ADN’co Payments Insight – May 2014

Square reshuffles its business model

• UNITED STATES – Square is giving a second thought to its product lines and puts an end to Square Wallet.

Merchants first. Square is trying to improve the adoption of its POS services and increase its profits. Square Wallet seems to have fallen prey to an aggressive but necessary strategy.

Groupon continues its battle for new retail locations

• UNITED STATES – Groupon launches a new iPad-based POS system called Gnome. This attempt to diversify also leaves room for deal-of-the-day services (its initial focus).

Google Play’s unexpected move

• INTERNATIONAL – Google Play now accepts PayPal payments. boosting its app sales or staying away from rival offers, Google had to make choices…

Amazon crafting its seamless masterpiece

• UNITED KINGDOM / UNITED STATES – Amazon lets its users add items to their shopping cart via Twitter.

Guiding principle: seamlessness. Amazon still aims for a multichannel approach and considers every possible solution to streamline the purchasing process. The 1-Click pioneer also unveiled Dash a short while ago. Its partnership with Twitter matches a diversification strategy that might benefit the microblogging website, too: Twitter’s interest in the e-commerce sector is no secret.

BillGuard helps users avoid security threats

• UNITED STATES / CANADA – BillGuard presents an alert system to keep its users informed of security breaches. A two-fold interest for this tool that makes the most of the Big Data trend: developing users’ awareness of security risks and catering for BillGuard’s service.

Innovative strategies with focus on budget management

• NEW ZEALAND – BNZ redesigned its m-banking service by adding categorisation possibilities that used to apply to its savings offers only. This system is now proposed to manage daily expenses, in line with its customers’ expectations.

This new service highlights a focus on cardholders’ choices and their ability to stay in control of their accounts. Transaction tracking and authorisations, card blocking features and budget categorisation are high added value services with strong development potential.