Outback Steakhouse claims to be the only national restaurant chain to offer mobile access to real-time data about wait times for tables, reflecting how smartphones are innovating customer experiences. Outback Steakhouse is streamlining the reservations and waiting process for consumers with the introduction of Click Thru Seating, available on Outback’s 365 mobile application and online.

Fifty-seven percent of consumers use their smartphones to assist shopping activities in store. According to new data from CFI Group's report "Holiday Shopping 2014: Shutting Down the Showroom Effect," which surveyed 1,000 U.S. consumers and is sponsored by EBay Enterprise, 60% of survey respondents compare retailer's prices to their online competitors, while 63% use their phones to check prices at other local stores. Electronics retailers are at the highest risk for suffering lost sales due to showrooming. Asked specifically what type of goods they showroom, 70% of consumers who have engaged in the practice said electronics, followed by apparel and accessories …

Africa offers enormous growth potential for e-retailers given that online shopping is in its infancy in the region. This is according to Sumesh Rahavendra, head of marketing for DHL Express Sub Saharan Africa (SSA), who says the recently released ‘Shop the World!’report reveals that emerging markets offer the highest growth potential for the eCommerce industry.

CurrentC, the mobile payment service backed by MCX (Merchant Customer Exchange) and also a rival to Apple Pay, got hacked. It led to data breach involving theft of email addresses. Unauthorized third parties were able to obtain email addresses of some of the CurrentC pilot program participants and those who used the mobile app. CX has notified merchant partners about the incident and is also reaching out to customers, victims of the data breach. The following illustration shows the official message by the group to customers.

Italian cashmere brand Loro Piana is expanding its mobile commerce beyond its iOS application with a mobile-optimized Web site. Loro Piana’s mobile site focuses on easy access to its apparel and accessories, placing content primarily on product pages rather than featuring it on the homepage

Customers will now be able to tap and pay both in-restaurant and in the drive-thru lane at all U.S. McDonald’s locations, marking the largest deployment of NFC-based mobile commerce in drive-thru. Softcard is a free app that combines payments, offers and loyalty. McDonald’s customers can download and use Softcard today on more than 80 mobile devices across AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless. Through its use of the contactless EMV global standard and SmartTap mobile commerce technology, Softcard enables payments, offers and loyalty redemption through a simple tap.

Although there have been doubts with regards to the mainstream use of mobile payments in the United States due to the “slow” rate of adoption by merchants and consumers, a recent study shows that shoppers do feel that the regular use of these digital transactions is not long off. A survey was conducted by Mobile Commerce Press which revealed that the majority of people expect that mobile wallets will be as mainstream as plastic credit cards at some time between 2017 and 2019. Most people today are very comfortable and, overall, are quite satisfied by the experience that they receive …

While the launch of Apple Pay and Host Cost Emulation promise to boost near field communications-based payments, one group that is likely to see its role diminish is wireless carriers, according to a new report from Juniper Research. The report, NFC Mobile Payments: Apple Pay, Host Card Emulation & SIM Based Opportunities & Forecasts 2014-2019, forecasts that just 3 percent of NFC mobile payments customers will be controlled by wireless carriers in North America by 2019. 

Groupon’s is scheduled to release its Q3 2014 earnings on October 30th. Ongoing concerns over the sustainability of the business have resulted in over 40% drop in the company’s stock price during the year. On one hand, the company is showing impressive growth and its product innovations and mobile strategy pit it strongly against competitors. But on the other hand, the lack of profitability, increased competition and reliance on a push strategy, have contributed to loss of confidence among the company’s investors.

Australian-listed mobile commerce company 99 Wuxian has signed a deal with Chinese bankcard association China UnionPay to launch a new cloud-based point-of-sale (POS) platform. The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX)-listed mobile commerce company, which operates a mobile online marketplace in China, told shareholders on October 28 that the new payment platform would be jointly developed, maintained, and promoted by the two companies. "This is a landmark agreement, as China UnionPay is the only bankcard organisation and interbank network in China," 99 Wuxian said in a statement (PDF). 99 Wuxian said that China UnionPay has more than 4.5 billion bank cards under issue …