Custora, a provider of e-commerce marketing analytics software, has released its Custora E-Commerce Pulse, a real-time dashboard providing U.S. e-commerce key statistics and benchmarking data. According to the Pulse, for the holiday period starting Nov. 1, U.S. holiday e-commerce revenue grew by 18 percent compared to the equivalent period in 2012. Visits to e-commerce sites increased by 23 percent vs. 2012. The Pulse is based on Custora's analysis of over 70 million online shoppers and over $10 billion in e-commerce revenue across more than 100 U.S.-based online retailers.

On Track Innovations (OTI), a developer of mobile payments services, has announced that it has received certification from Isis, a prominent mobile commerce platform. This certification provides OTI's NFC-based services with more momentum and validation. NFC technology currently makes up the backbone of mobile commerce and the demand for comprehensive and efficient NFC-based services has been growing significantly in recent years. The certification is expected to make OTI's line of Saturn NFC-enabled sales terminals and associated software somewhat more attractive.

Mobile commerce has gained a great deal of momentum in China recently. Consumers throughout the country are beginning to embrace mobile technology and smartphones and tablets are beginning to play a major role in the lives of many people. As mobile devices become more important to consumers, they are beginning to purchase products using these devices rather than shop in physical stores. A new report from the Development Research Center of the State Council, suggests that mobile payments have taken hold with many Chinese consumers. According to the report, mobile payments are expected to reach $130.4 billion by the end …

Anyone with time to spare on reading news this Thanksgiving weekend will inevitably stumble upon plenty of statistics about how millions upon millions of eager-beavers will be descending upon brick-and-mortar stores nationwide over the next few days. Regardless if the turnout ends up being down from previous years, everyone from mom-and-pop shops to big box retailers will be tapping into the latest e-commerce trends and tools to accommodate them better in the hopes of squeezing out extra bucks at the same time. But what about tools that could consumers could pick up on their own to simplify the shopping experience …

If you read at the national average pace of 300 words a minute, then while you are enjoying this article eBay will have sold five pairs of women's shoes to UK customers using their mobile phone or tablet. By the time you reach the end, it will have flogged a tablet, four handbags and will be within seconds of selling a car. That means your commute equals valuable Christmas shopping time. And thank goodness, since we're all on a tight London schedule. With our national spending on presents predicted to grow more than it has for any Christmas since 2007, …

More than 30 percent of mobile users across UK, France and Germany are making purchases on their phones, with Germans the most likely to use mobile commerce. In each one between 32 percent and 35 percent of mobile users are transacting on the phone, according to a report from On Device Research on behalf of Actix. The research also found that the issue for mobile operators is that factors such as coverage holes, location congestion, and underperforming infrastructure can impact a subscriber's user experience

Digging deeper into understanding what consumers feel and care about during the mobile purchase cycle is crucial in developing mobile user experiences, according to a report from Plastic Mobile. Plastic Mobile's "The Science Behind Mobile Design" report looked at three mobile applications to compare consumer response to the purchase journey. It applied neuroscience principles to mobile commerce to determine consumers' emotional reactions to better understand user experience.

Mr Porter is transferring its clean cut Web presence to a mobile application that allows consumers to browse and purchase the online retailer's curated collections with ease due to its parallels to Apple's iO7. Available for iPad and iPhone since Nov. 21, the Mr Porter app allows male consumers to shop more than 200 brands with additional content to come. Although mobile commerce-based apps are worthwhile for brands, to cultivate the addition of editorialized content creates a more engaging experience that is likely to draw in users repeatedly.

Mobile point-of-sale is being rolled out more broadly by retailers such as Coach this holiday season as marketers brace for showrooming and create compelling in-store experiences. Last week, Coach rolled out a new concept store for its New York flagship that reflects the company's move into omnichannel retail. Mobile POS is already available at many Coach stores and outlets in the United States, but the New York store features two 'unobstrusive' cash registers throughout the store, mobile POS devices and also plans to arm retail associates with iPad minis in the near future.

With AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon all dropping most premium SMS billing, this could open the door to higher opt-in rates for mobile programs and the loosening of regulation around these programs. Last week's announcement that the carriers would stop supporting premium SMS was not unexpected and points to how cramming - the practice of third parties adding a charge to a phone for a service the customer did not order - has become a major problem, adding up to an estimated $2 billion a year in fraudulent charges.