Karen Webster

What does Generation Z want from their bank? A million data points and a PYMNTS Intelligence study later, we start to find some answers.

Walmart’s new strategy — reaching younger, hipper audiences with upscale product — is compelling but may face challenges, says Karen Webster.

The growing use and adoption of Apple Pay’s Wallet in-app threatens how banks now think about digital wallets, writes Karen Webster.

Karen Webster says the CCCA, if passed, may have unintended consequences that undermine its intended benefits and beneficiaries.

Karen Webster says consumers aren’t using BNPL any differently than credit cards to pay for the groceries in their basket at checkout.

Trying to get rid of the middleman seems to be a universal business pastime. Companies spend billions trying to “go direct” to gather first-party data,

Karen Webster offers her annual take on things that she thinks anyone with a stake in payments and the digital economy should have on their to-do list in 2024.

Each Monday, Karen Webster publishes her musings on payments and the digital economy. In 2023, there weren’t as many musings as Mondays, but all packed a punch.

Karen Webster’s Saturday morning run turned into an IRL examination of how PayPal’s online payments friction-fighting moniker may have lost its luster.

Karen Webster says analyze early adopters and how to size the mature market; those who show up at the start aren’t enough to a carry product over the finish line.

Karen Webster says the GenAI operating systems playing field is getting crowded with Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and OpenAI and their visions for content and devices.

Microsoft’s $13B OpenAI investment came with no seat on the board; Karen Webster calls that an existential threat that could put their entire GenAI future at risk.

Shopify is hoping that the 1% Shop Cash program will ignite the Shop App, but Karen Webster says it’s probably not causing a lot of sleepless nights in Seattle.

Any split-payments POS lending is called “buy now, pay later,” despite a range of products and personas involved. Karen Webster says BNPL has its Kleenex Moment.

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Amazon, with Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh, is hiding in plain sight, capable of disrupting how and where consumers find, buy, pay for, and eat their food.

Is Apple Pay Later really a threat to pure play BNPL providers such as Affirm, Afterpay and PayPal? Karen Webster says probably not.

Apple’s reported plan to bring payments and financial services in house is tough to pull off because Apple needs one thing it doesn’t have: a commerce ecosystem.