Payments by the numbers

Following are research highlights from recently published payments industry reports.

First Data releases September SpendTrend

First Data Corp.'s September 2012 SpendTrend monthly comparison of year-to-year, same-store consumer spending by payment type showed dollar volume in credit grew 2.3 percent; debit rose 8.9 percent; PIN debit was up 9.7 percent; closed-loop prepaid grew 6.4 percent; and check payment dollar volume declined 6.4 percent. For more information about First Data's monthly analysis, visit www.firstdata.com/infoanalytics .

Trends in Canadian payments

Payment data collected by the Canadian Payments Association and published in the Examining Canadian Payment Methods and Trends report revealed that in 2011, cash remained the most widely used retail payment method, representing 46 percent of total volume; debit cards placed second at 16 percent; and credit cards ranked third at14 percent. Prepaid cards and electronic wallet/person-to-person payments posted the highest annual growth rates: 47 percent and 40 percent, respectively.

Aite projects cloud will transform POS

An Aite Group LLC report, Hey, You, Get Onto My Cloud: Mobile and Cloud Transform the POS, projected cloud-based payment processing volume in the United States will reach $199 billion in 2017, up from an estimated $15 billion in 2012. "Mobile- and cloud-based technologies continue their assault on legacy payment infrastructure," said Rick Oglesby, Aite Senior Analyst and the report's author. Cost efficiency and enhanced value-added services were cited as key drivers.

Retail business intelligence update

Retail Systems Research LLC released a report titled Retail Business Intelligence: A Work in Progress. Based on a survey of 81 retailers about business intelligence (BI) challenges and opportunities, the report found 22 percent of retailers with revenue under $250 million have had a BI strategy in place, and 35 percent are budgeting to give employees mobile access to BI tools and data. To download the report, visit www.rsrresearch.com/2012/10/11/retail-business-intelligence-a-work-in-progress .

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