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IndustryUpdate

88 percent of brands rely heavily on holiday sales

A recent study by Creditsafe revealed that many brands
and retailers are facing financial challenges, including
debt, excess inventory and cash flow issues, ahead of the
year-end holiday shopping season. Despite counting on
holiday sales to drive up to 40 percent of their annual
sales, Creditsafe found, 46 percent of respondents either
lack sufficient cash to finance holiday orders or are
unsure if they do. Excess inventory from the previous
ANNOUNCEMENTS year and financial issues with suppliers pose additional
challenges, potentially leading to increased operating
costs, lower profit margins, and missed annual revenue
Juniper honors G+D, Netcetera targets, researchers found.
Giesecke+Devrient (G+D) and Netcetera won MineralTree releases state of AP report
the Juniper Future Digital Award in the Fraud and
Security Innovation category for their joint solution MineralTree, a Global Payments company, released its
eCOM Tokenizer. Juniper also recognized G+D as an eighth annual State of AP Report, focusing on modern-
"Established Leader" in the network tokenization mar- izing back-office finance processes amid macroeconomic
ket. eCOM Tokenizer converts sensitive card data into factors. Key themes include the pressure on AP teams
encrypted pseudonyms, eliminating the need to store to increase efficiency, cut costs, and manage cash flow
sensitive information and automatically updating pay- amid recessionary headwinds and remote work. AP
ment card credentials, Juniper noted, adding that this automation is seen as a critical solution, with 85 percent
solution increases customer satisfaction, sales and pay- of teams participating in the research gaining efficiency
ment card approval rates while reducing risks for busi- and 63 percent experiencing faster payments through
nesses. automation, MineralTree found. Vendor relationships
are growing in importance, with 66 percent of finance
Quant debuts key management for blockchain leaders queried emphasizing their significance, research-
ers noted.
Blockchain specialist Quant launched Overledger
Authorise, a solution aimed at enhancing the security Innovations spur growth in hospitality POS systems
of blockchain-based transactions for banks and institu-
tions. Traditional key management systems used by The global POS market, valued at $82.7 billion in 2022,
banks aren't suitable for blockchain, leading to risks such is expected to grow significantly, reaching $151.5 billion
as storing blockchain keys on employee laptops, Quant by 2030 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of
stated. Overledger Authorise integrates with existing 7.9 percent, according to ResearchAndMarkets. The mar-
enterprise key management systems, streamlining the ket is poised for expansion in the United States, China,
signing of blockchain transactions securely and reliev- Japan, Canada and Germany. The hardware segment is
ing banks of these risks, Quant noted, adding that it has expected to achieve a 6.9 percent CAGR, reaching $86.6
been successfully tested in a central bank digital cur- billion, while the software segment is estimated to grow
rency experiment. at a 9.8 percent CAGR over the next eight years. Key
players in the market include AURES Group, Diebold
Squarespace offers more ways to sell online Nixdorf, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, among others,
researchers stated.
Squarespace introduced Squarespace Refresh 2023,
bringing new products, features and updates designed Global purchase volume hits $42.7 trillion
to empower entrepreneurs and enhance ecommerce
capabilities. The highlight, Squarespace stated, is the Global payment card spending increased by 1 percent in
upcoming launch of Squarespace Payments, a native pay- 2022, driven by growth in credit and prepaid card vol-
ment solution offering seamless and secure transactions umes, according to a report by RBR Data Services. Credit
directly through the platform. Other additions the com- card spending rose 7 percent as economies recovered
pany mentioned include improvements to Squarespace from the pandemic, encouraging consumers to make
AI, client invoicing, project tracking, courses, commerce higher-value purchases, while prepaid cards, which sup-
tools, Acuity Scheduling, email marketing, Squarespace port financial inclusion, saw 9 percent growth, research-
Domains, Bio Sites Pro, expanded extensions, and tools ers found. However, they added, the value of debit card
for scaling businesses. purchases declined by 3 percent due to a significant
drop in China, where QR code payments have surged in
RESEARCH popularity. The Middle East and Africa saw 20 percent
growth in card volume, while Europe and the Americas
also saw increases.

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