Karen Webster news and trends

Legacy Business Models Break

January 12, 2026

Related Trends

AI Doers Drown Out AI Naysayers
What's Trending // January 12, 2026

By the end of 2025, the conversation around autonomous AI changed in a way that had little to do with public debate and everything to do with use. In 2026, that shift makes the argument about AI hype largely irrelevant.

Online Finally Breaks Brick and Mortar
What's Trending // January 09, 2026

In 2026, online and digitally-influenced retail finally surpasses brick-and-mortar sales in the categories that matter most to modern retail. This moment has been years in the making, obscured less by consumer behavior than by how the industry measures itself.

The Labor Economy Becomes the Next Payments Innovation Engine
What's Trending // January 09, 2026

In 2026, the Labor Economy becomes one of the most important sources of economic growth — not despite automation, but because of it. As intelligence scales, demand accelerates for human labor that cannot be abstracted away.

BNPL’s Next Act Is as Consumer Working Capital
News // January 08, 2026

In 2026, Buy Now, Pay Later stops being a checkout feature and becomes working capital for the modern middle class, replacing overdraft and late fees as the default way paycheck-to-paycheck consumers manage timing gaps between income and expenses.

Interviews & Exclusives
Legacy Business Models Break

January 12, 2026
“Your margin is my opportunity” was Jeff Bezos’s way of describing Amazon’s hunger for bloated profit pools. In 2026, the real question isn’t whether margins get attacked, but who gets to turn whose margin into whose opportunity as consumers, enterprises and their agents decide how they want interactions to work, what information they are willing to share and where costs ultimately land. From Bezos to agents: who owns the opportunity.

Online Finally Breaks Brick and Mortar

January 09, 2026
In 2026, online and digitally-influenced retail finally surpasses brick-and-mortar sales in the categories that matter most to modern retail. This moment has been years in the making, obscured less by...

BNPL’s Next Act Is as Consumer Working Capital

January 08, 2026
In 2026, Buy Now, Pay Later stops being a checkout feature and becomes working capital for the modern middle class, replacing overdraft and late fees as the default way paycheck-to-paycheck...

Commerce Finds Its Voice

January 06, 2026
Voice will finally pull agentic commerce onto the mobile phone by turning complex, desktop-only “go do this for me” prompts into natural, spoken conversations that consumers can have anywhere. The...

Quick Reads
PYMNTS Launches TechREG™ Platform to Offer Regulatory and Public Policy Intelligence on the Digital Economy

December 06, 2021
When I announced the acquisition of the leading global media and content platform on antitrust and competition policy, Competition Policy International (CPI), six weeks ago, I hinted that it was the first of a series of dedicated efforts to expand our platform and content focus on the issues that would inform the future of the […]

PYMNTS Launches The Connected Economy Platform, CE 100 Tracking Index

June 21, 2021
Two weeks ago, Ferrari named its third CEO in as many years. That wasn’t the big news. This new CEO, Benedetto Vigna, isn’t a car guy but a tech guy,...

Will Facebook Overcome Its Problems In Q3 Results?

October 30, 2018
Investors have their anxious eyes on Facebook this Tuesday (October 30), as the social media operator plans to report third-quarter 2018 results after the market close. The company suffered its...

Passing The Middle-Market Automation Exam

December 16, 2016
Though many financial institutions recognize the opportunity to help middle-market businesses automate their AP payments, they have not been able to fully capitalize on the opportunity. Get the Full Story...