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Tag: transactions

  • Yelp’s New Focus on ‘Transactions’ Starts with Food Delivery

    Yelp, one of the leading places online to find both quick information and reviews for a variety of business types, wants you to be able to do more without leaving its cozy confines.

    To that end the company has just unveiled Yelp Platform, which they say will make transactions easy – and performed directly through Yelp.

    The first step in Yelp Platform involves food delivery. Beginning with a small pilot group of participating restaurants, Yelp will now allow users to order, pay for, and schedule delivery or pickup right from the site. No need to leave Yelp.

    But the food is just the beginning. According to Yelp, they want to be able to provide “transactions” for a bunch of different types of services:

    We’ll be rolling out Yelp Platform category by category, beginning today with food delivery and pickup. Starting now, people can order food directly from a select number of restaurants supported by delivery.com and Eat24, like NYC’s Harry’s Italian Pizza Bar and Layaly Mediterranean Grill in SF. Eventually, consumers will be able to order whatever meal they’re craving for delivery or pickup at thousands of local restaurants across the US, directly from those businesses’ Yelp listings.

    In the coming months, we’ll add categories like spas, yoga studios, salons and dentist appointments starting with Booker, Intuit’s Demandforce and MindBody. Consumers can expect us to add more categories in the future.

    So not only will you be able to order Chinese takeout straight from Yelp, but you’ll also be able to schedule your dentist appointment to clean those cashew chicken-glazed teeth.

    Yelp says that the new transactions (for food) should be ready on the desktop & mobile site plus on Yelp for iOS (Android coming soon).

    Unlike services like Amazon Prime or the new Google Shopping Express pilot program, Yelp isn’t actually delivering anything there. What they are doing, however, is setting up a transaction service that makes it easier for users to buy, schedule, and book directly from yelp.com and from mobile.

  • Walmart’s New “Pay With Cash” Feature Lets You Shop Online Without Plastic

    Walmart is looking to expand the reach of its online store by offering customers the chance to pay for their orders with cash. Of course, this new feature will allow shoppers without plastic to take advantage of the many items that are available online – thousands more than are available in stores. This is the first venture of this type from a major retailer.

    Here’s how it will work:

    First, you find what you want on Walmart.com, add it to your cart, and proceed to checkout. While you’re checking out, you’ll see that there is now a “pay with cash” option alongside the traditional plastic options. Once you select that, you’ll receive a confirmation number and email receipt.

    After that you have 48 hours to take your receipt to a Walmart store and pay for your item. Once they get your cash, they’ll ship it to the store or your house.

    This new “pay with Cash” online option is available in every U.S. Walmart store as well as their Neighborhood Markets (the grocery-type stores).

    Walmart says that there is definitely a market for this new service. They site figures from the FDIC that say one in four households are either “unbanked” or “underbanked,” meaning that they have little to no access to banking options. These people, naturally, make most of their purchases with cash. But out of the “unbanked,” 81% have interent access. Considering those facts, it’s hard to say that this isn’t a smart move by Walmart. They say the majority of transactions made at their stores are cash anyway (this includes debit), with only 15% consisting of credit cards.

    @Walmart
    Walmart    Prefer to pay cash and not use a credit card? Pay cash for online orders at http://t.co/n0hIxl5o. http://t.co/6CTYfIOM #paywithcash 1 hour ago via SocialEngage ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    “Many of our customers shop paycheck to paycheck and are looking for more ways to purchase items online but don’t have the means to a credit, debit or prepaid card,” said Joel Anderson, president and CEO of Walmart.com. “Our new ‘Pay with Cash’ offering is designed just for them. It makes it easier for our customers to shop the way they want, where they have access to a broader product selection at Walmart.com coupled with the convenience of payment and shipping as they want.”

    What do you think? Will this help Walmart expand their clout in the online shopping sphere? Will customers take advantage of it? Let us know in the comments.