It's summer. Here's what's hot.

Alternative payments is a hot topic these days as consumers look for more purchase options, and businesses want to reduce payment costs. Deloitte outlines how e-comm and marketplaces are now adding in-app native payment functionality to smooth CX and streamline internal processes. Wallets are a smart way to incentivize ACH and direct deposits for payments.

?Here are our most-read sizzlers:

?More in this issue:

• 5 Essentials for embedded finance examines what's necessary to offer financial products.?
• 3 types of Loyalty Wallets you should know about.
• How wallets impact core business drivers : Revenue, payments cost, and loyalty.

Industry buzz:

• Prime Day. Boost Week? Kroger, Walmart & Target and, wait, Macy's ,?give Amazon a run for the money with sweetened deals for loyalists and non-members.
• Sprouts grows its first loyalty program , but not for the reasons you'd think.
• Shocker alert! Consumers want loyalty programs to give them discounts, cashback, and exclusives. They also want simple .?
• Marketplaces add native payment capabilities to reduce purchase friction, says a Deloitte in-app payments report .

3 Types of Loyalty Wallets to drive retention & cost savings

Loyalty wallets are financial products companies use to drive customer retention and streamline both in-person and online payments. These stored-value wallets are embedded into a company’s existing app experience and become a home base for customers’ cashback rewards and payment balances. And, consumers spend more when paying via wallet.

Loyalty Wallets can be funded by discounts, returns and cashback, and by the consumers using the wallet. Bonus: When consumers fund their wallets via ACH, payments bypass the network, with savings that fund the rewards you want to offer. It's a virtuous cycle.

Read the article

What's new: Embedded Finance 'know before you go' essentials, and 3 ways wallets impact core business drivers

In case you missed it: Alviere Expert Series

Modeling with Josh Karpen: Defining a financial product strategy

From the trenches: Carter Chandler on implementing a financial product

Industry buzz

• Taking a page — and hopefully some revenue — from Amazon's Prime Day, other retailers are leveraging the hype with their own offers. The big difference is the promotions from Kroger , Walmart, Target, and Macy's do not require paid membership. Macy's All-Star Week takes it one step further, offering special perks to all no-cost loyalty program participants.
• Sprouts is launching its first loyalty program with the goal to gather first-party data on shoppers. Currently collecting data on only 11 percent of its shoppers, the Sprouts loyalty initiative will feed better personalized offers and promotions. As CEO Jack Sinclair puts it, "At the moment, we have the danger of trying to sell grass-fed beef to vegetarians, which is not a smart move."
• The survey says! Consumers buy for quality and price, yes. But 50 percent of buyers will choose a brand if it has a loyalty program. And this monetizes: 70 percent of consumers say they will join a loyalty program before making their first purchase, and three-quarters say they will spend more money as a loyalty member. Top performing programs see a 15-25 percent increase in revenue from members.?
• Marketplace movers and shakers are adding native in-app purchase options. Younger gens want more payment options, and many of these choices, including wallets , reduce payments cost for the business.?