Customers of UK rail operator Virgin Trains are now able to purchase onboard wifi access using their mobile phones. Nomad Digital, a leading provider of high-speed, end-to-end wireless connections on transportation fleets, has announced that it is using ImpulsePay’s mobile purchasing solution to enable customers to pay for wifi access on any wifi enabled Virgin Train, using their mobile phones

Western European feature phone shipments continued to decline sharply in 2Q11 as consumers increasingly move to smartphones, according to the latest European Mobile Phone Tracker from International Data Corporation (IDC)

Multichannel fashion brand Boden is to test the French market this autumn, and plans further European expansion next year. The news came as the privately-owned company reported a 13% rise in profits and 15% rise in sales for 2010.

Consumers want to shop when suits them – and now is the time to recognise that by opening later, and closing later, on the high street. That’s the call from the Association of Town Centre Management which has urged town centre shops to consider changing their hours.

Calling customer service is frustrating consumers held at the mercy of queues, automated responses and premium rate numbers, new Econsultancy research into multichannel service has found. But the report found retailers emerged relatively well, with 47% saying they offered the best level of service.

In the latest preview of our annual conference, Internet Retailing 2011, we talk to Jo Causon, chief executive of the Institute of Customer Service about how online retail has changed the nature of good customer service.

Brian Doll, the lead performance engineer for New Relic, a company specializing in web application performance looks at what you need to take your e-commerce strategy mobile

Notonthehighstreet.com has hired from Amazon, Paypal and Google as it prepares for international expansion. Jason Weston, Mark Hodson and Maya Moufarek join founders Holly Tucker and Sophie Cornish five years after the online marketplace launched.

Designer discount website BrandAlley has been confirmed as the first major retailer to back the Give Change, Make Change campaign. As a result shoppers on the site will be offered the chance to round up their bill at the checkout and donate the spare cash to the four charities behind the campaign.

iForce is to add up to 2,000 extra staff to its workforce as it prepares for the Christmas online shopping rush. It is preparing for a peak season that starts on October 1 and runs until December 31.

Vodafone has rewarded three start-ups at the forefront of m-commerce and mobile web innovation with the award of its long awaited Mobile Clicks 2011 trophies

Supermarket Morrisons will soon be offering multichannel sales. Instore kiosks offering Kiddicare nursery goods through ecommerce are due to go live in 28 stores by the end of October.

Retail websites are satisfying customers as never before, eDigitalResearch’s latest eRetail Benchmarket Study. It found ecommerce sites are outperforming the rest of the online industry, and their users rate them highly thanks to constant improvements and updates.

In today’s guest comment, Paul Cook, chief executive of TagMan, considers the importance of how long it takes your site to load – and how the introduction of Google+ has brought the issue to the fore.

Ecommerce sales are growing at retailers including Laura Ashley and Argos, despite falling or flat sales across their whole businesses. Meanwhile, IMRG and Capgemini said online conversion rates had fallen by 55% in the last five years as more shoppers browse online and buy instore.

Ben Sherman is the latest fashion designer to relaunch its global ecommerce websites. Agency the OTHER media, entrusted with the task of designing and building them, says fashion houses cannot ignore online in ‘tough times’.

Social media and mobile are influencing and incentivizing shoppers to a dramatic degree and are likely to drive cross channel demand further, with half of users having shopped on mobile, used social price comparison sites and received discounts through mobile, finds an IBM European study into consumer shopping behaviour

Tablet owners are more engaged with retail brands, making more purchases and website visits compared with smartphone users, according to the latest eCustomerServiceIndex (eCSI) results from eDigitalResearch and IMRG

Ocado, famed for not having any stores is moving from computer screens to shop windows, as the award-winning online supermarket takes residence at central London shopping centre – One New Change – to showcase the next generation in shopping

Debenhams autumn/winter ad campaign is getting a mobile boost, with the retailer’s print adverts being brought to life when a smartphone or tablet is pointed at them