Karen Webster

Karen Webster
2025 Isn’t Just Another New Year
January 10, 2025

Just as 2024 delivered more than originally advertised, we now stand at the midpoint of a transformative decade in which the digital economy continues to evolve at an unprecedented pace. In this insightful eBook, PYMNTS.com CEO Karen Webster presents a compelling analysis of five not-so-obvious...

Karen Webster
How 15 Pivotal Events Impacted the Digital Economy in 2024
December 30, 2024

There are 52 Mondays in a year. For the last 15 of those years, I have published a piece of content on as many of those Mondays as I could. My all-time record was 56. This year I clocked in at 15. My writings in...

Karen Webster
The Eight Pivotal Strategies for Payments and the Digital Economy in 2024
January 08, 2024

One: Companies monetize certainty as businesses and consumers prize predictability. Two: Shopping shifts from buying to editing as replenishment models change retail dynamics. Three: GenAI becomes a feature, and everything has a conversational front end. Four: Platforms gain power as point solutions seek distribution, businesses...

Karen Webster
52 Mondays 2023: The Year of Acronyms, AI and the Connected Everything
December 27, 2023

The traditional look back at the end of the year that was begs the question: What have we learned? Specifically, for 2023, the question might also be: Was it all about AI? Hardly, although you’d be forgiven for thinking that artificial intelligence was the sole...

Karen Webster
The Year in Payments: From BNPL to FTX to the Digital Economy
December 28, 2022

Looking for analysis of everything from the digital economy to consumers’ instincts about inflation? Let Monday be your guide. “Monday.” It comes from the Anglo-Saxon word Mōnandæg, meaning “the moon’s day.” And long before the Anglo-Saxons, the Babylonians believed the same. Not much for moon-worshipping...

Karen Webster
The One Big Thing Apple’s Project Breakout Needs but Doesn’t Have
April 04, 2022

Project Breakout is said to be Apple’s now-not-so-secret plan to turn itself into a full-fledged payments and financial services company by building its own acquiring, payments processing, risk management, fraud and credit underwriting capabilities. As reported last week by Bloomberg, this move is intended to...

Karen Webster
52 Mondays 2021: And Just Like That, The Connected Economy Takes Off
December 27, 2021

The vintage pop song says, “Monday morning, you gave me no warning of what was to be …”   No disrespect to The Mamas & The Papas, but I do that nearly every Monday (morning).   Perhaps not warnings, but notices, alerts, signposts as to...

Karen Webster
52 Mondays 2020: The Year Of Speed, Scale And Seismic Shifts in Payments
December 28, 2020

Looking back, when we take stock of what happened and sift through the chaos and heartbreak of the year that was, we’ll see the seismic shifts that took place in 2020. I’d written back in January that “the 2020s promise to bring about a convergence...

Karen Webster
52 Monday Conversations About Payments In 2019
December 30, 2019

Mondays have a bad reputation, and that’s understandable. The magic of the weekend is fading into memory, and sometimes even the strongest coffee has a hard time sparking the engine needed for the workweek ahead. But Mondays have a different meaning here at PYMNTS —...