Department store chain Barneys New York is making it easier for consumers to find what they are looking for with a more personalized search tool. Barneys' new search pulls in consumer data to provide targeted suggestions and more relevant results. Taking the individual into account increases the likelihood of conversion and makes the shopping experience more fulfilling for consumers. "RichRelevance saw a unique opportunity to help Barneys innovative its customer experience through personalization," said Diane Kegley, chief marketing officer at RichRelevance, San Francisco.

Panera Bread Company has launched a new mobile application that aims to help the company recover from the operational struggles it has faced over the past 18 months. The mobile app is meant to help the company's restaurants better manage the high volume of orders they receive during peak hours by taking advantage of the mobile commerce scene. More consumers are beginning to use their mobile devices in restaurants to pay for their purchases and many of these consumers are praising the efficient nature of mobile commerce services being provided by these restaurants. The new mobile application aims to address …

Early in May, PayPal introduced biometric fingerprint scanning checkout to mobile commercefor consumers who own the Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone, which comes with built-in biometrics technology. It was big news because it was a giant step toward ridding the mobile shopping checkout process of all the friction of typing in the requisite information to complete a purchase. Three taps of the finger and a PayPal order is complete. Apple Inc. is moving in the same direction.

Starbuck's beta launch of mobile pre-ordering in South Korea sets the stage for a broader roll out and has the potential to be another home run for the chain if it can successfully reduce customer wait times. The company-first Siren Order service enables rewards members to make pre-payments for beverages through the native Starbucks app. While numerous quick-service restaurants have embraced mobile pre-orders to reduce wait times for customers with reportedly mixed results, Starbucks, whose app has already been a major success for the company, has a lot riding on its ability to get this right.

Telco SingTel has partnered with Standard Chartered Bank to launch a new mobile commerce service which can access three types of services using a smartphone - money transfers and retail payments, loan applications, and mobile travel insurance. Users - not just SingTel customers - can download cash into their mobile phones using the new app called Dash, which will be linked to their savings account, but the system will only work for users with Standard Chartered Bank accounts. At launch, there are a few thousand retail acceptance points, including cab operators ComfortDelGro and SMRT, WingTai Retail shops, Food Republic and …

Walmart has had its ups and downs when it comes to the efforts that it has made to be successful in m-commerce, and now it is taking a few more steps in this direction in the hopes of getting it right. Although e-receipts are nothing new and they are offered by many retailers, already, typically they are simply emailed to the customer and don't really offer any additional benefit aside from having a digital alternative copy of what would typically be found on a printed paper receipt. Walmart has taken a new look at this technique and has found that …

Forty-seven percent of consumers also prefer to make purchases online, according to a report from the Shullman Research Center. The report also calls attention to the retailers where affluent consumers across generations like to shop. For instance, Amazon was the most popular store among those surveyed, while Nordstrom had consistent responses from all generations and Neiman Marcus skewed toward millennials. "You can't ignore Amazon," said Bob Shullman, founder/CEO of the Shullman Research Center, New York. "They're exercising their muscle.

The 80 million members of the millennial generation represent 25% of the U.S. population and more than $200 billion in annual buying power. (source: US advertising firm Barkley). Millennials are typically defined as those born between 1980 and 2000. According to a 2012 study this group has influence over $500 billion of indirect spending, primarily because teens and young adults influence the purchasing habits of their parents (source: U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation). Millennials' annual spending is expected to reach $2.45 trillion by 2015 (source: Deloitte). Clearly there is need for better understanding and finding new ways to target this …

Teen fashion retailer Wet Seal is ramping up its mobile strategy in the second quarter via a new payments partnership with Oink, an integration with Fanreel to showcase user-generated images on its Web site and a big Tumblr push. With more than 50 percent of its Web site traffic now coming from mobile, Wet Seal recognizes the need to create exciting new experiences for its smartphone-savvy customer base. At the same time, with mobile transactions lagging desktop, the retailer is also focused on ways to streamline smartphone shopping.

Sing Post, Singapore's leading provider of mail, logistics, and retail solutions, has announced that Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba is set to purchase a 10% stake in the company. This represents a $313.5 million investment from Alibaba, which has been growing quite aggressive in regards to its investing in recent months. The two organizations have also entered into a partnership that is focused on e-commerce. The investment represents Alibaba's first major move in the Asian-Pacific market beyond China's borders. Alibaba has become quite interested in mobile commerce as it has seen consumers throughout Asia become heavily reliant on their mobile devices.