Apple Pay is making everyday payments even better by adding support for rewards programs and store-issued credit and debit cards with iOS 9. Apple Pay will also give shoppers more ways to pay in the US, expanding merchant acceptance to over one million locations next month and bringing support for Discover this fall.
USAA’s insurance, banking and credit card businesses earned top rankings in the latest Net Promoter Score (NPS) Benchmark Study by Temkin Group. NPS identifies the likelihood of consumers to recommend a company to their friends and family, using a scoring range from -100 to +100.
First Data announced its Board of Directors has named Joseph J. Plumeri vice chairman. Plumeri was appointed to the First Data Board of Directors and as a senior advisor to KKR in August 2013. Since then he also has been serving as senior advisor to First Data Chairman and CEO Frank Bisignano, and as the head of First Data’s client delivery, innovation and marketing organization. He will continue in these roles.Since joining First Data, Plumeri has played a pivotal role in the company’s transformation from a transaction processor to a payments technology company and solutions provider to merchants and financial institutions. Plumeri has spearheaded company-wide efforts to become more client-centric, including realigning how the company delivers solutions to and serves its global and strategic accounts, national merchants and enterprise clients, financial institutions, small business clients, bank partners and agents and ISO clients. Plumeri was chairman and chief executive officer of Willis Group Holdings, plc before joining First Data. Appointed in 2000,
Mother’s Day is now only second to Christmas as the largest eGift holiday, reports CashStar, the digital gifting and incentives company. Responding to consumer demand, a number of retailers are currently offering promotions for Mother’s Day eGift Cards. According to a recent survey conducted by CashStar, almost as many mothers indicated that they would most…
First Data electronic commerce and payment processing is giving away its series of eGifts through a promotion on its eGift Social application until June 12, each week. With this, First Data will give away ten, Dairy Queen $10 eGifts and two, $50 eGifts to Sephora, Kmart, F.Y.E or Joe’s Crab Shack for them and a friend. In addition, one lucky winner will receive the $200 Sears eGift grand prize. Entrants must be 18 years of age or older and have “liked” the eGift Social Facebook page. To enter, visit the eGift Social Facebook page anytime during the sweepstakes and follow the on-screen instructions on the “Win Win Sweeps” tab. Limit one entry per person/Facebook account. A list of winners will be available on the eGift Social Facebook page.
CashStar gifting and incentives company shared eGift Card sales trends across more than 100 leading retail brands from the 2011 Mother’s Day holiday period (May 2-8). Based on aggregated data from consumers making purchases across the CashStar platform, personalized eGift Cards once again proved to drive major sales spikes during holiday shopping seasons. Key Sales Statistics for the 2011 Mother’s Day Season show eGift Card sales increased 123% between Monday, May 2 and Mother’s Day, May 8 (as compared to the week prior); Saturday, May 7 was the biggest selling day in terms of monetary value, representing an increase of 434% (as compared to the day before Mother’s Day in 2010); and Mother’s Day sales figures were up 453% year-over-year, and the number of individual cards sold that day was up 434%.
Ten merchants are now offering eGifting programs powered by the First Data electronic commerce and payment processing through its “eGift Social” solution. A Facebook app allowing consumers to quickly and easily send a tangible âitem-levelâ gift or virtual gift card to a friend or loved one’s Facebook account or e-mail address, “eGift Social” lets consumers access the application through each merchant’s Facebook page or website and select one or multiple friends to send gifts to; either by adding them from Facebook or entering their e-mail address. The sender selects which item-level product or virtual gift card they would like their friend to receive, adds a personal message and proceeds through the secure checkout process. The recipient receives a Facebook message, e-mail or both, with an alert that they have received a gift, the account number and redemption instructions. Initially with Cold Stone Creamery in July, several more national merchants having joined the ‘Marketplace’ include Kmart; Sears; Sephora; Dots; f.y.e.; Boston Market; BURGER KING; ; Culver’s; and Joe’s Crab Shack.
IT security provider Vendor Safe has signed an agreement with MA-based
BackBay Restaurant Group to offer “PCI Managed Security Services.” Through
the agreement, Back Bay will secure its transaction processing using
Vendor Safeâs PCI Managed Security Suite, a single source solution for
rapid, low-cost credit card fraud prevention. The PCI Managed Security Suite enables restaurants and other credit card
merchants to secure their environment, going beyond the PCI standard.
Standard components include the “Global Security Mesh/ VPN”, a managed gateway solution providing
best-in-class security: “HotSpot Plus”, a robust wireless solution with four segregated
wireless networks and the “TrustVault Certificate”, a $50,000 guarantee against breaches.
Retail management solution provider Tomax has rolled out the “Retail.net solution” at Pamida. Pamida, a regional retailer operating more
than 200 stores in 17 states in the Midwest United States.
Pamida uses Retail.net “Merchandise Management”, “Store Operations” and
“Customer Management” to centralize applications and data, which
facilitate real-time transaction management and information collection. The Tomax Retail.net suite helps
retailers integrate people and processes and providing timely, relevant,
actionable information to improve retail results. The Tomax customer base
includes over 100 branded retailers including Air Terminal Gifts, The
Andersons, ALCO Stores, Coach House Gifts, EZ Lube, Kelly-Moore Paints,
Pamida, Party City, Raley’s Supermarkets, ShopRite, Snyders Drug Stores,
Sportsman’s Warehouse, Trader Joe’s, Travel Traders, Winn Dixie, and 24
Hour Fitness.
Wright Express payment processing/information management services is set to acquire Financial Automation Limited (FAL) by the conclusion of 3Q/08, allowing the company to offer fleet card solutions to major oil companies in international markets. Definitive agreements have been signed to acquire the assets of FAL for approximately US$9 million. In conjunction with these developments, the payment processor is appointing Joe Czternastek GM of international operations, bringing with him over 25 years’ executive experience in the European corporate fuel card market. Wright Express provides its services to nearly 300,000 fleets of more than 4.5 million vehicles and markets its payment processing services for more than 125 strategic relationships, providing the MasterCard-branded corporate card.
Experian has hired Joseph M. Paulsen, previously with Fair Isaac, as SVP and GM of Integrated Marketing Services (IMS) business. Paulsen was the general manager of Fair Isaac’s Marketing Services Business and had full P&L responsibility for their multi-channel marketing database business. While there, he improved operating performance, increased revenue by 15 percent and grew margins by 200 percent in a short period of time. He also served as director of operations for Consulting Services and was a member of FICO’s executive committee. Prior to running Fair Isaac’s Marketing Services business, Joe held various executive positions and was a consulting partner at PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
Payment solution provider Comdata has named Joseph Daly, previously with Ceridian, to the role of SVP and GM of merchant solutions. Daly was director of internal audit for Ceridian Corporation, Comdata’s parent company, where he was responsible for the execution of a risk-based operational, financial and information technology annual internal audit plan. Before joining Ceridian, Daly was the compliance director for CIGNA Government Services and was a vice president with Deutsche Bank N.A. Daly began his career with Dreyfus Corporation as a senior auditor in 1988. He holds a Bachelor of Science in accounting from Binghamton University and is completing his Masters of Business Administration from Trevecca Nazarene University this year.