Among American companies, more than 99 percent of which constitute small or midsize businesses (SMBs) with fewer than 500 employees, according to the US Census Bureau. Though organizations like the Small Business Administration often herald SMBs as laboratories for corporate innovation, smaller companies have not developed a reputation for leading the charge in moving their payment operations online. In fact, while larger entities are migrating toward electronic payments and digital invoicing en masse, the majority of smaller entities traditionally have remained tied to paper. New research, however, indicates that this is changing. Indeed, SMBs appear to be charging forward, embracing …

China's Tencent Holdings has announced plans to invest HK$1.5 billion (US$193.45 million) for a 9.9 percent stake in a logistics services provider, as it looks to beef up its e-commerce business. The investment in China South City Holdings, which is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, will provide a logistics and trade delivery network that Tencent can now potentially tap to compete against archrival, Alibaba Group, and grab a bigger share of the country's 608 million online shoppers. According to a Bloomberg report, the Shenzhen-based company will also work with China South City to assist small and midsize organizations …

Commonwealth Bank customers with iPhones can now pay through the CommBank mobile app using a sticker containing near field communications (NFC) technology. The update brings the iPhone app up to speed with Android and Windows 8 platforms, which received the update in December. Customers can make contactless mobile payments of up to $100. To make the payment, CommBank customers must attach a $2.99 sticker called a PayTag to the back of their mobile phone. The transaction is made when the user taps the sticker against a contactless payment terminal. The ability to pay without a sticker, using an NFC chip …

Near field communication (NFC) services won't take off for at least two years according to latest findings from Ovum, which has also cast doubt on operators' chances in the m-payment market amid a glut of launches in the past two years. Ovum said the growing availability of cheaper alternatives to NFC will stymie growth of the technology, unless card vendors get behind a new cloud-based version - hosted card emulation (HCE) - that is simpler to provision, and security concerns are addressed. The high cost of NFC could already have claimed a high-profile victim. French number three carrier Bouygues Telecom …

Marble Slab Creamery and Moe's Southwest Grill will be among retailers who soon will offer mobile payments enabled by Bluetooth Low Energy beacons. As part of iMobile3s update of its PassMarket platform, participating retailers will be able to add gift card purchases and mobile payment passes to their existing loyalty and rewards programs. Mobile payments are slowly gaining ground and retailers are looking to replicate successful mobile payment programs, such as the popular Starbucks' one.

Half of the mobile sites examined in L2s latest China report offer click-to-call customer service and a quarter provide one-click email for customer service. L2s Personal Care China report asserts that the fragmented digital landscape, big investments and the need for localized marketing has forced several personal care players to resign their efforts in China. For the brands committed to navigating the densely forested paths to consumers, L2 argues that digital is the clearest avenue available.

Africa is ushering in positive indicators across the board. The challenge is how to reach this growing demand in a continent where not everyone has access to financial services, rural areas are still highly populated and the costs of expanding ATMs and bank branches to remote rural areas are prohibitive. The best solution for Africa seems then to be mobile commerce. Mobile phone penetration in the continent is much higher than bank account penetration. According to a report by TA Telecom it reached 80% in December 2013 of which 63% was 2G, 26% was 2.5G (also called EDGE, adding low-speed …

With new research showing that showrooming has dropped 40 percent over the past year, it is clear that moves by retailers such as Foot Locker to address the issue head-on are working. Foot Locker's top executive at the NRF 103rd Annual Convention & Expo cited arming sales associates with in-store tablets that recommend and track down products as one way that bricks-and-mortar retailers can crush online competitors. Also at NRF, IBM released a new report showing that the threat of showrooming has diminished significantly over the past year. "Arming them with the same information and capability that the customer has …

AT&T may be promoting its Isis mobile payments service for consumers, but it's not betting the farm on it. The carrier introduced another new commerce offering Tuesday, its answer to Square for businesses. The carrier has teamed up with payment processing vendor Vantiv to offer two new mobile payments products: Vantiv Mobile Accept from AT&T, a mobile app card reader similar in scope to the Square Inc. mobile reader, and Vantiv Mobile Checkout from AT&T, a tablet-based payment processing service that includes an optional cash drawer, countertop receipt printer, tablet stand, and encrypted card reader. Both are designed for retailers, …

The store is no longer just about products, but also the brand. Companies that approach eCommerce with an omnichannel mindset are better able to understand their customer's needs and preferences and how best to communicate with them. Each time a retailer engages with a customer, regardless of channel, new information can be gathered on product, payment, brand and preferences. In order to be useful, this information must be centralised, so retailers can deliver a more personalized shopping experience. This can best be achieved by creating a consistent view of the customer across all channels. "The proliferation of mobile devices has …