New research from several sources last week shows that while mobile sales are growing this holiday season, users are frustrated with the mobile shopping experience and that social commerce could be next year’s fastest rising star.  Ultimately, unsatisfactory mobile experiences are causing frustration among consumers. While they have certain expectations from retailers in regards to mobile capabilities, such as payments and a seamless user experience, a significant portion of retailers are dropping the ball this holiday season.

While online shopping has become a standard method of making a purchase, mobile commerce is starting to make up an increasing proportion of the sales that are occurring over the internet, and a recent study has found that this is more common on certain days of the week. The mobile commerce report that included this data was issued by Opera and it showed that people are using their smartphones and tablets most often on Sunday and least often on Friday, when it came to shopping online. The study that was conducted provided a considerable amount of insight, as it broke down the …

Gurgaon-based m-commerce and mobile apps company Triotech Solutions Pvt Ltd has secured $3 million (approximately Rs 19 crore) in its first round of funding from Singapore-based VC firm BlueHill Asset Management. The capital will be used for expanding its post office network in order to provide Mobile Money Transfer Service (MMTS) across the country, through its subsidiary Maverick Mobile. At present, 15,000 post offices across the country have the facility of MMTS, which operates on Maverick Mobile’s specially-designed Point of Service (PoS).

At this time of year, there is so much going on in terms of gift buying and wrapping, making travel arrangements, and ensuring that everything is packed for the intended destination, it can be easy to forget to take certain steps such as holding the mail, but USPS has created a mobile app to help travelers to overcome this struggle. When traveling away from home for more than a day or two, placing a hold on mail is a good idea, for several reasons, including security. That said, while many people do intend to do it, it is among the easiest details …

TD Bank is rolling out its first mobile application for tablets to reach a wider target audience of consumers looking to conduct online banking on personal devices. The bank developed the tablet app, available for iOS and Android platforms, after discovering many of its customers were using tablets to visit the Web site or were using the mobile app on tablet devices. The TD Bank tablet app offers the same functionalities and feel as the mobile app, but is optimized for a larger screen.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has announced that it has filed a lawsuit against Sprint, one of the largest telecommunications companies in the United States. The lawsuit accuses the company of illegally processing charges through a third party. This marks the first time that the agency has pursued legal action against a telecommunications company and the lawsuit is also bringing more scrutiny to themobile payments space. Mobile payments have become quite common among consumers. Many people are opting to pay their phone bills and other charges with their mobile devices rather than pay these charges on a home computer. 

In 2007, Apple gave the chance to developers to develop apps and publish apps on the app store which developers could use. Apple supported this platform and is continuing to do so. Not in an exact one-to-one analogy, but Apple is trying to do the same for POS players. From the consumer perspective, Apple has brought its contactless mobile payments service Apple Pay bringing in both hardware and software payments solutions. On the merchant side, it is now allowing developers to bring in both hardware and software solutions to incorporate Apple Pay for merchants. Here are 9 such POS players …

Easton’s Group of Hotels, a Canadian hospitality brand, is leveraging a crowdsourced-driven mobile loyalty program to drive more customer traffic to its properties and bolster its community of fans. The group is partnering with the MoPals.com rewards platform, which encourages guests to check-in to its mobile applications upon arrival at a hotel and share their travel experiences in exchange for digital currency. Members of MoPals can then exchange the rewards or currency for dining experiences, room accommodations and other hotel services.

Seattle’s Hyatt Regency Bellevue hotel is attempting to raise communication efforts between staff and guests by leveraging a two-way SMS cloud-based solution that is also set to save the hotel thousands of dollars each year. The hotel claims to be the first using mobile-based two-way communication that also powers other technologies at the same time, such as digital signage, push notifications and guest requests. 

Vodafone Netherlands is starting a test of Blueetooth beacons in its shops to interact with customers using the My Vodafone app. The small Bluetooth transmitters will be tested in a handful of shops. Customers with an iPhone, the latest version of the app and giving permission over Bluetooth will be sent shop information on their phone when near the beacons. This will include a welcome message and information about handsets and tariff plans. The trial will run the next two months in shops in Haarlem, Alkmaar and Hoorn. If successful, the beacons may also offer …