Whether it’s planning for a first date to the movies or a honeymoon vacation, most consumers today do so online.
Industries of all types are embracing the potential of embedded payments to not only sell products, but to help plan and purchase experiences as well, and are rolling out new solutions in hopes of securing their slice of the pie.
In the June Payments Powering Platforms Tracker™ powered by WePay, PYMNTS explores the latest developments in the platforms space, including how new payment-powering platforms are disrupting business ranging from wedding registries to local movie theaters.
Around the Payments Powering Platforms World
Next time consumers head to the cinema, they might be buying tickets from their cable box.
With telecommunications provider Comcast and digital movie ticketing firm Fandango working to get more moviegoers into theaters, they’re turning to cable TV. A new partnership between the pair is aimed at allowing movie fans to find show times and purchase movie tickets via a microphone implanted in their Comcast Xfinity X1 remote.
Elsewhere in the platforms space, one new partnership could mean big things for eCommerce retailers. Solutions provider BigCommerce recently announced it would partner with Chase to enable merchants using its platform to accept payments in their online stores via Chase Pay. The partnership is designed to enable merchants to display a Chase Pay buy button on their websites and connect with both their own and Chase-powered loyalty programs.
For more on these stories and the rest of the latest headlines from around the space, check out the Tracker’s News and Trends section.
Turning to the Crowd to Fund Honeymoons
Millennial consumers have become famous for their preference for new experiences over products, prioritizing trips and excursions over material goods.
And, many soon-to-be-married millennials are taking to online crowdfunding platforms to help fund the experiences of their dreams.
Those platforms include Honeyfund, an online wedding registry platform that CEO and co-founder Sara Margulis said is designed to help couples raise money for a range of expenditures they may not be able to afford, from a far-flung honeymoon to a down payment on a dream home to even a year of housecleaning.
“We attribute a lot of what we’ve done to givers who visit couples’ pages and get super enthusiastic about the idea of contributing to the snorkeling, or [to] the VIP river cruise in Paris,” Margulis said. “We found that wedding guests love giving toward a couple’s honeymoon. A lot of that has been the result of that experience-giving trend.”
PYMNTS recently caught up with Margulis to find out more about the company, and how it has worked to combine gift cards with crowdfunding to give couples a fee-free romantic getaway.
To read the full feature story, along with the latest Payments Powering Platforms headlines and trends, and rankings of more than 100 industry providers, download the Payments Powering Platforms Tracker™.
About the Tracker
The Payments Powering Platforms Tracker™, powered by WePay, serves as a monthly framework for the space, providing coverage of the most recent news and trends, along with a provider directory highlighting the key players contributing across the payments-integrated platform ecosystem.
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
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