Payment Options

Payments innovation is no longer about simply adopting artificial intelligence. It’s about pairing intelligent systems with human-in-the-loop accountability so that compliance, context and ethics evolve as quickly as the technology itself. In 2025, AI reshaped payments. In 2026, it will redefine them. Retailers, payment service providers, and the platforms that support them are entering a…

January often means merchants can finally exhale after the holiday sprint. Demand has normalized, but something feels off. The register was busy. Sales looked good. So why does the bank account tell a different story? If this sounds familiar, you're not alone (and you're not bad at business). You're just experiencing something most small merchants…

Retail crypto spending jumped 125 percent in 2025, a signal that shopper preferences are shifting faster than many retailers realize. What was once primarily speculative is quickly becoming practical and commonplace. Consumers are using digital assets, especially stablecoins, to make everyday and high-value purchases. Retailers preparing for this change now will be positioned to capture…

Holiday spending is heating up, but so is consumer debt. Adobe projects online spending to grow 5.3 percent this season, with 27 percent of shoppers having financed big-ticket purchases like appliances and vacations over the 2024 holiday season. The rise in financed purchases is part of a broader credit expansion that’s defined the past decade of online retail. Easy…

This holiday shopping season is projected to record the slowest sales growth since the pandemic, as 84 percent of U.S. consumers plan to cut back on spending. For retailers, that means traditional levers like promotions and discounts may not be enough to close sales. In an environment where hesitation often equals cart abandonment, the checkout…

Over the past decade, cryptocurrency has evolved from a niche investment to a mainstream financial tool. While many retailers once viewed crypto as experimental or speculative, consumer demand has shifted and shoppers increasingly are expecting the option to use digital assets for their everyday shopping. For retailers competing for attention and loyalty in a crowded…

Now that the United States no longer makes pennies, there's a scramble among gas stations, fast-food chains and big-box stores to adjust prices and round cash transactions, and it could potentially eat into their profits. Pennies are drying up faster than retailers anticipated following President Donald Trump's decision earlier this year to halt production of…

In this episode of Total Retail Tech Insights, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Paul Paradis, president of Sezzle, a mission-driven fintech empowering the next generation with interest-free installment plans that enhance purchasing power online and in-store. Listen in as Paradis discusses Sizzle's founding and what differentiates it in the buy now, pay later (BNPL) landscape (1:05),…

In the race to improve margins and elevate the customer experience, retailers are optimizing every corner of their operations. However, there’s one often-overlooked area that could be quietly draining revenue and driving away loyal shoppers — failed payments. A solution gaining ground among leading retailers is network tokenization. This is a technology that not only…

Small American retailers are under mounting pressure to match the service levels provided by larger brands, especially when it comes to payments. Consumers now want the same seamless checkout experience — and variety of payment options — regardless of whether they’re buying from a national chain store or a local independent. Small businesses are upgrading…