The payments industry moves at the speed of light. At Alacriti, we keep a close eye on newsmakers that impact the electronic billing and payments ecosystem. Here are three recent headlines that captured our attention.
- The holiday season is upon us
The National Retail Federation® released its forecast for the 2019 holiday season. Some key takeaways include:
- November and December holiday retail sales are expected to rise between 3.8 percent and 4.2 percent over last year
- Holiday retail spending is predicted to total approximately $730 billion
- Consumers say they will spend an average of $1,047.83 this holiday season, up 4 percent from 2018
Holiday spending can throw a wrench into consumers’ budgets. This might be the perfect time for billers to offer customers the ability to skip a bill payment during the holiday season. How does it work? Learn more here.
- Uber expands into financial services with Uber Money
Uber recently announced a new financial services division called Uber Money. Through its Uber Debit account, drivers and couriers will be able to access their earnings in real-time and without incurring additional fees. They can get paid after each ride rather than having to wait for weekly paychecks or cashing out with Instant Pay.
Uber Money is also relaunching its Uber Debit Card and Uber Credit Card products, both of which feature new and improved cash back programs. This announcement is one in a series of tech companies making inroads in the financial services sector (other examples include Apple Card and Amazon Lending). However, the future of big tech in financial services may be in jeopardy. Stay tuned for updates on this blog.
- Apple Pay claims the top spot in mobile payments platform users
The Starbucks app has long been able to claim the most users of any mobile payments platform. Not anymore. In October, eMarketer released new numbers showing that Apple Pay finally claimed the top spot in 2018 with 27.7 million users. This growth is expected to continue into 2019, with an estimated 30.3 million users followed by Starbucks at 25.2 million.
