GameStop’s eCommerce Transformation, ID Verification, Installment Plans Top This Week’s News

In this week’s news, we saw Chewy’s founder selected to head up GameStop’s eCommerce transformation, in addition to new insights on ID verification and installment plans. The Weekender is here to catch you up.

News

Chewy Co-Founder Tapped To Lead GameStop’s eCommerce Transformation

Video game retailer GameStop has selected Chewy Co-Founder Ryan Cohen to head up its migration to eCommerce.

Snap Makes Quick Pivot Toward Super Apps

Snap Inc., parent of the popular social media platform Snapchat, has always shied away from being labeled as a social media company. Its preferred tag was a camera company. However, Snapchat is looking less like either these days and more like a firm aiming to build itself into a super app ecosystem for users.

Roblox Stock Skyrockets During First Day Of Trading

Roblox, the digital gaming company, went public Wednesday (March 10) through a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange, which had set a reference price for the firm’s stock at $45 per share. Just like a hero in one of its games, however, the firm’s stock exceeded that figure, opening at $64.50 and climbing to a high of just more than $73 and ending the day at $69.50.

Digital Intermediaries Threaten The Payments Status Quo

The collapse of the lines between the physical and digital worlds during the past year has set into motion the rise of new (and the acceleration of current) digital intermediaries, such as PayPal, that have more and more control over the checkout experience — because they have aggregated sizable pools of individuals and merchants around the value proposition of choice, safety, convenience and the ability to save the consumer time.

Mastercard’s Nets Deal Paves The Way For Real-Time Account-To-Account Transactions

Dealmaking — and clearing regulatory challenges — is paving the way for real-time payments to make the jump from concept to reality. Progress continued as Mastercard said on March 5 that it completed the purchase of a majority stake in Nets’ Corporate Services business after meeting conditions set out by the European Commission.

PayPal’s Magats: 2021 Is The Year Of Three-Dimensional Commerce

When we consider what made the holiday shopping season different last year, it isn’t just about how digitized it was. The real seismic shift, PayPal SVP of Omni Payments Jim Magats recently told PYMNTS, wasn’t only a temporary channel switch-up forced on individuals and retailers by the necessity of the situation — it was a preview of what the new cross-channel consumer journey will look like, and what retailers will need to provide to keep up with customers’ needs.

Trackers And Reports

NEW DATA: Digital Lessons From Main Street’s 2021 SMB Survivors

A number of Main Street small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have been closed in the last year; however, others have managed to stay on an even keel. These companies have modified their operations to satisfy their quickly evolving financial needs and have put into place new, innovative technologies and cash flow management procedures to increase the resiliency of their operations amid uncertainty. What do these “Main Street Survivors” do differently than the rest?

TD Bank Takes Real-Time Approach To ID Verification

Many American and Canadian banks have historically required that clients open accounts in person at offices. But the pandemic is changing the game, making financial institutions (FIs) take another look at the practice as more individuals turn to online banking. Biometrics can offer frictionless security in real time for banks that need to satisfy customer identification program (CIP) and know your customer (KYC) requirements.

PYMNTS explores with TD Bank why the future of digital ID verification involves harnessing a combination of offerings to address these two needs.

Carhartt Outfits Tradespeople With Installment Payment Plans

Younger shoppers might not be able to comfortably afford all the merchandise they want from some brands until they progress higher in their career and income levels. However, buy now, pay later (BNPL) options can make a different by dividing prices into installments that are easier for individuals to handle.

PYMNTS explores with workwear retailer Carhartt how providing BNPL can fuel brand awareness, lead to bigger and more frequent orders and assist merchants in appealing to broader customer bases.

Fun, Cool And Otherwise Interesting

One Year: How Consumers Have Changed In Response To COVID

PYMNTS’ first pandemic conversation with consumers took place five days before the first lockdowns became effective last year, and PYMNTS continued to talk with consumers throughout last year and into this year. Their estimates for the duration of the pandemic have persistently stretched out over time.

Stitch Fix Reports Q2 Loss Due To Higher Costs, Slower New Customer Growth

Stitch Fix, the digital personal styling service, said it swung to a $21 million loss last quarter because of heightened shipping costs, higher inventory reserves and increasing compensation and benefit expenses.

Dorsey Tweet Auction Make To Crypto A Household Word

As reported this week, Twitter Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey is auctioning off the first-ever tweet. It’s being auctioned as a non-fungible token (NFT), which means that the tweet takes its place as a one-of-a-kind holding — digital currency memorabilia if you will.

Mastercard And Samsung Partnership Could Introduce Biometrics To New Audience

As of this week, Mastercard and Samsung have confirmed a partnership deal in Korea that will see them develop a biometric card that harnesses a built-in fingerprint sensor to give permission for in-store transactions.

Olo Highlights Five Key Takeaways In S-1 Filing For IPO

After filing a S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in February, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) firm Olo announced the rollout of its roadshow for an initial public offering (IPO) on Monday (March 8).