My recommendation on BABA is to buy at $80 or less in the aftermarket, unless you are lucky enough to buy at the IPO price. I award Alibaba a premium multiple for its dominant position in the largest global marketplace. It has created a unique ecosystem as an ecommerce enabler, positioned to benefit from faster growth rates in e-commerce and mobile commerce in China. Alibaba benefits from the rising spending power of Chinese consumers. China’s real consumption in 2013 was 35.8% of total GDP, which is a rate that is significantly lower than that of other countries, such as the United States, …

In less than a year after leaving Amazon, Quidsi co-founder Marc Lore began work on a new startup called Jet.com. Today, the company is officially announcing it has raised an additional $20 million in growth capital from Western Technology Investments, and a $5 million asset-backed facility from Silicon Valley Bank, bringing its Series A round to a total of $80 million at its close. Previously, Jet.com had raised $55 million from NEA with participation from  Accel Partners, Bain Capital Ventures and MentorTech Ventures.

According to a research report, there are around 560 Mn mobile coupon users and the number is expected to rise to 1.05 Bn by 2019. In U.S. alone, the number of digital coupon users had surpassed 103.5 Mn back in 2013. In U.S., 49% of smartphone users and 10% of tablet users have used mobile coupons. It is important to note that Coupon discovery, delivery and redemption is undergoing significant change. For e.g., Direct-to-card coupon redemption method allows for adding coupons to the loyalty card of the retailer directly. Once you shop for the items (and added coupons for them …

Foot Locker aims to enhance the user experience on its mobile-optimized Web site by offering same-day deliveries through crowdsourcing service Deliv, which provides low-cost services and step-by-step shipment tracking. Through this collaboration, Foot Locker is taking steps toward offering the most convenient customer experience possible. Customers will be able to enjoy the option of personalizing their delivery experience, in order to receive shipments when it is most convenient for them.

SAP has now announced its new partnership with Ericsson for the purpose of being able to create an open mobile security platform that will be both effective and device friendly, according to Bill McDermott, the CEO of SAP, who spoke in Las Vegas at the CTIA 2014. He explained that it was very important for enterprises to form mobile apps that are business friendly and that boost and simplify productivity. It is key for apps to function and scale with operating systems as companies need to turn any device, no matter where it is, into a gadget that can be productive and that will …

Apple is restricting the functionality of the Near Field Communications chipset embedded in its new iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch products to its Apple Pay mobile payments program, according to multiple reports. The restriction was first reported by Cult of Mac, and then later confirmed by other news outlets, including The Verge and CNET. The devices are the first from Apple to support NFC, which is a short-range wireless technology useful for exchanging information. However, as a result of the NFC chip's being for use solely in Apple Pay, iOS users will not be able to use NFC to pair with …

The “sharing economy” is now moving into the “sharing services economy.” This morning, Verizon Enterprise Solutions announced its “Auto Share” service, enabling any car company to become aZipcar. A Verizon exec confirmed to VentureBeat that the company’s intention is to create a platform to share virtually anything. Auto Share, which is being shown this week at the ITS World Congress in Detroit, allows a smartphone app to scan a QR code on a car’s windshield and capture the vehicle’s unique ID number. Once validated, the smartphone user remotely receives the capability to unlock and start the compatible vehicle. A key fob for operating …

The University of Michigan Athletic department wished to expand the proximity technology in order to deliver precise messages to fans throughout ‘Big House’, the largest stadium in U.S. They turned to Signal360, a leading proximity marketing company which enabled the integration of its turnkey solution at the stadium in just a week. The deployment is in early phase and the messages are being delivered to particular sections at the stadium. The use cases around the delivery of messages would vary in time but currently tailored welcome and exit messages are being broadcasted. The tailored messages are being delivered via a …

Macy’s is the latest retailer to fire back at Amazon with its own image recognition mobile application designed to simplify searching for items on its ecommerce site by submitting a photo of an item from daily life. By enabling app users to simply snap a photo of an item of interest with their smartphones and easily search for and purchase a similar item on Macys.com, the retailer is taking impulse buying to new heights.

LiveDeal Inc. has announced that it is initiating a partnership program with several national restaurant chains. The publicly traded company operates livedeal.com, a geo-location based mobile marketing platform that allows restaurants to publish “real-time” and “instant offers” to nearby consumers. According to an announcement shared with MMW, “The program, exclusive to LiveDeal, will connect some of the nation’s largest restaurant chains directly with LiveDeal’s consumer audience who use its real time deal engine, directly bringing real time, premier savings opportunities.”