May 2012
1 post
Who Doesn't Have a Digital Wallet?
Last week, both Visa and MasterCard announced digital wallet initiatives. With so many players now in the eWallet space, it’s going to be interesting to see what leads to differentiation. Almost every player is delivering a similar platform with payment storage, instant offers / discounts, and online / mobile functionality. As such, this space is feeling like a land grab - whoever owns the...
April 2012
5 posts
5 tags
Leave Your Change Purse at Home
In 2020, your back will finally stop aching. According to a new Pew survey, in 8 years the majority of americans believe that all of their in-store payment transactions will occur digitally. That means: no more cash, no more credit cards, and no more coupons.
The Pew survey found that 65% of respondents agreed with the below statement:
By 2020, most people will have embraced and fully...
5 tags
Mobile Opportunity
For some reason, merchants appear to be focused the wrong things when it comes to mobile payments. Everyone is attracted to the shiny object - digital wallets. But, why would I (or anyone) trust a retailer with all my credit card information? Merchants have very little right to win in this space, especially from a consumer trust perspective (of course, apple being the exception).
There appears...
6 tags
Square (The New Groupon?)
Square is the hottest payments company on the planet … right now. This quora post got me thinking about whether or not square is actually as great as everyone thinks it is.
It’s an interesting thought because square has received nothing but amazing press. They have created an aura of inevitable success around the business. However, as you think about the industry, their success is...
5 tags
Rewards
Credit and debit card rewards programs are losing their touch. There are now seven hundred different points or cash back options available, and everyone from AMEX to your local credit union are using the bait. Despite the widespread adoption, they are, in my opinion, one of the least impactful motivators of loyalty.
Many businesses fundamentally believe that loyalty = rewards. But, from Apple...
March 2012
4 posts
Not Raising Money
Over the past few months, I have talked to lots of people about the fundraising process. And, across the board, everyone has told me that when meeting with investors for the first time, solely focus on gaining advice. It’s important to establish early in the meeting that I am not looking for money, just feedback. This makes sense for many reasons - I will not dwell on them all in this post....
Battle Royale in Mobile Payments
Today Eventbrite announced that they are entering the payments arena. They will now be competing against Square, Paypal, Intuit and others for small merchants seeking to accept credit and debit card payments. After being ignored for over 40 years, it is amazing how quickly this space has caught on fire - square was founded in 2009 and since then we have seen a number of major payers follow them...
4 tags
The Purchase Journey
Before I write about specific payment forms and technologies, I think it would be helpful to first write a post on the consumer purchase journey. An understanding of the consumer experience is extremely important in the evaluation of different businesses and creation of new payment mechanisms. And as obvious as this sounds, it appears as though many companies...
3 tags
The Opportunity
I’ve recently decided to take the seemingly insane leap to start my own business. This decision was catalyzed a few months ago, after I developed a complete fascination with the impending innovation in the financial services space. I worked at a firm called Fahrenheit 212, where we created new businesses and were compensated based on their success. I ended up working for a national retailer,...