New year, new trends emerging in mobile commerce, so M-Retailing, in association with mobile marketing company Sponge, is inviting retailers to take part in a quick survey aimed at uncovering the role mobile now plays in retail and the trends we’ll be seeing as 2011 unfolds

The world’s largest social gaming portal Spil Games has chosen a ‘next generation’ payment system from specialist provider Adyen.

Multichannel department store John Lewis showed its online sales rose by more than a third in the second half of its financial year, bringing to an end a twelvemonth period where ecommerce turnover passed the £0.5bn milestone.

Dairy food company Dairy Crest says its innovative ecommerce doorstep delivery service milk&more is gaining new customers. Weekly sales generated by the service are now close to £1m.

Reaching your customer’s heart is key if you want to boost online revenue, argues Doron Herzlich, chief executive and co-founder of nanoRep.

‘Exceptional’ customer service is the key factor that makes an ecommerce website into a top performer, according to a new study from eDigitalResearch. The benchmarking study rated Figleaves highest of the 51 sites analysed.

So-called ‘silver surfers’ are more likely to shop online than the generation that has grown up with the internet, according to a new study from the British Population Survey. While under-25s are driving the move to use the web as entertainment, over-55s are more likely to use the web to make purchases.

New technology that aims to help retailers make sure their prices are competitive in the market has been launched. PriceOptimizer.com says its solution provides an answer to the time-consuming task of monitoring prices.

eWise payo mobile has been launched in Europe offering to enable consumers to initiate secure and private payments for goods, services, or bills online or face-to-face, without having to provide personal financial information to any third parties

Chiltern Railways has announced details of an integrated mobile ticketing system that will finally solve the age-old problem of ticket office queues, with tickets being delivered to iPhone as 2D barcodes

Tesco is trialling the use of in store QR codes to allow consumers to pre-order the new Nintendo 3DS console. From last Friday the QR Codes will be displayed in store to link customers to the mobile version of Tesco Direct to pre-order the new console

Online grocer Ocado has moved into profit for the first time, the company said today. It unveiled full-year losses of £12.2m, but said the final quarter of the year saw its first pre-tax profits. The Ocado share price rose more than 7% on the news.

Facebook Deals has launched in the UK, following a release in the US in October 2010. Internet Retailing was invited to the launch event and Ian Jindal gives his thoughts on the news and its importance to retailers

In the run-up to Internet Retailing Expo, to be held at Birmingham’s NEC on March 23 and 24, we’re carrying a series of weekly interviews with some of the speakers who will be taking part in the event.
This week we speak to Simon Harrow, technology officer at nursery retailer Kiddicare, about the part technology plays in the business.

Supermarket Waitrose has hit a milestone of £5bn in sales in its current financial year, and says online, along with investment and innovation, all played a part in the growth.