Brands and retailers are coming up with interesting ways to target their fans through social commerce this Christmas. From Burberry’s customised trench to John Lewis’ perfect gift app, companies are finding new ways to talk to their customers this Christmas.

TUI Travel, owner of First Choice and Thomson, says more bookings are made via its online channel than any other in the UK. It today announced announced record results for this market, which it said was also down to sales of higher-margin holidays.

UK consumers are now more likely to buy CDs, books and holidays online, a KPMG study has found. But when it comes to luxury goods they’d rather buy in store. Meanwhile the growing importance of social commerce in the purchase process has been highlighted by a Reevoo study.

Shoe retailer, Clarks, has launched a fully transactional mobile commerce site, that boasts the full Clarks product range, enabling shoppers to shop directly from their mobile or locate their nearest store and delivers a seamless ‘check out’ process

Predictions that this coming Monday will be the biggest spending in the online shopping calendar look set to make it 2011′s Mega Monday. But this is the latest in a series of key dates for the industry – we take a look at some of the early figures on how the industry has fared on other key dates this year.

The Gulf countries are expected to enjoy fast growth in ecommerce over coming years, says a new report from IMRG and Visa. The growth will be driven by young people with money to spend and supported by strong investment in ICT.

The rise of ecommerce means the demographic profile of home shoppers has changed dramatically. Younger shoppers are spending much more online, while older shoppers are spending less from home, according to a study from Transactis.

How can you reduce your spending on acquiring customers while still selling more, and to new customers? Paul Boag, co-founder of web design agency Headscape considers.

British style visionary Henry Holland has become the first fashion designer to bring a magazine cover to virtual life by releasing his own augmented reality app, powered by Aurasma. Subscribers of fashion magazine, InStyle UK, can download the free app and see his Spring/Summer 2012 collection come to life

Billabong, the international lifestyle and action sports brand, and Augmented reality app Zappar, have formed a partnership that will bring Billabong’s in store, online and print global advertising campaign to life, simply by looking at them through an iPhone or Android device