In any industry, there are influencers whose opinions matter the most for all stakeholders involved. The Payments Industry is no different and the top executives in this sector drive the goals for many organizations. When it comes to payments, brands like Visa and MasterCard are the pre-eminent leaders in the current ecosystem, so what have the senior most leaders of these two giants been saying about payments? We have compiled some exclusive comments from Charlie Scharf, CEO of Visa, and Ajay Banga, CEO of MasterCard, as they relate to various aspects of the industry:

Regional grocer Niemann Foods is one of the first independent supermarkets to leverage iBeacons in storefronts to provide customers with personalized offers and new in-store services via its branded mobile application. Niemann Foods is teaming up with location analytics firm Birdzi and its Shopper Engagement Platform to roll out the technology to all 45 of its bricks-and-mortar stores in Illinois, Missouri and Iowa by spring 2015. 

Budweiser was the centerpiece of a campaign that leveraged a heartwarming Super Bowl ad and the Minibar Delivery mobile application to drive beer sales during the widely watched game and high-priced advertising showcase. Upon the airing of the brewer’s “Lost Dog” commercial, which starred the lovable little pup who stirred viewers’ hearts in an ad in last year’s Super Bowl and Budweiser’s iconic Clydesdale horses, Minibar sent a push notification to thousands of smartphone users of the Minibar app, prompting them to buy the beer through the app. The resulting huge jumps in orders, dollar sales and engagement point to …

A beacon service can be defined as a location-based service making use of low-power Bluetooth for short-range communication to provide various types of information for those around beacon terminals. As online-to-offline (O2O) is emerging as a new promising segment of the mobile industry, beacons are rising as an opportunity for innovation. The beacon is extremely low-power and thus free from problems with smartphone batteries compared to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. In addition, it has a wider communication range and many more uses, positioning itself as a next-generation communication technology following Bluetooth and NFC. 

Alibaba will acquire 25 per cent stake in One97 Communications, the parent of mobile commerce firm Paytm, as the Chinese eCommerce giant makes its debut in the rapidly expanding mCommerce space in India. Ant Financial Services, part of the Alibaba Group, today said in a statement it has entered in a strategic agreement to acquire “a 25 per cent stake in One97 to support the growth of mobile payment and commerce platform in India”.

Vodafone has filed an application with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the Payments Bank licence. The company said its exploring options for partnerships and would look to leverage its telco experience in the mobile payments space. Note that RBI’s deadline for accepting payments bank applications ended on the 2nd this month. Previously, Vodafone subsidiary Vodafone M-Pesa Limited (VMPL) has received a three year renewal of its prepaid wallet license in November last year. Prior to this, Vodafone had a two-year license through its subsidiary Mobile Commerce Solutions Ltd which expired the same month. The company will have to merge its prepaid wallet business  if …

Marketers that develop new channels to reach mobile shoppers will be the winners in the automotive space this year as brands boost budgets to establish their identity with on-the-go buyers and hard-to-reach millennials. With United States retail vehicle sales poised to reach their highest level in years, the auto ad market in the months to come will increasingly reflect mobile’s role not just as a direct response channel, but as a branding platform. The shift reflects the industry’s attempt to connect with buyers whose expectations have risen amid the mobile mind-shift.

Adidas is driving pre-orders for its limited-edition sneakers with the adidas Confirmed mobile application, the footwear sector’s first app designed to offer consumers the ability to reserve the shoes from their smartphone thanks to geo-targeting technology. The Confirmed app’s technology will be able to verify a customer’s location to prevent computer systems from gaming the system and interfering with launches via social media promotions. Consumers interested in purchasing the brand’s limited-edition sneakers can receive push notifications when a release is nearing, and promptly reserve a specific shoe size and location for pick-up within the app.

Yhouse founder Wang Liang helps luxury consumers connect with high-end services. Yhouse, a leading Chinese high-end lifestyle Internet company, opened the door for a new mobile Internet business model in China. Wang Liang, the founder of Yhouse, shares with Metropolitan (MB) the story of his brand and his insights regarding China's mobile Internet and high-end markets. MB: How did you come up with the idea to create Yhouse? Wang: Yhouse came from the Internet's economic transformation. During the era of desktop computer-based Internet, the high-end crowd had basically no chance to surf the Internet. They have to handle business during working hours and …

It’s becoming harder to call LINE a messaging app these days. After building up a platform for playing games, sharing stickers and even texting refrigerators, it’s now launching a grocery delivery service, initially in Thailand. Last year its rival WeChat launched e-commerce and food delivery services too. These once-humble chat apps are evolving into sprawling platforms from which users can communicate, play, shop and even book taxis. Driving this expansion is the search for new revenue streams. While mobile ads have been a surefire moneymaker for social networks like Facebook, they don’t work for messaging apps. Nobody wants to see a banner pop up while texting their friends. Yet LINE still managed to book revenues of $338 million in 2013 …