Feelter Monthly eCommerce Roundup: 12 Events you Should Know About

For those who may have missed some of the eCommerce and Internet-related news this past month, here are a dozen stories that may be of interest.

Vantiv & Worldpay in $10bil Merger

UK-based Worldpay has been bought by Vantiv for $10 billion. The new merged company will be called Worldpay and have its headquarters in Cincinnati, with its international business run from London. The new company will have a primary listing in New York, with a secondary listing in London.

CNBC

Survey: Mobile Banking Apps Favored by Indians

A new survey by Avaya shows that, instead of talking to a banking advisor for complex issues, Indians are either going online or using mobile banking apps. The survey says that customers are using the bank’s Website to access services 26 percent of the time. Mobile apps are also preferred over talking to an agent by the same number.

avaya

Overstock to Accept 40 Cryptocurrency Payments

Overstock is set to begin accepting payments on its Website from all major digital currencies, including Dash, Litecoin and Ethereum, as well as credit and debit cards and bitcoin. ShapeShift, which allows users to instantly convert one digital currency to another, will provide the backend operations.

walletweekly 

Bank of America Merrill Lynch Targets China with Mobile Payment Service

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has teamed up with UnionPay to offer a mobile payments collection service in China, becoming the first non-Chinese bank to provide such an expansive service in the country. A range of virtual wallets is supported, in addition to China UnionPay cards nationwide.

cardsinternational 

UK Ecommerce Retail Market Share Growth 

A report from Ecommerce Foundation says that, while the current growth rate in the UK is the same as 2013, in 2016 there were 57 million online shoppers, and 82 percent of Internet users in the country shopped online. The report anticipates the growth rate for 2017 to be 13.4 percent, as compared to 14.6 percent and 10.9 percent in 2014 and 2015.

ecommercefoundation 

Amazon Eyes Australia Business Growth    

Amazon plans to open its first fulfillment center in Australia that will serve as a base for delivering online orders. The 24,000 square meter center will be based in Melbourne and will open in late 2017 or 2018. The move into Australia is expected to impact competing companies’ sales and lead to price cuts.

reuters

Chinese eCommerce Boom Leads to Alibaba Sales Rise 

As Chinese online shopping shows little sign of slowing down, online shopping giant Alibaba nearly doubled its net income in the first quarter to more than $2 billion. Revenues for the three months to the end of June reached $7.4 billion, up 56 percent. Alibaba shares are up 70 percent this year, reaching a market capitalization of $400 billion.

cnbc

Walmart & Google Team on Integrated Voice-Based Shopping

A new partnership between Walmart and Google will allow voice shopping in Walmart stores through Google Assistant. Under terms of the deal, Google’s shopping service, Google Express, will be integrated with Walmart’s Easy Recorder feature to allow for voice-based shopping of hundreds of thousands of Walmart’s products.

observer 

Americans can now Save Cryptocurrencies to First Digital IRA

Americans can now place cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and Ethereum inside an IRA account using a new service from First Digital IRA (FDIRA). FDIRA helps customers set up a self-directed IRA, purchase digital currencies with a partner exchange, and then place the currency in a secure digital wallet.

prweb 

Alibaba to intro Mobile Payment Platform in Japan in 2018

Hoping to help cash shoppers move to digital payments, Alibaba is set introduce a mobile payment platform in Japan as early as 2018. Using a new brand, Alibaba’s Ant Financial Services will offer a Japanese-specific version of the company’s Alipay payment system. While Alipay usually requires a Chinese bank account, and a mobile app, the Japanese version will be used with Japanese bank accounts.

techinasia 

New Android Malware Steals Credit Card Details

Kaspersky has found new Android malware, called Fakentoken, that steals user credit card details when details are entered into apps. The banking Trojan steals two-factor authentication codes by intercepting texts. The company suspects it spreads via bulk SMS text messages, asking victims to download images.

foxnews 

eCommerce in 2017 to Reach $1.4 Trillion in Asia Pacific

GlobalData has released a survey that estimates the Asia Pacific eCommerce market will reach $1.4 trillion in 2017, representing a growth rate of 27 percent between 2013 and 2017. The growth rate is greater than Europe at 14 percent and North America at 13 percent. China accounts for 75 percent of eCommerce sales from the 15 Asian markets covered in the survey.

irei