Last summer, mobile commerce startup Boxed launched its app to enable customers to buy wholesale goods and have them shipped to their doors. With ultra-fast growth over the last several months, the company has raised a $6.5 million round of funding designed to help accelerate things even further. The idea behind Boxed is pretty simple - give users access to the same types of wholesale deals they would find at warehouse retailers like Sam's Club or Costco, but without having to worry about annual membership fees or actually driving back and forth from one of those places to lug their …

Executives at processor Total System Services can't predict which of the many existing mobile payments technologies will dominate the payments landscape of the future, but they plan to aggressively go after the processing business that follows. "I don't know who is going to win in mobile payments, but we sure are going to benefit from it," said Dan Henry, CEO of TSYS' NetSpend prepaid card business, at the processor's May 13 analyst day in New York. As more shopping takes place on e-commerce and mobile commerce sites, it will become much harder to live a cash-only lifestyle, he noted. "Ninety …

If anyone can paint a pretty picture of technology in retail, Sephora would be it. The specialty beauty retailer owned by luxury goods group LVMH is often recognized for its trailblazing efforts to merge its in-store, online and mobile environments. Technology and e-commerce were never the company's top goals, though, says Savio Thattil, Sephora USA's CIO and senior vice president of technology. Rather, "We really focus on the brand. Everything else comes with it." According to Thattil, the mission is to ensure a deep relationship with each customer, so much so that "she finds every interaction with us enlightening and …

Gap's marketing campaign uses a combination of location-based advertising and user-generated content to get consumers into stores this summer. The #Summerloves campaign enlists musicians Andra Day and Smith Westerns to represent Gap in its marketing. Similar to other millennial-focused marketers, Gap continues to bump up its digital marketing and investments to better appeal to a group of consumers who are increasingly shopping less in bricks-and-mortar stores.

Etisalat Group has announced the adoption of its mobile commerce service Flous by the United Nations' Population Fund Agency (PLAN) in Togo to transfer the salaries of more than 6,000 agents to their mobile phones. PLAN is the first UN organisation in Togo to adopt the service, but a number of local companies already use it to pay staff. Khalifa Al Shamsi, Chief Digital Services Officer, said in many parts of the world, financial security is a constant concern, and a flexible and secure Mobile Commerce platform like Etisalat Flous addresses a significant socio-economic concern area. In emerging markets such …

OTP Bank has begun to roll out its new mobile payment service, called OTPay. The new service is being launched with the aid of Cellum and MasterCard. The companies announced their partnership in February of this year and have been working together to develop services that would be well received in the mobile commerce space. OTPay is developed by Cellum and adheres to standards devised by MasterCard. OTP Bank is responsible for the financial aspects of the service. The service is expected to be particularly successful in Hungary, where it is being launched initially. The service will act as a …

Yapital, a mobile commerce firm, has added a "one click" purchase feature to its mobile application. The application allows users to make purchases from the mobile devices at physical stores and online. These mobile commerce applications tend to operate like digital wallets, storing financial information and other data and allowing it to be used in a convenient fashion. The new feature will allow Yapital users to make purchases from printed advertising media. The feature is meant to bring yet more convenience to the mobile commerce space. Using Yapital, consumers will be able to scan QR codes they find in advertising …

Between, an app that originated from South Korea for couples to share their moments in a private social network, is developing its platform as it launched an e-commerce store today first in South Korea, where 60 percent of its users are. This comes after billion-dollar Japanese mobile games firm DeNA invested in Between earlier this year, which we predicted would lead to an array of other services including mobile commerce and games, as DeNA is most well-known for that. Between is teaming up with local Korean partners such as 10x10 and Wincube Marketing to launch a gift shop for couples, …

Gannett-owned Key Ring is loading Bluetooth Low Energy into its application to better connect with smartphone-wielding grocery shoppers through hyper-targeted content and deals. Key Ring is joining inMarket's Mobile to Mortar platform, which will let the company target shoppers in big box-retail and grocery stores through BLE and geofencing. King Ring claims to be the first utility shopping application to use beacons in-store. "Right now we're in the early innings of beacon adoption, and the savviest companies are jumping on board," said Dave Heinzinger, director of communications at inMarket, Venice, CA.

The Boston Globe is now offering home delivery and digital subscribers more comprehensive control of customer service by launching a new support application that features access to a live customer service agent. The convenient mobile customer service option developed by Contact Solutions enables the daily paper to engage with print and digital subscribers, and the publisher is the first company to use the My:Time technology. With more consumers reading news content on their mobile devices, customer service is a big opportunity for publishers to ramp up their digital offerings. "Fostering customer loyalty and delivering a great customer experience are of …