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eBay PayPals It Forward April 02, 2013 eBay is enjoying a surge on Wall Street in the wake of last week's analyst day, when it reassured Wall Street and investors that growth from its core Marketplaces and PayPal businesses was on track. It was the first time since 2011 that analysts had gathered at the company's San Jose, Calif., headquarters.

The Revolution Is Over, and M-Commerce Is Here to Stay March 16, 2013 In case you missed it, 2012 -- the so-called "year of mobile" -- came and went pretty quickly. Now we simply live in a mobile world. E-commerce is moving to mobile devices more and more, and that trend is not likely to stop anytime soon. U.S. retail mobile commerce sales will grow from $13.63 billion in 2011 to $86.86 billion by 2016 -- increasing from 7 percent to 24 percent of all retail e-commerce, eMarketer predicted.

FTC Puts a Damper on Freewheeling Digital Advertising March 13, 2013 The Federal Trade Commission released its updated Dot Com Disclosures guidance on Tuesday, emphasizing the requirements for advertisers targeting mobile devices. In short, the rules that apply to ads in newspapers, radio and television also apply to mobile devices and social media. The update is the first since the guidelines were released in 2000 -- an era when smartphones and tablets were far, far less ubiquitous.

Samsung Adds Its 2 Cents to the Digital Wallet Market February 27, 2013 Samsung opened up its new Wallet app at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Wednesday, joining Apple and Google in the market for electronic storage and scanning of tickets, memberships and discounts via smartphones. The company's announcement comes two days after it said it had entered a worldwide agreement with Visa to offer the latter's PayWave near field communication payment system.

Upgrade Points to Mobile as Groupon's Real Deal February 15, 2013 Groupon got a stock bump this week following an analyst's upgrade, a rare occurrence for the daily deal site; its stock price has plummeted since its debut on the public market. The company's evolving business model, an increasing presence in mobile commerce and an international push can help the online coupon dealer hit $9 per share over the next 12 months, according to analyst Arvind Bhatia.

M-Commerce Is on a Tear, Survey Says February 14, 2013 Mobile commerce sites showed growth during the 2012 holiday shopping season as they gave consumers more on-the-go options for buying and researching products, according to the latest ForeSee Mobile Satisfaction Index. ForeSee, a customer experience analytics firm, saw the Index jump two points over Christmas 2011 to a score of 78 on a 100-point scale for its Holiday Retail Edition.

The Key to Mobile Marketing: A Strong Opt-In List February 09, 2013 Mobile messaging -- which includes SMS, MMS and rich media messaging -- has quickly become a staple in the world of marketing campaigns for many large brands. Mobile messaging, although still in its infancy, has drastically impacted the marketing landscape and is vital to any program. Mobile messaging creates a very personal link between a brand and its customers.

Headless Commerce Lets the Product Sell Itself January 26, 2013 If done right, online selling of digital content -- including software, games, e-books, periodicals and other digital media -- can take traditional retail e-commerce a huge step further into a new and very different -- but potentially highly impactful -- sales and relationship-building environment. Unlike physical goods e-commerce, selling digital content should happen in the context of life.

Target Fights Showrooming With Price-Matching Scheme January 10, 2013 Target has announced that its brick-and-mortar stores will extend the company's holiday season price-matching policy year round. It has promised to match the prices customers find on identical "qualifying" products at Amazon, as well as the e-commerce websites of Walmart, Best Buy, Toys 'R' Us, Babies 'R' Us and others.

App It Up: Mobile Strategies for Small Businesses January 04, 2013 Even when Darien Gold's pilates clients aren't in her studio, they can work on their moves by following the instructions and imitating the positions on her mobile app. Gold uses the app to expand the reach of her business, according to Bharath Lingam, CEO of PurpleTalk, which worked with Gold to develop her app.

Amazon Creates Safe Haven for Kids on Kindle Fire December 06, 2012 Amazon is enlarging its Kindle universe to expressly target children. It has rolled out Kindle FreeTime Unlimited, a service that offers several different types of content for children 3-8 years-old, including books, games, educational apps, movies and TV shows.

All Things Appy: Top 5 Android Shopping Tools December 01, 2012 Keep things simple with Barcode Scanner. Scan the product barcode wandering the aisles and read up on the product via a Google Web search or Google's shopping Web pages. That's it. It's super useful when showrooming, in-store browsing, price-matching, or looking for independent reviews and specifications.

Google Buys Custom Coupon Startup November 29, 2012 Google acquired retail coupon company Incentive Targeting, giving it a way to target consumers with deals based on their preferences and broaden its e-commerce presence. Incentive Targeting works with manufacturers of grocery and consumer products to design personalized, timely coupons and special offers.

Brick-and-Mortar's Showrooming Scourge November 20, 2012 How can classic retail, the brick-and-mortar physical stores dotting our neighborhoods, compete with the likes of Amazon and Zappos? Can real-world retail survive e-commerce? And if it can, what's the trick? How do retailers intend to meet this growing threat? We're now seeing something insidious that threatens the very heart of brick-and-mortar retail: showrooming.

Courting the Prized Omnichannel Shopper November 16, 2012 Holiday shopping this year will take place on multiple channels, with many shoppers doing research and buying online or on mobile devices. That's according to Deloitte's 2012 Annual Holiday Survey, which found that shoppers who use multiple channels plan to spend more money than retail shoppers.

Isis Tiptoes Into Chilly Mobile Payments Water October 22, 2012 Isis, a joint venture of AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, has debuted its long-awaited mobile wallet initiative in Austin and Salt Lake City. It joins a number of other initiatives -- Square and Google Wallet, to cite just two examples -- competing in the nascent mobile payments industry. Whether Isis will gain more traction than they have, however, remains to be seen.

Mobile CRM Gives Retailers Ammo Against Showrooming October 09, 2012 Showrooming enabled by the proliferation of smartphones has become the bane of brick-and-mortar retailers. Basically, consumers waltz into a local Best Buy or similar big box store, find the product they are thinking of buying and check it out. So far, so good, from the retailer's perspective -- only then they go online to buy it from an etailer like Amazon.

Future Proofing E-Commerce for the Mobile Era September 22, 2012 The launch of smartphones with the capacity for e-commerce created a new channel for Internet merchants to address, mobile commerce. M-commerce revenues are expected to grow to $31 billion by 2016, according to Forrester Research. The number of mobile devices available for making purchases on the Web has drastically increased since the iPhone first made waves.

Trulia Flies High but Could Fall Hard September 21, 2012 Trulia, an online real estate listing company, hit it out of the park Thursday in its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock priced at $17 per share and then opened at $22.10. It rose an eye-popping 48 percent to reach $25.20 per share at one point before settling in at $24 per share at the market's close.

Groupon Gets Its Mobile Payments Groove On September 20, 2012 Groupon is entering the mobile payments space with its own offering, Groupon Payments. The service, which facilitates credit card transactions, is available to any small business in the U.S.; however, it's offered to Groupon merchants at cheaper rates. Groupon is positioning the service as easier and less expensive for small businesses to use than traditional payment systems.