Today in the Connected Economy: TikTok Debuts New Ad Features

Today in the connected economy, TikTok rolls out new features to help brands advertise their wares on the popular social media platform. Plus, PYMNTS looks at the prevalence of Apple Pay, and Grubhub teams with Bank of America to offer cardholders free Grubhub+ membership.

TikTok Aims to Blend Content and Commerce With ‘Shopping Ads’

TikTok is launching “Shopping Ads,” a service designed to help brands “meet shoppers wherever they are in the purchase journey” and increase demand and sales. The service comes with three offerings that can be adopted and combined. Video shopping ads let brands place “hyper-relevant, shoppable videos” on the For You page, so that users can browse a company’s products, while LIVE Shopping Ads are designed to attract shoppers who are more likely to buy. There’s also the Catalog Listed Ads tool, which lets brands promote their “product catalog at scale with new placements across TikTok,” with no video assets required.

Apple Pay No Sure Bet as Contactless Cards Dominate

Eight years after its launch, Apple Pay is making significant inroads into commerce, thanks largely to Apple’s “patience” and “pestering,” according to The Wall Street Journal. The percentage of iPhones with Apple Pay activated is now 75%, up from 50% in 2020. That doesn’t mean that transactions are happening, just that they can happen. However, 90% of American retailers now accept Apple Pay. Still, PYMNTS research found that the mobile wallet landscape is small compared to overall transactions, and Apply Pay has just a 2.8% share of all in-store transactions.

Bank of America, Grubhub Offer Food Delivery Perks to Cardholders

Bank of America has teamed with Grubhub to offer the bank’s eligible cardholders a 12-month free membership to Grubhub+. The membership lets cardholders make purchases with no delivery fee on orders of $12 or more, while also getting other perks from restaurants on Grubhub.

QSRs Split Between Metaverse Future, Gaming Platform Present

CKE, the parent company of quick-service restaurant (QSR) brands Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, has teamed up with Twitch to let Twitch streamers and viewers create custom menu items. Gaming and streaming platforms like Twitch, which already have a wide user base, could be a safer bet for brands than diving into the metaverse. Twitch has 31 million daily viewers, compared to the 300,000 monthly users coming to Meta’s Horizon Worlds, where Wendy’s hosts its metaverse.

Ripple, Brazil’s Travelex Bank Add Crypto-Based X-Border Payments

In an effort to use cryptocurrency for cheaper, faster cross-border payments, enterprise blockchain and crypto solution provider Ripple has joined forces with Travelex Bank to bring RippleNet’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) solution to Brazil. Ripple’s ODL tool lets customers send money across borders instantly and at a low cost. Travelex Bank is a digital bank operating exclusively in foreign exchange.

Bond Financial Debuts Custom Credit Builder Card

Embedded finance platform Bond has launched a Credit Builder Card that makes it easier for FinTechs and other companies to introduce a secured credit card to their customers. Powered by the Mastercard network and issued by Bond’s sponsor bank Evolve Bank & Trust, the card was developed to be customized to companies’ needs. Bond said the card is designed to help brands and FinTechs help credit-challenged customers rebuild their credit histories and boost their FICO scores.

Wix Partners With Vyne on A2A Payments for UK Merchants

Open banking payments platform Vyne has teamed up with Wix, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) content management system. The partnership gives Wix merchants in the U.K. access to Vyne’s account-to-account (A2A) payments infrastructure. Merchants that use Wix can offer customers the ability to pay using their mobile banking app.