Blog

Building The Agentic Commerce Channel: Lessons from Payments Past

It’s hard to discuss today’s retail landscape without the words ‘agentic commerce’ sparking either fear or excitement amongst merchants. Rightly so: autonomous agents that can shop on behalf of customers, adapt to changing environments and even make purchases are a far-cry from the generative AI systems the world is only just getting used to.

Payments Data Augmentation for Subscriber Retention

In today’s subscription economy, growth isn’t just about sign-ups — it’s about keeping the customers you already have. Failed payments are one of the biggest threats to retention, with declines from expired cards to insufficient funds putting lifetime value at risk. Simply retrying isn’t the answer. The key? Smarter data for smarter retention.

The Hidden Cost of Menu Price Inflation: Rising Payments Fees

The dining industry is facing a perfect storm of rising food costs, labor shortages, and shifting consumer behavior. But there’s one often-overlooked area operators can control: payments.

Capital One’s Discover Acquisition: A Payments Industry Game-Changer

The Capital One acquisition of Discover makes it the 3rd largest credit card issuer by volume in U.S., which could mean significant impacts to U.S. payments industry stakeholders, including merchants and consumers.

European Payments: New Methods, Less Madness

The European payments landscape is evolving rapidly, shaped by innovation, increasing competition, and a growing demand for cross-border capabilities. From regulatory shifts to local scheme expansion, merchants face new challenges and opportunities as they navigate this dynamic environment. This blog will focus on three of the fastest changing areas: the growth of contactless payments, market harmonization developments, and stablecoin regulation.

CMSPI Global Payment Policy Summit – The Path to Payments Modernization

In July, CMSPI was proud to host regulators, merchants, industry partners, and trade associations to engage on the most pressing topics in payments policy around the world.

Back to Basics: Card Network Models and Global Card Costs

The world of payments can be confusing, so it’s important to refresh ourselves with the basics of the industry. In this blog, we will breakdown three- and four-party card network models, review the key players, analyze the cost structure and look at card costs around the world.

How Have U.S. Card Fees Grown Since 2006?

U.S. merchants face some of the highest credit card swipe fees globally. On November 19, 2024, the Senate Judiciary Committee revisits this issue in a hearing titled “Breaking the Visa-Mastercard Duopoly: Bringing Competition and Lower Fees to the Credit Card System.”

Fraud Wars: How Tech, Shifting Attitudes, and Organized Crime Are Redefining Online Retail Security

In the high-stakes world of online retail, three forces are shaking up the fight against fraud: cutting-edge technology, changing attitudes towards what feels like fraud, and increasingly cunning organized crime. Are merchants ready to tackle these evolving threats? Dive into our latest blog to uncover how these elements are transforming ecommerce security and what retailers need to do to stay ahead.

Five Common Mistakes When Evaluating the PINless Debit Business Case

Payments teams love flexibility almost more than they love incremental savings. While PINless debit can offer both flexibility and savings, when talking PINless debit, however, many merchants claim that they don’t see a large enough opportunity to invest in the solution. Unfortunately, many merchants may not be evaluating PINless granularly enough to properly evaluate the potential savings.

Boosting Transaction Approval Rates: A Guide to The Tools on The Market

In their 2024 report, the Merchant Risk Council found that ‘revenue’ was the most highly ranked payments KPI among merchants. Here, we break down five industry innovations intended to maximize the success of good transactions.

The Complexity of Payments: A Driver of Costs or An Opportunity for Savings?

As complexity mounts, many merchants find themselves grappling to control their expenses, leading to unnoticed elevated fees. However, some merchants are ushering in a new era of payments optimization where embracing complexity drives savings, rather than cost increases.