Last month, Rakuten Inc. announced that it was buying Viber for a sum of $900 Mn to improve its mobile commerce standing. On 17th April 2014, Rakuten announced that it will add China's largest online payment service, Alipay, to its checkout. Alipay is an online payment services provider founded by the Alibaba group in 2004. The system allows individuals and businesses to make payments online in a secure manner. Alipay's users are primarily buyers and sellers engaging in e-commerce transactions. Alipay has partnered with some leading Chinese banks includingBank of China, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China, the Industrial …

The results of a study that was conducted by Wpromote have now been released and are offering some interesting insight into the growth of mobile commerce and of the use of the smartphone and tablet for shopping purposes. To start, the research showed that mobile web traffic has increased by a tremendous 50 percent over the last year, alone. It now comprises over one quarter of all internet visits. Among the sites that were examined as a part of this mobile commerce study were B2B industries, e-tailers, as well as consumer services.

About one in five online consumers has had valuable personal information stolen, and about the same percentage have had an email of social-networking account compromised, new research suggests. In a survey of online adults Princeton Survey Research Associates International conducted for Pew Research Center in January, 18 percent of participants said they have had their Social Security number, credit card or bank account information stolen, up from 11 percent who said so in a similar survey in June 2013. Moreover, 21 percent said they had their email or social-network account accessed without their permission, no change from last summer's survey, …

As retailers look to gain a stronger footing in mobile with branded, standalone applications, the role of third-party check-ins is under increasing pressure to evolve as brands embrace newer forms of in-store engagement such as beacons. A new report from Omnico Group this week finds that only 22 percent of retailers leverage mobile check-ins, indicative of how social and mobile in-store engagement has been sluggish to take off. At the same time, the hype around beacons and newer forms of in-store engagement continues to grow and could shift the focus of retail check-ins from third-party apps to branded apps to …

Leading e-commerce player Flipkart is offering free-delivery to customers using its mobile application, making an all-out bid to tap the young population who shop while on the go. The company has not decided how long this scheme will last though. So far, online retailers have been competing on the quick delivery plank, with most launching same-day or next-day delivery. Currently, US-based Amazon does not charge any delivery fee, irrespective of the size of order or the platform used, to make a purchase in the India market. Most e-commerce sites offer free delivery beyond a certain price point, which is often …

In 2014, mobile commerce in the United States will make up about one fifth of all retail online shopping in the country. However, at the same time it will make up only 1.2 percent of the total retail sales. Therefore, while the report from eMarketer does show that while this channel is having a growing impact on the sales that are occurring on the internet, when it comes to the actual sales made as a whole, it still represents only a tiny sliver. That said, it does not include the purchase of travel reservations or event tickets in these statistics. …

There is a major gap between what consumers expect and what retailers are providing them, according to a new study released today, with 94 percent of retail decision-makers surveyed saying that their companies are facing significant barriers to omni-channel commerce. "Customer Desires Vs. Retailer Capabilities: Minding the Omni-Channel Commerce Gap," from Accenture and hybris software, an SAP company, peels back the onion to reveal that the difference between the omni-channel ideal and what retailers are currently able to achieve for customers is vast. The study is based on an online survey, conducted by Forrester Consulting, of more than 1,500 multi-channel …

Much has been written about the increasing popularity of mobile commerce, or m-commerce, but new research reveals that if retailers want to lure the cream-of-the-crop shoppers, they'd better arm sales associates with mobile devices. That is the one of the findings by YouGov in its "2014 Survey of Affluence and Wealth." Not the typical survey we report on here at FierceMobileIT, this one is all about the rich, their toys and how they acquire them. Luxury Daily recently reported on the survey findings and their significance for retailers that go after the high-end market. These shoppers are savvy, fussy and …

WeChat's m-commerce offerings has added flight booking service that is provided by LV.com (formerly 17u.cn), a Chinese online travel service Tencent has a stake in. Payments, of course, are supported by WeChat Payment. After purchasing a ticket, you'll be able to receive flight status notifications or other information by subscribing to LV's WeChat official account. Right now, it's only available for users in two Chinese cities: Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Not only more cities but also other online booking services run by LV.com will be added later on, the company says.

BeaconCrawl, an interactive bar crawl event supporting bars in lower New York that were hit by 2012's Superstorm Sandy, will integrate beacons with a mobile application to drum up business. Beacons will be installed in the sponsor venues and various locations along the way, guiding crawlers to secret locations via on-screen instructions, where they will enjoy special drinks, perks and be presented challenges and information, thereby enhancing social interaction. BeaconCrawl will take place on May 20 in New York, and the event was created by Aurnhammer. "Pub crawls and pop-up parties are popular all over the world," said Bill Aurnhammer, …