Insights
First Data synthesizes industry knowledge, real-world experience and potential opportunities into key insights. These Insights are as integral to the way we do business as our products and services. Change—specifically innovative, pioneering change—represents opportunity. Our experts offer points of view on various topics to help you navigate today's ever-changing technology and the future of payments.
Brian Frey
Trying to do my part to improve the state of the economy, I went to the mall to treat myself to some new clothing and jewelry. As I waited in line to pay for my purchase, a woman in front of me with limited knowledge of English asked me the cost of the item she had in hand. I thought that she couldn’t read the price ticket so I rattled off the price. She apologized and said she could read the tag but didn’t know if it was a "good price."
Continue Reading Perspective: Foreign Shopper Confusion and Dissatisfaction
Julie Bohn
Consumers are increasingly choosing debit over credit. Many members of Generation Y have always used debit cards–39 percent of Gen Yers use their card at least 15 times each month, according to Aité Group’s 2009 report Engaging GenY: Cultivating a New Generation of Banking Customers–and other consumers are making the transition as a way to re-structure how they control their spending.
Are you making that switch worth their while?
Continue Reading Perspective: What Do Consumers Really Think About Debit Rewards? And What Can You Do About It?
Don Davey
Both Collection Operations and Credit/Risk teams use the words "predictive analytics" but the groups clearly interpret their meaning very differently. I call this the Great Disconnect, as it seems to be universal across organizations -- creditors and agencies, large and small, sophisticated and unsophisticated -- and because it has had a profound impact on the use of analytics in collections.
Continue Reading Perspective: Understanding the Great Disconnect
Anne Howard
Holiday shopping season is upon us and it’s time to get your shopping lists together! Consumers will be preparing for holiday shopping while trying to stay on budget. Many struggle with finding the perfect gift that’s affordable, but still meaningful. Gift cards are the perfect solution.
Continue Reading Perspective: How to Make Gift Cards Special this Holiday Season
Souheil Badran
Setting up an international business or cross-border Web is a complex endeavor. Most successful merchants will say it’s worth the effort, but newcomers will face a few challenges.
Continue Reading Perspective: Challenges and Risks in Cross-Border eCommerce Expansion
Anne Howard
Decreases in consumer spending continue to pose a challenge to merchants, and although gift and spending cards remain popular with consumers, many program managers have watched gift card activations decline over the past year. Here are a few tips to help you get the most out of your gift card program through the holiday season.
Continue Reading Perspective: Five Gift Card Marketing Ideas for the Holidays
Christopher Cox
At First Data, we’re working hard to help make Near-Field Communications (NFC)-enabled mobile commerce a reality. Many companies across the payments industry share the vision of an NFC future for commerce and activity in this space seems to be accelerating.
Continue Reading Perspective: Accelerating Mobile Commerce with Trusted Service Management
Souheil Badran
As the global eCommerce market continues to expand, merchants are presented with huge revenue and growth opportunities. But until recently, many merchants have relied on a single Web site to serve customers around the world.
While many companies still rely on this model, the one-size-fits-all approach is increasingly being displaced by cross-border eCommerce.
Continue Reading Perspective: Challenges and Opportunities of Cross-Border eCommerce
Julie Saville
First Data recently announced an agreement with PayPal® that allows debit cardholders in the STAR® Network to link their debit cards to PayPal accounts right from their financial institution’s online banking site. This is an industry first and we’re excited to be working with PayPal to help consumers feel more comfortable when they shop online.
Continue Reading Perspective: Linking STAR® Debit Card Accounts to PayPal®
Craig Tieken
First Data has teamed up with RSA, the Security Division of EMC, to launch the First Data Secure Transaction Management service, a layered security solution that will eliminate the need for merchants to store payment card numbers at the point of sale. Eliminating storage could dramatically decrease the cost and complexity of complying with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
Continue Reading Perspective: Layered Security at the Point of Sale
