The holiday shopping season so far has brought in $17.518 billion in e-retail purchases from U.S. consumers shopping on desktop computers, according to the latest estimate from comScore Inc. That’s 11% higher than the $15.783 billion spent over the first 23 days of November last year. The estimate does not include sales from mobile devices—such sales would have likely added one or two percentage points to the 2014 year-over-year sales gain so far, says Andrew Lipsman, comScore’s vice president of  marketing and insights. “Mobile is more of a challenge to process on the same reporting timetable as desktop,” he says, “so we …

This year, more than ever before, it is expected that consumers will be using mobile apps and other m-commerce opportunities on their smartphones and tablets to be able to compare products and prices and to find better deals, particularly throughout the opening weekend of the holiday shopping season. The current prediction of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) are that mobile apps and websites will be used more this weekend than in any other starting weekend of the holiday season. They forecast that 103.3 million Americans will be shopping online – using laptops, desktops, smartphones, and tablets – from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday 2014. 

The mobile web was supposed to be dead and buried, killed by Apple and its merry band of native apps. But according to new data, mobile web browsing is not only alive and well, but it's actually driving the mobile economy. If only retailers were listening. Instead, according to a BI Intelligence report, many are so focused on apps that they've neglected the web, with just 9% even offering a responsively designed mobile website.

Miami International Airport is rolling out a new mobile application that leverages bilingual functionalities, real-time flight tracking and navigational beacons designed to streamline and personalize travelers’ experiences at the facility. The MIA Airport Official app was created to help the airport stay ahead in the technological field and provide easy-to-use features for iPhone and Android users.

With major retailers such as Amazon, Target and Macy’s offering image recognition within their mobile applications, the technology is likely to become a must-have although more sophisticated scan-to-shop deployments could remain limited. Scan-to-buy options enabling consumers to shop directly from a retailer’s catalogs, print ads and in-store signage are increasingly a standard offering. 

Macy’s is drumming up more excitement for Black Friday shoppers by enabling users of its mobile application to scan QR codes in-store to receive digital gift codes and prizes as part of an instant win experience. The retail brand will be awarding $1 million in prizes during its Black Friday sales, beginning at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.

United Airlines is bumping up its mobile strategy with the introduction of a personal device entertainment service on planes via its updated mobile application and enabling in-store purchases with the new MileagePlus X loyalty app. United consumers with Android devices can now access the airline’s complimentary entertainment service for personal devices by using the latest version of the United mobile app. 

Interbank Mobile Payment Service (IMPS) is gaining popularity in India. Most of the major banks are extending this service to account holders to access accounts and transfer funds using mobile phones. According to NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India), IMPS witnessed a 22% growth in taking place between August and September 2014. There was also a 6% increase in total number of Mobile Money IDs (MMID) issued during that period. The following illustration shows the growth of IMPS in the past year in terms of transactions made and amount transacted:

"We haven't scratched the surface of what we can do withecommerce -- the only constant is that the rate of change is accelerating faster and faster, so there's an awful lot of work to do." Chris Morton, cofounder of Lyst, is working to propel that progress forward with his platform, a personalised shopping list feed for consumers. Speaking at WIRED Retail, he explains that his team of 70 is made up of around half data scientists, who are tracking every moment of user behaviour to help brands monopolise on mobile shopping.

Amazon.com and EBay are stepping up efforts to persuade tablet and smartphone users to shop from their couches this Thanksgiving Day instead of going to stores on Black Friday. George Wacker is fine with that plan. The 33-year-old resident of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, plans to spend Thanksgiving Day eating turkey with family, watching a Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys football game and -- for the first time -- shopping for flat-screen TVs on his mobile phone.