Author: Denny

Nordstrom mobile commerce drives strong online sales

The luxury department store reported considerable sales increases in this year’s second quarter.

Nordstrom mobile commerce gets the credit for powerful online sales growth for the luxury department store. The company has released its 2016 Q2 earnings report. The report showed strong mobile engagement.

This powerful growth over mobile commerce occurred despite an overall decline in total sales in all channels.

Nordstrom mobile commerce is now outpacing shopping over laptop and desktop computers. In fact, the retailer has credited m-commerce for much of its current online successes. Shoppers using smartphones and tablets played an important role in the quarter’s e-commerce results.

This shift toward mobile shopping did not occur by accident. Nordstrom has been making considerable investments into mobile tools. The company wants customers to be engaged over their mobile devices.

Nordstrom mobile commerce was a high priority in Q2 2016 as the company focused heavily on its app.

Nordstrom Mobile Commerce - Nordstrom StoreThe Nordstrom report revealed considerable insight into the company’s performance during the second quarter. It also underscored the power of mobile shopping as the company placed a focus on its smartphone app.

Among the insight provided in the report was the following:

• Nordstrom saw a year over year decline in total sales. They reached $3.5 billion, which was a drop of 1.2 percent over the same quarter in 2015.
• Total online sales for the company increased by 9.4 percent, year over year. In the second quarter of this year, they reached $683 million.
• Total off-price retail site sales and flash-sale site (HauteLook) sales exploded by almost 35 percent. This was a massive growth over the same quarter in 2015 as it reached $157 million.

The added investment into the Nordstrom mobile commerce app drove performance significantly. The company worked hard to ensure the mobile app would be highly engaging. Among the top features was one that allowed customers shop from specific store locations as well as a visual search function. Co-president and director of the company, Erik B. Nordstrom, explained that this effort was precisely what propelled m-commerce forward and beyond desktop during that quarter. It also explains why the retailer will continue to move in that direction.

Android mobile security vulnerability exposes nearly a billion devices

Approximately 900 million gadgets have been exposed and the fix will be a tough one.

The latest Android mobile security problem to have been identified is a big one. This vulnerability isn’t specific to any particular make, model or version of firmware. This is because it doesn’t actually have to do with the operating system. Instead, it’s an issue based at Qualcomm, the hardware manufacturer component provider.

At the moment, there are about 900 million Android smartphones with the vulnerable Qualcomm components.

What makes this Android mobile security problem worse is that it will be quite the challenge to fix. This, according to the Check Point security research firm.. There are actually four issues that make up the vulnerability. Together, these four issues are called QuadRooter. They impact Qualcomm chipsets from a number of different manufacturers. Manufacturers include Google, LG, HTC, OnePlus and others. The Google devices include the various manufacturers that make the Nexus smartphones and tablets.

Unfortunately, this Android mobile security vulnerability is a very serious one.

Android Mobile Security - Exposure and VulnerabilityCompromised devices are open to a spectrum of different types of vulnerabilities. Primarily, it could provide unauthorized root access. This means cyber criminals could obtain any information stored on the device. The vulnerability also lets criminals take control of a phone’s camera and microphone and can track the device’s GPS location. Essentially, it is providing someone not only with the keys to your house, but also all your passwords and a means to carry all your belongings away.

Vulnerabilities in mobile security are not rare. All operating systems have experienced them. That said, when iOS vulnerabilities occur, Apple can typically address the problem very quickly because they are in control of both the software and hardware of their devices. However, the same cannot be said about Android.

According to Check Point mobile research team member, Jeff Zacuto, “Android security updates are really hard.” “The Android ecosystem is so fragmented. There are a lot of different versions and variants of Android in the marketplace, because each individual device has its own particular nuances,” he said.

This problem with Android mobile security isn’t anything recent. In fact only 15 percent of devices on this operating system are operating on its newest version, which means the rest are not operating with the latest protection features.