Trends Of The Week

Over the past week, PYMNTS.com’s brief’s coverage in this newsletter has spanned a broad variety of issues. In this column, we take a look at five common elements that link many of those stories, in essence making them the “trends of the week.”

Cards

Coin, the device that looks to stand as an electronic replacement for credit and debit cards, is coming to market.  It will just be arriving somewhat later than originally forecasted. Click here to learn more about the card-replacement’s plans.

Russia’s Laitbank is expected to begin issuing 10,000 China UnionPay cards this month. Click here to learn how long the two have been in talks and about the issuance expectations.

People who also use prepaid cards are the leading users of mobile payments in the U.S., research released this week show. Click here to learn more about which prepaid card users are the biggest users.

American Express and Discover tied for the top spot in J.D. Power’s annual U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study. Click here to find out what made them stand out.

Delta Air Lines has settled with Visa and MasterCard over an alleged collusion with issuing banks over the setting of interchange rates. Click here for details.

Commerce/eCommerce

Amazon hopes to use its newly launched payment-card reader as a first step in turning hundreds of thousands of small businesses into a brick-and-mortar presence for the e-commerce giant. Click here to learn more about the purported strategy.

McDonald’s is going national with a mobile ordering and payment app. Click here to learn how it intends to use the app to drive more sales.

Teen-focused retailers Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle Outfitters and Aeropostale have lost their cool image and are now turning to social media and improved supply chains to compete with cheaper, trendier rivals. Click here to learn where those teens have gone.

Office-supplies giant Staples has launched a “buy online, pick up in-store” program in the face of weak sales and declining profits. Click here to learn just how bad things had gotten.

Visa, which in July launched a no-card-number option for online transactions called Visa Checkout, has added several big-name payment processors to extend the reach of the service. Click here to learn which ones.

Global sales are a huge priority for Walmart, but of its largest non-U.S. markets, the world’s largest retailer struggles with China the most. Click here to learn why.

Verizon Wireless has selected mobile commerce services provider Danal to provide authentication services for mobile commerce. Click here for the details.

Mobile

Zumigo, which uses location data from mobile devices to secure financial transactions, has raised $6 million in Series B financing. Click here to learn how it plans to use the funds.

The payments dark side of that mobile madness: the very real potential for huge margin shrinkage. Click here to learn what this might mean for mobile strategies.

Citi has launched its own digital wallet for online purchases. Click here to learn which card brand its wallet supports and what advantages cardholders might expect.

Amazon sold only 35,000 of its new Fire phones in the first 20 days after it went on sale in July. Click here to learn what this might mean for the online marketplace provider.

Bank branches in the U.S., which have been closing at a rapid pace as retail banks try to cut costs, are actually rising in popularity among customers. Click here to learn how mobile-banking services are playing a role.

7-Eleven is about to start installing the Belly mobile CRM app in 2,600 of its stores. Click here to learn why the move isn’t surprising.

Starbucks, which has been experimenting with its Pick of the Week promotion that lets customers download music and apps while in a Starbucks store, is again trying something new: This week’s Pick of the Week for iOS users was an in-app purchase. Click here for more details.

UK publisher IPC Media and Silicon Valley mobile payments startup Boku reportedly have partnered to create a “Text-to-Pay” package that will offer IPC’s top print magazine subscriptions to individuals via text. Click here to learn how the process works.

Hotel chain Marriott has expanded its mobile check-in and checkout service from its flagship Marriott Hotels to 11 other brands owned by the chain. Click here to learn how many hotels are affected.

Security

More than 1,000 merchants have been hit by the Backoff malware. Click here to find out how long the computer virus went undetected.

The theft of 4.5 million patient records from a Tennessee hospital chain should have banks worried about both fraud from identity theft and the security of their own networks. Click here to learn why.

But some Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative customers are being told to mail their prepaid card to a specific address. Click here to learn why they shouldn’t.

A huge cyberattack attack in which crooks reportedly stole copies of gigabytes of banking and checking account details affected JPMorgan Chase & Co. and at least one other bank. Click here to learn more about who apparently was behind the attack.

Dairy Queen’s 4,500 franchised stores appear to be the source of the latest payment-card breach. Click here to learn more about how the apparent breach was detected.

The massive payment-card breach at Target in December triggered nearly 60 class-action lawsuits that have now been combined into a single amended complaint filed this week. Click here to learn more about what’s at stake.

At least 10 states, led by Connecticut, Illinois and Florida, are investigating a large-scale data breach at eBay that was revealed in May. Click here to find out what they’re looking for.

Social

A new report out now suggests “how” part of Twitter payments will come from a partnership with Stripe. Click here to learn how such an arrangement would work

Mobile payments took another great leap forward in China earlier this week, with the announcement that WeChat users can now use the messaging platform to pay their utility bills. Click here to learn more about what the Tencent company’s strategy is to build its service.