Leaders and analysts at the intersection of retail and payments are predicting the longest and largest year-end holiday shopping season ever recorded. And this issue's lead article cites plenty of data to back them up. From the National Retail Federation to Bloomberg Intelligence, Blackhawk Network to Mastercard, Adobe Analytics to Food Marketing Institute, experts are not worried that pandemic-related supply chain issues and fears about inflation will inhibit the flood of transactions online and at physical POSs during the final weeks of 2021. Now is a time when payments professionals can celebrate after working diligently to help merchants seamlessly mesh payments and other business services to improve their efficiencies and profits.
Gaining new business and combating attrition remain challenging and require updating sales approaches in the new normal brought about by changes in consumer purchasing habits during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. One contributing writer discusses just what kind of adjustments are needed now to uncover and address merchants' pain points. Other topics explored by our contributors include changes the pandemic caused in the alternative finance sphere; the benefits of working with a partner, as long as you pick the right one; challenges ISOs face in balancing a spectrum and determining what level of risk a processor will accept; and why it's important to not rush to judgment when a payments equipment or services provider falls under government scrutiny.
The stories highlighted in news briefs herein cover a recent research revealing that 83 percent of 100 executives surveyed are disabling collaboration features to protect sensitive data and maintain regulatory compliance; a recent FBI raid on the Florida offices of PAX Technology; the PCI Security Standards Council's recent Global Community Forum, which was hosted online and attracted nearly 3,500 attendees; Plaid's new "ecosystem" of payments partners devised to make it easier for consumers and businesses to make digital payments funded by their bank accounts; the NRF's year-end holiday predictions; the establishing of November as Crypto Literacy Month and other developments in the cryptocurrency realm.
Remember to check out the updates on recent milestones in our sphere, along with new company and product profiles through which many payments pros have found new partner leads. If you have questions or want us to report on a particular area of interest, please email greensheet@greensheet.com, and to share news, send a press release to press@greensheet.com. 
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