E-commerce in the Middle East is expected to continue to show robust growth in the region, supported by the acceleration of m-commerce, PayPal said in its new report. Mobile transactions already represents 10 percent of e-commerce (similar to the rest of the world), the report said, showing that with a 6 times growth in the next 4 years, m-commerce will represent close to 20 percent in the Middle East in 2015. This means that while purchasing via desktop/laptop remains dominant, there is a mobile mind-shift occurring with the rise of tablet and smartphone penetration. In Saudi Arabia, e-commerce is projected …

Online shoppers in the U.S. lead the world in customer satisfaction. According to the latest UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper report released in conjunction with comScore, Inc., shoppers in the U.S. are the most satisfied with online shopping experiences at 83%, while consumers in the Asia Pacific are least satisfied at only 50%. The study also found creating a mobile app can help prevent comparison shopping in all markets, especially in Mexico and Europe, nearly half in the U.S., but not as much in Asia. Global consumers are connected to social media channels and are open to promotions from …

London department store Harrods is increasing its exposure in China by being the first British retailer to launch a WeChat social media account that conveys its latest content and special offers to Chinese consumers. Harrods is building off the success of its Weibo blog to reach more consumers as China continues to be a power player in the luxury market. Through the use of local social media platforms, brands and retailers are able to appeal to local sensibilities.

Frito-Lay's Tostitos is teaming up with the National Football League this football season for a themed promotion that uses SMS to keep consumers continuously involved. The Tostitos QB Matchup campaign includes SMS, a microsite and social media to complement a promotion around Monday Night Football games. The campaign also collects a consumer's email address and ZIP code to send out offers and coupons at retailers. "We've partnered with strong retailers across the U.S. to make this a 360-degree promotion, bringing the spirit of football to the shopping experience," said Vesna Stojanovic, senior director of marketing at Frito-Lay North America, Plano, …

Major South African e-commerce players are noting a big increase in the number of people engaging in mobile commerce - but the platform still faces many challenges in terms of accessibility and payment. Speaking at the 2013 uAfrica eCommerce Conference in Sandton recently, panelists Jaco Jonker (CEO of Bidorbuy), Daniel Guasco (CEO of Groupon SA) and Liz Hillock (Head of Marketing at Kalahari.com) noted a significant uptake of customers making purchases through mobile means. Jonker revealed that the Bidorbuy had seen 100% growth year-on-year in terms of mobile traffic to the site, but pointed out that average revenue per user …

Is Tencent one of the world's greatest internet firms? There are grounds for skepticism. The Chinese gaming and social-media firm started in the same way many local internet firms have: by copying Western success. QQ, its instant-messaging service, was a clone of ICQ, an Israeli invention acquired by AOL of America. And unlike global internet giants such as Google and Twitter, Tencent still makes its money in its protected home market. Yet the Chinese firm's stock market valuation briefly crossed the $100 billion mark this week for the first time. Given that the valuation of Facebook, the world's leading social-media …

eBay has reached an agreement to acquire digital commerce startup Braintree Payments Solutions for approximately $800 million in cash. The Braintree platform enables developers, merchants and other clients to accept payments within their mobile apps and websites, collecting a 2.9 percent commission and 30-cent transaction fee on each purchase. Partners include Airbnb, OpenTable, TaskRabbit and Uber. Braintree is on pace to process more than $12 billion in net total payment volume this year, with mobile transactions driving one-third of that total. Braintree will join eBay's PayPal business unit. The deal also includes Braintree's Venmo mobile application, which enables consumers to …

Marketers who do not have prior written consent from consumers to send them marketing messages via SMS will potentially face fines of up to $1,500 per unsolicited message starting Oct. 16 under new guidelines. The new Telephone Consumer Protection Act guidelines going into effect next month require written, auditable consent for every consumer in a mobile database whereas previously consent could be express, meaning a company had previously done business with an individual.

A Walmart executive at the Mobile Marketing Association's SM2 conference said consumers who download the retailer's application not only spend more, but also shop in-store twice as much as the average shopper. The executive's fireside chat during the "Push Your Creative Limits: Mobile Invites and Involves Consumers to Live in the Story" session gave attendees a look at how mobile plays a role in Walmart's multichannel strategy. In particular, the session highlighted Walmart's app as critical in the company's initiatives going forward.

Latin America is seeing an E-commerce boom, with Brazil leading the race. Now over half of the top 400 top online retailers in the region are from Brazil. Brazil's E-commerce market is growing at a speed just behind China's. In the first quarter of this year its overall sales has reached 12.7 billion Brazilian Real, or about 5.8 billion U.S dollars. This is a rise of 24 percent from a year ago. "4 million people have had their first online shopping experience in the first quarter of this year. Now over 25 percent of Brazilians have at least shopped once …