Merchant Warehouse Releases 2014 First Quarter State of Payments Update

Focused on four main quadrants, the Merchant Warehouse State of the Payments Industry examines and provides up-to-date information covering all aspects of the payment industry from consumer credit trends to important information on regulations and technology.

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Merchant Warehouse

Feb 21, 2014, 02:43 ET

BOSTON, Feb. 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Merchant Warehouse has released their first 2014 State of Payments quarterly update. Focused on four main quadrants, the Merchant Warehouse State of the Payments Industry examines and provides up-to-date information covering all aspects of the payment industry from consumer credit trends to important information on regulations and technology.

In consumer credit, the U.S. saw a 4.4 percent jump in revolving credits annual rate. This marks the largest single quarterly jump since 2008. While US consumers continue to expand their credit usage, they have also steadily increased their reliance on debit cards. According to Mastercard, the average yearly spend per debit card grew over 30 percent between 2007 and 2013.

The quarterly update also covers the emerging technologies available to both consumers and retailers in the merchant services space. While the focus for most emerging mobile payment options are on QR codes and NFC, the update also tracks the emergence of BLE, Bluetooth Low Energy. BLE offers a number of technological features not available in its competitors, but one of its biggest advantages is BLE is already available on more than 200 million iOS devices in conjunction with Apple's iBeacon platform, and many Android devices already support it.

This quarter's update also takes time to review the recent holiday season, and notes that while both online and offline sales were up from 2013, online sales saw a dramatic increase. As consumers continue to become more comfortable with purchasing items online, and retailers continue to optimize their web and specific mobile presence this trend will likely continue to dominate especially in certain markets.

ISOs, retailers and merchants looking to learn more on mobile payments, emerging technologies, updates on EMV regulations and deadlines, as well as information on new ventures such as the upcoming release of MCX are encouraged to read the full update from Merchant Warehouse at http://merchantwarehouse.com/state-of-the-payments-industry.

About Merchant Warehouse

Merchant Warehouse is a leading provider of payment technologies and merchant services. The company's solutions enable merchants to more effectively connect and engage with their customers regardless of how, where or when they choose to shop. Merchant Warehouse's flagship technology solution, the Genius™ Customer Engagement Platform™, supports both traditional and new payment types, including mobile commerce, from a single countertop acceptance device.

http://merchantwarehouse.com

SOURCE Merchant Warehouse