With e-books eroding its brick and mortar business, pressure from shareholder activists was said to have prompted the move.
Most won't offer merchant services of any kind to e-tailers unless they also have a brick-and-mortar shop.
Both brick-and-mortar stores and e-commerce sites have helped retail sales figures continuously grow, especially online.
At the dawn of e-commerce, many claimed the days of the brick-and-mortar retailers were numbered.
There are about 5 billion mobile phone users in the world, and MasterCard is providing them access to traditional financial services like the ability to transfer funds, pay bills and purchase goods and services at brick-and-mortar stores or through e-commerce websites through a device they already own.
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Customers are connecting through brick-and-mortar stores, social media, e-commerce, blogs, Twitter, mobile apps, mobile bar-codes and even geo-location services that offer personalization and immediacy.
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In the US, traditional incumbents are beginning to move from physical retailing to e-commerce, but most retain a heavy cost footprint in brick-and-mortar form factor.
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Steinhafel hints at the challenges faced by Target and most other brick-and-mortar chains in the wake of competing e-commerce giants like Amazon.
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Brick-and-mortar retailers are fighting back again such e-commerce trends, of course.
So I worry about the loss of brick-and-mortar bookstores, even as I very consciously purchase e-books and read them on my phone or Kindle.
Brick-and-mortar retailers are on the brink of getting parity in the e-commerce-versus-real world shopping wars, but they still cannot afford to lose ground over the holiday season.
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