Karen Webster

Are You Ready For 2015’s Retail Reinvention?
January 05, 2015

What does retail today have in common with retail in 1982? Everything – and nothing all at the same time. And if you want to know where it’s going, and what it means for you, here are some clues. Starting with Jane Fonda. Last week,...

PYMNTS Greatest Hits
December 31, 2014

I wrote about 260,000 words over the last year summarizing my take on the many developments taking place in payments and commerce. All of those words were intended to be thought-provoking and start a dialogue about the future of our industry. And they did! Here...

Did You Listen To Your Payments’ Sixth Sense This Year?
December 29, 2014

Yep. It’s that time of the year – when we pause to reflect on the year that was as we prepare to embark on the year that will be. And, 2014 was quite the year in payments – one that got more interesting and intense...

What Payments Will Look Like In 2015
December 22, 2014

Last week I laid out the 10 things that happened in 2014 that I believe will shape the direction of payments for the next decade. Those 10 things range from the breach at Target, which galvanized the once -fractured merchant community in the U.S. around...

The Ten Things That Changed Payments In 2014
December 15, 2014

Ah, yes, it’s the most magical time of the year. Predicting what the next year holds for all of us in payments. The internet is already filled with tons of predictions about who will do what, when in 2015. The hustle and bustle of shopping...

Alternative Finances
How Many Consumers In Apple Pay’s Bushel Basket?
December 08, 2014

Talk about poking a hornet’s nest. MPD Founder and economist, David Evans, wrote a piece on Friday about Apple Pay that got a lot of people talking. In it, Evans basically said that he was ready to make a call on Apple Pay and much...

Financial Inclusion
What Do The God Particle, Yodeling and Knights Have To Do With The Future Of...
December 01, 2014

“Vague but exciting.” These three words could be used to describe just about any early-stage idea when it’s first presented. I’ll bet every investor or strategic partner has had the same reaction to many of the ideas they’ve been pitched over the years to reinvent...

Commentary
Weird Stuff In Payments
November 24, 2014

“The path to any success is lined with disasters.” Adam Davidson wrote a pretty thought-provoking article on failure that was published in The New York Times a couple of weeks ago. This quote from his piece sums up his assertion that innovation today is a...

Karen Webster
The Sure Fire Merchant Interchange Fee Fix
November 17, 2014

I’m sure you’ve heard by now that the internet was on fire last week, and nearly broke. Yes, there was that Kim Kardashian Paper magazine cover that apparently got a few clicks. But what really set tongues a waggin’ – in payments at least –...