Ecommerce

China lets TenCent into the banking club (with caveats) but Alibaba has to wait
China’s bank regulators, having slept on it for a few months, have approved the entry of new players. But TenCent — the digital intruder that had its banking initiative put in limbo earlier in the year — will be required to bring partners to its venture. While initial reports suggested

Australia’s shoppers have embraced mobility, but retailers are barely getting started: study
Despite the rise of smartphone usage in retail by Australia’s shoppers, most Australian retailers have yet to adopt sophisticated mobile strategies. A joint mobile commerce study from NetSuite and the Australian Retailers Association, conducted by Frost & Sullivan, has revealed that local retailers remain largely unprepared for mobile commerce. While

The Omni-channel Chatter Report: digital banking, device proliferation and real estate propaganda
Lessons for bankers, platform proliferation, real estate propaganda and an new power player in online retail dominated the conversation this week, in our latest Omni-channel Chatter report. Each weekday the KINSHIP digital/Which-50 Chatter Report identifies the most influential conversation starters of the last week across the global social realm,

Globally there is a big shift in the retail leadership mindset this year to digital, says KPMG
Around the world, leaders of the retail and consumer goods sector have rapidly switched their focus beyond economic uncertainty to digital transformation, according to a study by KPMG and The Consumer Goods Forum. According to the authors, “More than any previous year, the focus of executive attention has shifted from

The omnichannel Chatter Report: Netsuite’s swoop, operational agility and customer expectations
NetSuite’s acquisition of Venda, the importance of agility in retail, in-store and online integration, and a survey into milennial customer experience, headline our third omni-channel Chatter Report. Each weekday the KINSHIP digital/Which-50 Chatter Report identifies the most influential conversation starters of the last week around the global social realm, and

Bit by bit Bitcoin moves closer to the centre. Companies, regulators prepare for virtual currencies
It is less than six months since the Bitcoin movement faced its greatest crisis (or experienced deliverance, depending on your perspective): the collapse of the largest Bitcoin exhange, Mt Gox. And after it was subsequently revealed that almost half a billion dollars worth of Bitcoins had been stolen from the exchange,

Oneflare acquires Renovate Forum as the tradie online marketplace consolidates
Oneflare, the online home services marketplace, has acquired Renovate Forum, which it says is Australia’s largest community for renovators seeking advice and expert opinion, and which attracts half a million visits a month. The site also has a membership of 40,000. For its part, Oneflare is a startup looking to

The Chatter Report: revealing the source of the most social ecommerce conversations in the world in the last week
The burgeoning impact of online commerce in South East Asia, and attempts by incumbent domestic retailers in India to hold back the tide, featured prominently in the worldwide social media conversations about ecommerce this week, according to our daily Chatter Report. Meanwhile, Econsultancy’s list of ten retail and ecommerce

The Chatter Report: This week’s most influential omnichannel conversations in the social stream
In our third KINSHIP digital/Which-50 Chatter Report we reveal the most influential omni-channel chatter in the social stream worldwide this week. The importance of cloud computing, top tips for omni-channel selling and the impact of digital on the retail workforce lead the global conversation this week. All up there

Can personal clouds rebalance control back towards the consumer?
Customer relationship management systems make it possible to target consumer needs more precisely. Digital marketing platforms married to analytics are then able to render behavioural insights into real-world personalised campaign outcomes. Everyone is happy — the consumer gets more targeted offers and the vendor get a more efficient path to sale.