Retailers began offering customers stamps they could collect and redeem for big-ticket items such as bicycles at the turn of the 20th century, and all in hopes of winning repeat business. Over the years, companies like S&H grew to the point that nearly eight in 10 American households participated in their rewards programs. When S&H relaunched in the early 2000s, it adapted to a more modern feature of loyalty programs: the ability to collect and analyze customer data. Today, companies such as Punchh are building on that legacy with new offerings — including chatbots.  Read More...

Google’s launch of Google Pay today is neither the beginning nor the end of the tech giant’s plans for payments, according to Pali Bhat, CEO of Google Payment Corp. Google Pay is different because it can turn any existing Google consumer touchpoint into a secure Google Pay payments credential, he explained. Think YouTube, Play, Assistant and Chrome — then think cross-channel, cross-platform and the hundreds of millions of consumers and tens of millions of merchants that do business across them. After that, think Amazon-challenger.  Read More...

According to Andre Lyver, Shopify's head of payments,  the problem with checkout is that it grinds commerce to a halt by pushing the customer through a tedious set of steps that seem almost destined to cause him to bail. In a recent conversation with PYMNTS' Karen Webster, Lyver explained why traditional checkout, in his view, has overstayed its welcome — and what’s taking its place.  Read More...