.
After diners make a reservation on the OpenTable app at a restaurant with vaccine requirements, they will find a CLEAR banner on the reservation confirmation page that includes a link with details and instructions on how to create a CLEAR digital vaccine card, which connects a person’s verified identity to their proof of vaccination from hundreds of vaccine providers and national pharmacies, according to the release.
Venice Eyes Tourist Entry Fee, Advance Booking for 2022
Venice is looking to charge an entry fee for travelers to limit the number of visitors, according to a Monday (Aug. 23) report from CNBC.
The measures, which include requiring travelers to book ahead of time, pay a fee and enter Venice through electronic turnstiles could begin in the summer of 2022, according to the report. Entry fees would range between $3.52 and $11.73, depending to the season. Fees would not apply to residents, their relatives, children under age 6 or people staying in local hotels.
Alphabet’s Drone Unit, Wing, Nears 100K Deliveries
Alphabet’s drone subsidiary, Wing, is nearing 100,000 customer delivery flights after launching in Logan, Australia, almost two years ago, in addition to thousands of test flights, the company said in a blog post on Wednesday (Aug. 25).
The Silicon Valley startup said people in Logan ordered and received over 50,000 deliveries brought to them by Wing drones in the past eight months. Logan is among the fastest growing cities in Australia, and Wing has concentrated its expansion efforts on 19 suburbs, which is inhabited by 110,000 residents. September marks Wing’s second anniversary in Logan, which is just a few miles away from Brisbane.
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