Visa and Mastercard reached a new settlement with merchants to lower fees in the US this November—another attempt to end a roughly 20-year fight in the courts, per SEC filings. The modest interchange reductions and new ability to steer customers away from higher-fee cards offer meaningful cost relief for small and midsize retailers that consumers may be more willing to support by using another card. However, those concessions are unlikely to move the needle for large national chains. They don’t materially change their economics, nor do they address the fundamental issue that networks and issuers still hold most of the pricing power.
2025 was a big year for cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency payment users grew 24.8%, to 4.9 million US adults, per our forecast. Between institutional buy-in and unprecedented support at the highest levels of the US government, the crypto market hit record highs—before plummeting in the final months of the year. Crypto gained mainstream momentum, but its volatility hasn’t changed. For banks and crypto infrastructures, this unpredictability kneecaps efforts to integrate crypto as an accepted currency at the point-of-sale.
Chase launched an exclusive travel series, Sapphire Reserve Trips, eligible for Sapphire Reserve cardholders, per a press release. Cardholders will receive 8X points for any Chase Travel booking and can maximize points with Points Boosts, which gives members another 2X points at hotels and flights booked with select airlines through Chase Travel. Chase’s promotions of experiential, exclusive, and personalized rewards is critical to capture more wealthy millennials and Gen Zers into their ecosystem. To avoid disappointment from cardholders, issuers should cap enrollment for trips to prevent overcrowding found at premium airport lounges and preserve a private experience for a select group of cardholders.
Inflation, layoffs, and uncertain tariffs may dampen demand even as AI raises hope for new sales channels.
We review the biggest credit card movements of the year including the Capital One Discover merger, Sapphire Reserve and Platinum card refreshes, and tightening underwriting standards that are squeezing out middle and lower class families from credit lines.
Chase’s anticipated travel and dining trends focus on experiential and novel landscapes and experiences, and continues a push for luxury in dining.
Marketers across categories are calling for simpler, more intuitive advertising systems after years of growing fragmentation and technical overload. In interviews with EMARKETER, leaders from Criteo, LiveRamp, Reddit, Vistar Media, StackAdapt, and DoorDash all described a shift toward platforms that reduce effort, unify workflows, and provide clearer decision making. Buyers want fewer interfaces, standardized KPIs, easier activation, and more transparent insight into where ads run. The message is consistent: performance pressure amplifies the value of operational clarity. As the industry moves into 2026, platforms that eliminate friction—rather than add features—will gain share, while marketers who choose simplicity will gain speed and efficiency.
BNPL is cementing itself as a go-to tool for shoppers looking to stretch their dollars.
Banks have several options to mitigate their risk.
It may be a new year, but we’re still catching up on what happened during the last week of 2025. Here’s everything you may have missed.
Most viewers pause for 1 to 5 minutes, offering extended periods for non-intrusive ads likely to drive action.
On today’s special podcast episode, we discuss the major headlines we expect to see and some significant milestones in the coming year—and bundle it all into a giant quiz. What happens to YouTube in 2026? What will shoppers start letting AI agents do for them? And much, much more. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, along with Vice Presidents of Content Suzy Davidkhanian and Paul Verna, and Senior Analyst Blake Droesch. Listen everywhere, and watch on YouTube and Spotify.
Second-screening is now the norm, collapsing ad-to-purchase journeys into seconds on mobile
Walmart's leadership change is unlikely to change the retailer’s strategy in 2026 as it makes gains in technology, ecommerce, and advertising.
In a year marked by platform volatility, AI acceleration, tariff shocks, and shifting consumer behavior, marketers searched for clarity across EMARKETER’s most-read topics. The top 10 themes reflect where advertiser attention truly moved in 2025. These trends captured the forces reshaping performance, discovery, and measurement: AI-driven optimization, creator-centric social ecosystems, commerce-led advertising, and CTV’s rise as the new premium video default. Together, they tell the story of a market recalibrating around efficiency, accountability, and cultural relevance as marketers prepared their 2026 strategies.
Apparel sellers are scaling private labels to attract price-savvy shoppers and stay nimble on trends.
Big websites like Hotels.com, Tripadvisor, and Expedia appeared most often in Q2 2025 travel searches, showing the influence of scale.
From tariffs to AI layoffs, retailers and consumers are flying blind and forced to adapt on the fly.
As 2025 draws to a close, we’ve reviewed our predictions from last year that have come true about NFC technology, flexible credentials, mobile wallets, and financial media networks.
As 2025 closes, we’re assessing where our predictions for the payments industry went wrong, specifically for pay-by-bank solutions for major retailers.