Acquisition creates payments advisory powerhouse to be led by Javelin Strategy & Research (Livonia, MI) Escalent, an award-winning analytics and advisory firm, today announced the acquisition of Mercator Advisory Group, a trusted research and advisory firm that serves the global payments industry. The addition of Mercator’s seasoned and talented analysts to Javelin Strategy & Research augments an industry-leading thought leadership powerhouse to support clients’ payments needs. Escalent acquired Javelin Strategy & Research in December 2019. “Mercator offers powerful payments research and insights so we saw an excellent opportunity to expand and invest in our payments expertise,” said Melissa Sauter, CEO [...]

Mercator Advisory Group adds Jordan Hirschfield as the newest Director of Research Mercator Advisory Group, the leading independent research and advisory services firm exclusively focused on the payments industry, today announces the appointment of Jordan Hirschfield to the firm’s research team as a director of research. Jordan brings a wide spectrum of experience in all facets of the payments industry. Jordan has spent more than 20 years drawing actionable insights from research ranging a variety of topics including customer behavior dynamics, products such as payroll, logistics, and hospitality and competitive market assessments. “I am very happy to announce the addition [...]

2022 Outlooks by leading research and consulting firm provide insights on new trends and opportunities in payments. Mercator Advisory Group has released its complimentary annual series of "Outlooks" providing insights for the year ahead on trends and new themes that will have a significant impact on the payments industry, consumers, and the ways companies do business in 2022 and beyond. The topics addressed in these Outlooks set the foundation for Mercator Advisory Group's research agenda for the coming year and provide a framework for key points of engagement that Mercator Advisory Group will have with its clients in 2022. The [...]

Mercator Advisory Group adds industry veteran to lead its Merchant Services practice Mercator Advisory Group, the leading independent research and advisory services firm exclusively focused on the payments industry, today announces the appointment of Donald Apgar to the firm’s research leadership team as Director of its Merchant Services practice. Don brings an extensive background in all facets of the payments industry and will leverage his extensive knowledge and experience in merchant acquiring to deliver valuable insights for Mercator’s clients. “We welcome Don Apgar to our management team. Don is a 30+ year payments industry veteran and has extensive experience in [...]

Mercator Advisory Group Names Nicholas Bisconti Director Primary Research Services Mercator Advisory Group today announced that the company has appointed Nicholas Bisconti as Director, Primary Research Services, effective June 1, 2021. Most recently Nicholas Bisconti was the Founder and Executive Marketing Advisor of Actionable Insight Research, LLC and Adjunct Professor of Business Research Methods at Suffolk University, in Boston MA. The new hire brings expertise that better positions the company in gaining valuable insight into the key issues that affect the payments and banking industries. During the past three decades, Mr. Bisconti has focused on providing leadership support and advisory [...]

Mercator Advisory Group adds industry veteran as Vice President of Research Operations. Boston, MA - April 13, 2021 - Mercator Advisory Group, the leading independent research and advisory services firm exclusively focused on the payments industry, today announces the appointment of Amy Dunckelmann to the firm’s senior management team as Vice President of Research Operations. Amy brings an extensive background in payments industry research and strategic development and will be working across Mercator’s teams to enhance and augment Mercator’s published works and consulting projects. “We welcome Amy Dunckelmann to our management team. Amy is a 25+ year payments industry veteran and [...]

Mercator Advisory Group delivers a timely program that will help organizations discover new avenues of growth.   Boston, MA - September 10, 2020 - Shifts in the financial services marketplace are occurring more quickly than ever before, driven by consumer and business demands and new technologies that fuel digital transformation. Such a dynamic backdrop creates the environment for new businesses, new products and new markets to form. While existing businesses want to capitalize on these new opportunities, they are often so immersed in the demands of running day-to-day operations that exploration of adjacent markets, consideration of new business ideas and scrutiny [...]

Mercator Advisory Group delivers a timely program that provides financial institutions with a clear understanding of the dynamics of this evolving, competitive market so product and business leads can launch effective solutions. Boston, MA - August 26, 2020- The advent of faster and real time payments ("RTP") brings the first new payment rails in decades to the United States. Other countries around the world have adopted RTP as a single, government-offered and mandated solution. In the U.S., there is a full continuum of options including same day ACH, debit network push payments, person-to-person networks, The Clearing House RTP solution and the [...]

Mercator Advisory Group delivers a proven program to help you better understand how your brand is perceived from the buyers' perspective. Boston, MA - August 18, 2020- Do you really understand your clients' perception of your brand or product relative to your competition? Do you truly know your potential clients' perception? In other words, do you actually realize how and why your brand fits in the competitive landscape, and do you understand what you need to do to improve? Understanding how your brand is perceived relative to its competition is critical intelligence for any company selling in a competitive environment. Without [...]

Mercator Advisory Group delivers a new, proven program for non-profits and other organizations to asses and optimize their unique payment systems. Boston, MA - August 10, 2020- From the customer's standpoint, making a card purchase at a point-of-sale (POS) terminal or via an ecommerce channel for goods and services from a business or organization may seem like a simple process. But when you pull the curtain back, an electronic payment transaction turns out to be a highly complex process involving a maze of vendors, technologies, and regulations. For non-profits and other organizations including colleges, universities, private schools, and healthcare facilities, their [...]