Reblogged from WordPress.com News:
This is a guest post by Kristina Chang, Evan Moore, Tony Xu, and Omer Rabin; students at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
“What makes a blog popular? What drives page views?” These are the questions that we've been trying to answer over the last few weeks. We were on a mission to dig into the data and analyze the strongest parameters that influence the flow of visitors to WordPress.com blogs.
On Sunday, we celebrate Father’s Day, and we wanted to be sure to extend a warm wish and a thank you to all of the Fathers who are also Family Caregivers of Veterans.
Happy Father’s Day to all our military dads
Because of you, our nation’s heroes are able to stay at home, in their own communities, surrounded by those they love.
Thank you to all Fathers who are taking care of our Veterans. On behalf of our entire staff, we wish you a very happy Father’s Day!
For most in the prepaid space, Green Dot’s (NYSE: GDOT – Jun 14 2:14pm ET: 18.76 down -0.78; down -3.99%) announcement it had agreed to acquire the Walmart-branded prepaid card business from GE Capital Retail Bank (GE) was no surprise.
After all, GE and Green Dot took a big ego hit when Walmart (WMT) pushed the GE/Green Dot-issued Walmart prepaid Visa MoneyCard off its coveted exclusive perch on Walmart’s retail shelves to make room for the newly hatched, largely fee-free and feature-packed American Express Bluebird card.
No one knows how much Green Dot Bank will shell-out to acquire the deposits underlying the remaining Walmart Visa MoneyCard, or the consideration paid to GE, if any.
One thing’s for sure, someone probably took a big hit in the prepaid pocketbook on the program.
GDOT said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday will get the deposits from GE at par and will issue future deposits on the cards. Pending regulatory approval, the deal is expected to close in the second half of 2013.
The filing did not disclose the dollar amount of the deposits, but some estimates put it in the $38 million dollar range – we’ll keep you posted. Walmart and GE, who both once owned (and may still) a big chunk of Green Dot agreed to the change.
Green Dot’s agreement to issue the Walmart Visa Money Cards runs through May 2015.
Green Dot had been service provider and effectively the program manager of the Walmart prepaid Visa cards, with GE Bank serving as the issuing bank since the cards were introduced with a ton of hoopla and fanfare in late 2006.
Walmart shoppers are far more interested in bananas than the Walmart Visa Money Card.
The cards were expected to revolutionize the way the under-banked shoppers who flock to Walmart manage their money. Unfortunately, the program never met expectations, with far fewer cards sold and reloaded than anticipated. Apparently shoppers are more interested in bananas.
Various published reports over the years place unit sales at about million Walmart Visa MoneyCard cards sold annually, or far less than one card a day sold per store across Walmart’s 4,663 locations in the U.S.
Rumors Walmart was growing weary of the missed sales forecasts also spread last year, flamed after a management shake-up at Walmart Financial Services, followed by the American Express Bluebird announcement. Missed forecasts are something the retailer holds little tolerance for, as anyone who has dealt with the retailer sorely knows.
The silver lining for Green Dot
Revenue on the remaining Walmart Visa Money Cards should rise slightly by making Green Dot the issuer, probably offset somewhat by the expense of notifying cardholders of the legal change.
Under the new arrangement, regulations imposed by the Durbin Amendment should exempt the cards from newly-imposed interchange-fee caps, which limits fees for prepaid cards issued by banks with more than $10 billion of assets. Utah-based Green Dot Bank holds $389 million of assets, while GE Capital Retail Bank, also based in Utah, has around $34 billion of assets.
In related news, GE announced it will continue to sell light bulbs, can openers, and coffee makers to Walmart.
“Good design accelerates desirable change of behavior,” according to a favorite designer friend of ours. ”When setting out on a course to change behavior of consumers, whether it is to try a new service or an alternative delivery channel, design will have a profound impact on your results.”
Monday marks the 50th anniversary start of the U.S Small Business Administration’s National Small Business Week, a week-long celebration of the American entrepreneurial spirit and the small business owners that make up the backbone of our economy.
This week, First Data Corporation introduced its’ next version of Pogo®, which launched in 2012 as a mPOS mobile payment solution for the small business and emerging merchant community in the U.S. The product is sold by Sam’s Club and participating banks.
Anywhere Commerce Card Reader
Pogo uses an audio jack magnetic-stripe card reader manufactured by AnywhereCommerce called the Rambler. (details at
http://www.anywherecommerce.com/Solutions/rambler.aspx
). Some features of the
According to the Aite Group, 50 percent of merchants claim they would not shift to a non-bank service provider.* Although our research says merchants find applying for bank card merchant services through traditional banks and their ISO partners to be confusing, cumbersome, and difficult to compare pricing.
First Data is banking on key financial institutions including First American Bank, Mutual of Omaha Bank, Associated Bank, First Bank, IBC Bank, BancorpSouth, Extraco Banks, Mountain America Credit Union and many others to provide an alternative to Square, PayPal, and other mPOS solutions.
Merchants can get the Pogo> solution by applying through participating banks’ web sites, according to First Data. The product is also sold by warehouse clubs like Sam’s Club.
“First Data is powering Universal Commerce by providing merchants a full range of solutions that help grow their business – whether today with Pogo> as a logical first step, or tomorrow as they move up to a more multi-functional POS solution,” said Bruce Dragt, SVP, First Data Retail and Alliance Services. “Many banks and other partners are now incorporating Pogo> into their suite of business solutions that they can offer small business customers when they are signing up for new bank services such as checking accounts.”
The updated version of Pogo from First Data incorporates several elements specifically for new and emerging small merchants that essentially catches up to and mirror its’ competitors offerings:
For more information go to www.pogopayment.com
*Aite Group, “Merchant Retention: Five Assumptions Put to the Test”, March 2009
Billionaire Ron Burkle is rumored to be in talks to buy Tesco Plc’s unprofitable Fresh & Easy grocery chain in the United States. He plans to use the stores to relaunch the Wild Oats brand, according to a Bloomberg report. Burkle is the founder of Los Angeles-based private-equity company Yucaipa Cos.
Jim Keyes, the former CEO of 7-Eleven Inc. and Blockbuster Inc., owns the Wild Oats name and will serve as CEO of the new venture.
Tesco invested about $1.6 billion in the chain, which targeted urban areas with private-label food. The operations has lost money since it was started from scratch in 2007.
The Fresh & Easy chain holds about 200 stores in Nevada, California and Arizona.
