Payment Options

What shoppers seem to want most this holiday season is free shipping. But at what cost? Before the end of 2012, about 90 percent of retailers say they will offer free shipping, according to Shop.org, the website of the National Retail Federation trade group. But that kind of near-universal acceptance leaves a lot of room for variety.

Square has lined up its first luxury brand partner, a new report claims. Square and the Burberry clothing chain are testing out a deal to see how the payment processing might work in its stores, The Next Web reported, citing people who claim to have knowledge of the deal. The announcement could be made soon. Burberry Chief Technology Officer John Douglas already spilled the beans, albeit unofficially. On Twitter last week, Douglas noted that Square was "live in our Burberry Brit store in San Francisco."

Citing internal research indicating that nearly two-thirds of home improvement customers shop at more than one retailer and that lack of differentiation is the culprit, Lowe's newly minted Chief Customer Officer Gregory Bridgeford identified multiple steps the retailer is taking to grow share of wallet among its customers. "There's a real opportunity to create a more differentiated brand experience and earn greater customer loyalty," said Bridgeford during a recent presentation to analysts. "We've chosen to focus on delivering better customer experiences rather than differentiating on price or product alone."

Did your customer experience get on the naughty list? Check out the following infographic to find out the top customer service mistakes made and how you can get your brand on the nice list.

The digital consumer is turning conventional marketing wisdom on its head. This fundamental shift in the way that consumers connect with brands means that retailers must evaluate how to create meaningful connections. It used to be that relationships were forged by friendly face-to-face conversations in brick-and-mortar stores. Now, those consumer connections are happening across various channels — telephone conversations, e-commerce websites, mobile devices, blogs, social media sites, in-store.

J.C. Penney announced it will celebrate Black Friday with its only sale of the year. The retailer said more than 1,100 J.C. Penney stores will open their doors at 6 a.m. on Black Friday to offer low prices on gifts for the entire family — with no coupons or rebates required. Associates throughout the store will be equipped with mobile checkout devices.

Driven by consumers’ demand for greater access to information, offers and payment functionality anytime, anywhere, through any type of device, the lines between in-store commerce, e-commerce and mobile commerce are blurring. In this emerging environment of "universal commerce," the altered payments ecosystem clearly presents both challenges and opportunities for retailers. Therefore, it's absolutely crucial to prepare now for increased store traffic and sales opportunities during the holidays.

Toys"R"Us is now offering customers the ability to shop online and pay for their purchases in-store, giving them the freedom to use cash or check, as well as credit, to make the purchase. Shoppers who use the Pay In Store option have 48 hours to visit their nearest store to complete the purchase. When paying in-store, customers must bring a copy of the order confirmation email to any register or display the email on their smartphone to make their full payment.

Online retailer Amazon will no longer be Arizona's duty-free store. Amazon noted in its latest SEC filing that it's going to start collecting Arizona sales tax on purchases in the state, which currently stands at 6.6 percent. This change comes after quite a bit of complaining from state-level authorities about Amazon skirting the sales-tax in Arizona.

Apple's Passbook virtual wallet application is being upgraded to support purchases in the retailer's stores, according to reports. The app currently allows users to store digital boarding passes, event tickets and gift cards in one place. Several companies, including Starbucks, Target and American Airlines have integrated Passbook into their customer-facing operations. Later this month, Apple stores’ point-of-sale system upgrades will allow employees to process payments via Apple gift cards loaded on the app. Future developments may include a full integration of iTunes users’ associated debit and credit cards.