India’s largest e-commerce firm Flipkart Ltd and its unit Myntra have both shut their mobile websites in their first big move toward becoming a mobile app-only shopping platform. Mint first reported on 4 March that Flipkart was considering shutting its mobile site as well as its desktop-based website to move sales entirely to the mobile app. Spokespersons for Flipkart and Myntra confirmed that the companies had shut their mobile websites. The desktop-based sites are still functional though both companies are considering shutting them over time, two people familiar with the matter said.

A Denny’s executive at the 2015 Mobile Marketing Association Forum New York revealed that location-based messages and advertisements have resulted in ramping up the restaurant brand’s in-store visits, proving that targeted data is imperative for food and beverage marketers to drive sales. During the “Denny’s Uses Location-Based Advertising to Gain a Competitive Edge” session, the executive discussed the brand’s decision to embrace its status as America’s diner and use mobile to bring more consumers of all ages into its storefronts, providing for a comfortable atmosphere for guests. Its recent campaigns, which were completed with location-based mobile advertising firm xAd, sought …

The much-touted proposal of Chinese giant Alibaba's stake purchase in Indian e-commerce firm Snapdeal may have fallen through due to high valuations being sought by the homegrown online marketplace. The deal was being pegged at $500-700 million. Both the companies declined to comment on the matter, but sources said that Alibaba was valuing the Indian firm in the range of $4-5 billion as against a valuation of $6-7 billion sought by Snapdeal. The stake purchase in the Indian e-commerce website would have given the Jack Ma-led Alibaba a stronger footing in the Indian market, which has one of the largest internet populations globally. Alibaba has been …

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has released the results of its research, which was based on information compiled by The Local Data Company, which revealed that the United Kingdom suffered a net loss of 987 brick and mortar retail stores, last year, and it has placed the blame on factors such as mobile technology. The year before, the figure of store closures in the U.K. was three times lower, when a total of 371 closures had been recorded. On the whole, in 2014, there were 5,839 stores that closed their doors forever, while there were 4,852 new store openings. Among the stores that …

A new survey by Ipsos indicates that South Africa is on the cusp of an e-commerce boom, and that boom will be driven by mobile. About 22% of South Africa’s Internet users have shopped online, with a further 48% indicating that they intend doing so. And more online shoppers are using their mobile devices to shop, according to the Ipsos report, which was commissioned by First National Bank and PayPal. Half of South Africans already shopping online use their mobile devices to shop. Most (94%) use their phones to search for information about products, while 62% use them to compare …

An executive with Honda’s Acura division at the 2015 Mobile Marketing Association Forum New York said that while consumers want more integration between mobile devices and cars, the luxury brand is unlikely to try to attract millennial buyers by marketing the car as a technology hub. Although Acura blazed a trail by offering a practical alternative to exotic European luxury vehicles and helped pioneer the six-speed manual transmission, it is unlikely to follow Ford Motor’s example in focusing on marketing vehicles not just as transportation but as a technology experience to attract millennial buyers who regard cars as an expensive …

In 2014, Chinese consumers spend more than three times as much on mobile shopping as they spent in 2013, according to a study by iResearch, indicating the growth in m-commerce is set to continue in Asia. In 2013, consumers in China spent 274.00 billion yuan on their smartphones and tablets, rising to 929.71 billion yuan in 2014. The growth of 239% is huge in comparaison to China’s growth in online shopping of 49.8% in 2014, to 2.814 trillion yuan, according to the Beijing-based e-commerce tracking firm iResearch. Purchases from mobile accounted for 33% of online sales in China in 2014, …

An E*Trade executive at the 2015 Mobile Marketing Association Forum New York revealed that 45 percent of the company’s daily users leverage its iOS 8 biometric security function, which enables users to sign into their account by pressing their finger against an identification button, proving that Touch ID is optimal for financial marketers. During the “Keynote: Mobile Helps E*Trade Take Customer-Centricity to the Next Level” session, the executive discussed the growing state of mobile, highlighting how the brand aims to engage with consumers regardless of their location. Users have investment opportunities all around them, and now can fully see them …

Omnichannel marketer SmartFocus is today offering an alternative to standard beacons. The company is calling its technology “virtual beacons,” and claiming it is the first of its kind. But the service is not entirely virtual. It requires an AC-powered, multi-frequency beacon from any manufacturer — but not the battery-powered, low-energy Bluetooth ones commonly implemented. That high-end beacon sits at the entrance to the store. Only one is required for an entire store regardless of size, chief product officer Joe Dalton told me. This compares to the multiple Bluetooth beacons, each guarding its own geo-located store section, that are required in a standard …

The bestselling watchmaker in the world, Swatch Group, has now announced its intentions to introduce new models of smartwatch that will allow consumers to be able to display data from smartphones and to even make contactless payments by way of wearable technology. At the same time, Hayek made it clear that Swatch doesn’t intend to try to replicate the types of smartwatch that have now been launched by many of the major players in the wearable tech categories, such as Motorola, Pebble, and Apple. Those fully featured devices are not the type of product that this company will be producing, at least …