While online retail rose 13% year over year in the third quarter, growing more rapidly than the overall retail sector, mobile commerce is expanding at twice that rate, translating into some major shifts in consumer spending habits this holiday season. This is according to digital measurement and analytics provider comScore Inc., which shared this and other insights earlier this week during its U.S. Online Retail Economy Q3 2013 webinar. Panelist Andrew Lipsman, vp of marketing & insights for comScore, explained: "The key themes emerging [in holiday 2013] are what I call the 4 S's - social commerce, smartphones, sit-back shopping, …

It is no longer enough for e-retailers to simply create a mobile site or app. If online merchants want to realize significant sales via mobile devices they must offer tools that make mobile shopping easy, fast and efficient. And the leaders in mobile commerce are doing just that, according to new analysis of Mobile 500 data on Top500Guide.com, Internet Retailer's subscription-based database of global e-commerce statistics. The Internet Retailer 2014 Mobile 500 ranks online retailers by their projected 2013 mobile commerce revenue. A closer look at new mobile data released in October when compared with 2012 shows more retailers are …

MEF, the global community for mobile content and commerce, today launched the first report of a three-country African Growth Market Study on mobile content and commerce. Key findings showed the optimism of Kenyan industry leaders towards mobile content and commerce revenue growth after a third of respondents saw mobile end-user revenues rise more than they expected last year. Perhaps unsurprisingly in a market with highly developed mobile money and m-banking offerings, mobile money was found to be the main source of end-user revenue at 53% followed by social networks (37%) and mobile commerce (30%).

Beauty marketer Este Lauder is relying on both audio and visual touch points to promote its latest women's fragrance Modern Muse on Pandora's mobile application.The product page features Este Lauder's limited edition Modern Muse gift set, fragrance and body lotion. The fragrance, set in the middle of the product page, shows the number of reviews and a rating of stars. From here, the consumer can select a product from the Modern Muse collection and be redirected to Este Lauder's mobile site to make a purchase. Modern Muse products range in price from $42 to $98.

Best Buy continues to view SMS as a workhorse in mobile with a new messaging program that keeps shoppers aware of holiday deals all season long. The retailer is also staying on top of messaging's evolution via a push notification to alert customers to the program. The big box retailer is encouraging consumers to opt-in to its year-long SMS database with a holiday-specific keyword that will likely prompt consumers to join Best Buy's mobile database once the holidays are over to keep opted in to future marketing opportunities. Best Buy is sending out a daily SMS message linked to an …

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is rolling out a pilot program that places wireless charging stations into stores to help consumers quickly power up their mobile devices. The coffee chain is running the pilot program in several locations in the Los Angeles area through the rest of the year with the possibility of a nationwide expansion if the program goes well. As Wi-Fi becomes more ubiquitous in coffee shops and stores, the goal is to keep consumers in stores for longer periods of time to spur engagement.

Groupon is aiming to significantly differentiate its daily deal offering towards merchants hungry for more data on the in-store redemption of offers with a new tool that more closely closes the loop on transactions. The daily deals giant is making a big push into real-world transactions with the launch of a pilot program with Sparkfly. As Groupon puts a greater emphasis on mobile as central to its future, doling out more trackable data for merchants and retailers is a logical step for the company.

A new Shop.org/comScore report finds that consumers have become more willing to use tablets and smartphones for mobile commerce in recent years. In June 2013, 55 percent of retail-related Internet usage came from mobile devices, while only 45 percent came from desktops. According to the report, smartphone use in particular saw growth, rising by 17 percent from 2010 to reach 44 percent of Internet retail time. E-commerce itself has grown significantly in the last couple of years, growing 16 percent between the second quarter of 2012 and the second quarter of 2013. M-commerce, however, outstripped overall growth and grew by …

In the first 10 months of 2013, e-commerce sales are up 17% from the same period last year, according to the Visa Spending Intentions survey. To-date in 2013, Visa domestic e-commerce transactions exceeded one billion dollars on 211 days, an increase of 19% from 2012. Twenty-five percent of respondents plan to use their mobile phone or tablet for holiday shopping this year, up from 22% last year.

Moneris Solutions, a Canadian payment processor, has launched a new mobile payments service called "Payd Pro." The new service is designed to be used alongside debit cards, allowing the financial information associated with these cards to be used by a mobile device. The mobile payments service is meant to make commerce more convenient for consumers that are constantly on the go and could be ideal for commuters that have little time to shop at physical stores.