Mobile commerce vendor raises $9.5 million in funding
Branding Brand, a leading mobile commerce vendor, has announced that it has raised over $9 million in Series B funding. The company has made a major impact in the mobile commerce space, enabling large brands, such as Costco, Sephora, and Redken to facilitate mobile payments. Branding Brand is responsible for the e-commerce and mobile commerce platforms of more than 200 of the world’s top retailers, a major accomplishment considering the competition that exists in the mobile commerce space.
Funding to help company expand and improve services
Backed by new funding, Branding Brand is expected to expand its mobile commerce services as well as introduce improvements to its already existing platform. The company is likely to continue its focus on the mobile space, helping retailers make their existing web presence more mobile friendly. Branding Brand utilizes proprietary technology to make conventional sites more accommodating to mobile devices, improving the shopping experience that smartphone and tablet users have on these sites, thereby promoting mobile commerce.
Branding Brand helps retailers engage consumers more dynamically
Branding Brand does not only make websites more mobile friendly, of course. The company also helps develop engagement initiatives for retailers. For Sephora, for instance, Branding Brand introduced a feature into the company’s website that allowed Facebook users to easily invite their contacts to registry lists. Other retailers have made use of the services that Branding Brand offers. Branding Brand currently sees more than $1 billion in transactions coming through its mobile commerce platform, an increase from the $60 million in transactions it had recorded in 2011.
Mobile commerce continues to grow in popularity among businesses
Like other companies in the mobile commerce sector, Branding Brand has benefitted from the growing popularity of mobile technology. Today, consumers are more integrated into their smartphones and tablets than they have ever been in the past. This has led to the emergence of new forms of commerce and new shopping trends. Retailers around the world have been feeling the pressure to engage these consumers on platforms they have become very comfortable with, hence the increased interest in mobile commerce among businesses.
Google continues work to establish mobile commerce presence
Despite a turbulent launch, Google Wallet continues to show signs of life as Google works to establish a commanding presence in the mobile commerce sector. The Google Wallet’s launch was plagued with serious security issues that threatened the financial information of consumers that used it. This caused many people to avoid the mobile commerce platform for several months after its launch, despite the fact that Google had resolved its security issues within a matter of days. Over the past few months, Google Wallet has been able to attract more users, and Google has been introducing new features to the mobile commerce platform.
Google Wallet receives new features, but may not be able to compete with Apple
Google Wallet now has the ability to facilitate money transfers. The platform is also able to store digital material offered through various loyalty programs that are common within the retail industry. The platform allows users to redeem their rewards through such programs in an convenient fashion. The Google Wallet does, of course, facilitate mobile payments as well. Notably, however, the Wallet does not have a companion application for the iOS platform, which may be an issue considering Apple’s interest in mobile commerce.
iOS 7 puts emphasis on Passbook
Last week, Apple unveiled the iOS 7, which puts some emphasis on the company’s Passbook. The Passbook platform is very similar to the Google Wallet in that it can store digital information from loyalty programs, travel tickets, and other such data. Unlike the Google Wallet, however, the Passbook cannot currently support mobile payments, though it is designed to do so. While Apple has not shown direct support for mobile commerce due to security concerns and other issues, the iPhone is a popular mobile commerce platform. A recent study from AdTruth shows that 57% of mobile commerce purchases were made from iPhones during the first half of 2013.
Lack of NFC support may actually put Apple in the lead
Apple may be establishing a strong edge in the mobile commerce space through a lackadaisical support of third party mobile payment services. The vast majority of these services are not based on NFC technology because the iPhone itself does not support NFC. Google Wallet, however, does make use of this technology. This means that the Wallet can only be used by NFC-enabled mobile devices, which are still very rare when compared to the iPhone.
