Tag: mobile commerce news

Online sales expected to jump as Christmas draws near, according to eCommerce Websites

Online sales are expected to see a significant jump in the days leading up to Christmas, according to research from eCommerce Websites, an e-commerce website development firm. The firm notes that it has been seeing a spike in the number of consumers that are using online mediums to purchase products. eCommerce Website draws on information from a recent PayPal study that shows that online sales throughout the world accounted for more than $1.2 trillion during 2012.

Consumers show interest in online shopping

eCommerce Websites suggests that businesses, both large and small, prepare to see higher online traffic as the holidays draw closer. While many consumers have finished their holiday shopping, taking advantage of the major deals that were offered by retailers during the Thanksgiving shopping weekend, many more tend to wait until the very last minute in order to purchase gifts for their loved ones. Online mediums are perfectly suited to meet the needs of these consumers by providing them a way to get through the last of their holiday shopping without having to compete with crowds.

E-commerce platforms must be bolstered to meet consumer demands

In order to better accommodate consumers, eCommerce Websites suggests that businesses bolster their e-commerce sites. During the Thanksgiving shopping weekend, many e-commerce sites from some of the world’s largest retailers experienced problems because of the massive level of traffic they experienced. This traffic caused slow-downs on several e-commerce platforms, leading to complaints from consumers who were keen on buying products that they were interested in. eCommerce Websites notes that having a capable e-commerce platform is necessary for businesses to take advantage of the growing number of mobile consumers.

Mobile commerce may see further growth during Christmas

The holiday season is still in full swing and that could be good news for mobile commerce. Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday have all proven to be popular holidays for mobile commerce. Christmas is expected to see similar results, with a huge number of consumers expected to use their mobile devices to purchase gifts for themselves and for loved ones.

The marketplace is rocked by the shocking news that a major player has dropped out.

The CEO of VeriFone, Doug Bergeron, has stunned the direct-to-micromerchant mobile payments world with the announcement that it is stepping out of that marketplace following unprofitable results from its Sail service.

The point-of sale provider’s mcommerce news came as a surprise to the majority of the industry.

As VeriFone had dedicated a great deal of last year and much of this year on the promotion of the growth of mobile payments services, the decision that the company has now made to remove itself from that direct-to-micromerchant space has caused many heads to spin. The announcement was made during the most recent quarterly conference call.

The CEO released the mobile payments news that the company is stepping down.

During the call, Bergeron stated that Sail, its own mobile payments service, has been unprofitable. This program had been giving small businesses the ability to use smartphones and tablets to accept transactions through debit and credit cards. He said that “Customer acquisition costs, either through search engines or TV advertising, cannot and will never justify the razor thin margins produced by merchants with infrequent volumes and extremely high attrition.”

The NFC technology community has also been left blinking in surprise, as it had been looking toward that company to propel forward its adoption, particularly after the iPhone 5 was released without its capabilities.

Bergeron described the mobile payments program at VeriFone as a failure and is now causing many of the other players in the industry to take a second look at their own potential for profitability. This is particularly the case after the CEO questioned the ability of the environment to be profitable at all. The company has announced that all of its assets from that space will now be sold off.

He explained that he felt it is possible to see similar thoughts among the competition as their businesses models are shifted toward wallets services. It is his belief that the only mobile payments players who will be able to survive “this fundamentally challenging business model” will be those who are capable of offering micro merchants other services, as well.