London department store Harrods is using its iPad magazine application to mimic an in-store makeup trial to strengthen mobile commerce beauty sales. Found in the December/January 2014 issue of Harrods' magazine app, the interactive "Makeup Studio" features four high-end beauty lines carried by the retailer. Interactive digital content that allows consumers to "try on" a product or see how an item works mirrors the in-store experience and empowers consumers with a better understanding of products.

Chick-Fil-A is piloting a mobile application in six markets within the United States that leverages check-ins and payments. As more quick-service restaurants rely on mobile as a way to drive quick orders while also bolstering loyalty, Chick-Fil-A is taking a page from the playbooks of other QSRs testing mobile payments, including Wendy's, KFC and McDonald's. The app is being piloted in six cities at one Chick-Fil-A location per city: Chicago; Crystal City, VA; West Palm Beach, FL; Pearland, TX; Atlanta and Costa Mesa, CA.

An online market research firm has released a report focused on NFC technology. NFC has been gaining a significant degree of attention in recent months due to reports concerning its security and the fact that it is losing ground in the field of mobile commerce. NFC has long formed the backbone of mobile payments, used by retailers and other businesses to facilitate payments in a relatively efficient manner. NFC may not be as popular as many believe, however, despite the apparent popularity of mobile commerce itself. According to the report from YouGov, awareness concerning NFC-based payment systems is quite low …

Leading market research firm comScore has released a new report concerning the mobile sector. The report highlights trends within the mobile market and how these trends are affecting large companies, like Apple and Samsung. It also touches upon mobile commerce and the success that retailers are seeing in this sector. The mobile sector has been showing a great deal of activity over the past several years, but this activity has recently begun reaching new heights due to the popularity of mobile shopping and payments. Android continues to lead with consumers. According to the report, Android remained the most popular mobile …

A consumer who picks up his tuxedo from his local tailor only to find the waist two inches too big and the sleeves an inch too short probably won't wind up being a repeat customer. The same goes for a consumer visiting a mobile site that's not designed to fit his phone-48% of shoppers on smartphones are less likely to return to an ill-fitting mobile site that makes shopping awkward, according to a new poll by m-commerce technology provider Mobiquity Inc. Unfortunately for City Sports, an apparel and accessories e-retailer, many of its visitors on phones were getting an ill-fitting …

The growth of mobile technology has been noticed by beauty brands, which see the value of smartphones and tablets as research tools and m-commerce vehicles, although there is still work to be done to optimize the platform.

Etisalat Group, the leading telecoms operator in Africa, the Middle East and Asia,on Monday said that it has expanded its mobile phone-based commerce service "Flous" through its subsidiary Etisalat Moov in Benin. "As Flous comes online throughout our international operations millions of our customers can benefit from world-class financial services - many for the first time," said Khalifa Al Shamsi, Chief Digital Services Officer at Etisalat Group. "By bringing banking to the unbanked, we are investing in communities and giving them the tools to flourish and thrive.

SingTel Digital Media, a subsidiary of Singapore's largest telecommunications company, has launched a new mobile commerce application called Lyke. The application has been launched with little to no fanfare but may be able to compete with the other mobile commerce platforms that have been relaed in Singapore recently. Lyke is a branded version of the white-label Wish application, which was developed in the U.S. Consumers in Singapopre have been showing a great deal of interest in mobile commerce in recent years, but their options in mobile commerce platforms have been quite limited. Carousell, a mobile commerce startup, has been the …

While some retailers are reporting record online sales for the Thanksgiving weekend, mobile commerce is emerging as a holiday star in its own right. Mobile commerce sales accounted for nearly 21% of total Black Friday digital sales in the United States, $314 million out of $1.512 billion, and nearly 17% of Cyber Monday sales, $350 million out of $2.085 billion, Internet research firm comScore Inc. reports. Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving; Cyber Monday is the following Monday. Both are typically among the largest online sales days of the year.

Messaging app Line announced a partnership with all-in-one e-commerce logistics firm aCommerce and L'Oreal's Maybelline New York to bring the cosmetic brand's newest product to Thailand. WIth this partnership, Line users will get access to an exclusive flash sale on the platform which will last from Monday, December 16, to Friday, December 20. Users who buy this not-yet-disclosed product within the the promotional period will be the first to own it before its official release next year. All the logistics for the Maybelline Flash Sale products that are purchased during the campaign period will be handled by aCommerce, which offers …