Austin TX, December 16, 2010 - Last month it was announced that Vindicia and Zuora had raised $20 million each from venture capitalists. This is on top of the combined $42 million the companies have already raised. This story may have gone unnoticed by many outside of the online billing industry, but the ramifications of these significant investments affect almost all industries.

Both of these large investments coming in within the same week are a sign that venture capitalists have figured out something that most businesses still have not. They know that more and more of the economy is moving to a “services” model and the ability to offer diversified, on-demand billing solutions is critical to the future of E-commerce.

The companies that will excel in the near future are the companies that are first to embrace the evolving demands of modern consumers. Customers are no longer content to settle for “one size fits all” products. The modern consumer wants, if not demands, to dictate their online purchases to buy only what they need and not what they don’t.

Take the rise of car share services such as Car2Go. Due to fiscal restraints and higher expectations in customized services, modern customers are choosing to pay for a car only when they need it.

Continue reading "VC’s Finally Realize Billing is the Future of e-Commerce" »

Posted by Hatem at 5:08 AM to General | Permalink | Comments (0)

Shopzilla Europe, the shopping search engine, has unveiled the European winners of its annual Circle of Excellence Awards. The awards recognise the top performing online retailers that provided outstanding online customer experiences throughout this past year, as rated by their customers.

The 2010 Shopzilla Circle of Excellence winners are:

UK:
ActiveBeauty.co.uk; beautyflash.co.uk; Cartridge Save; CheapSmells.com; Crucial.com; Livefoods Direct Ltd; Paws247.com; Surfdome.com; theplasmacentre.co.uk; WatchShop.com

France:
1001 Bijoux; AboutBatteries.com; AllezDiscount.com; Cloggs; CoudreetBroder.com; Crazyphonic; Digit-Photo.com; La cabane en ligne; LEPAPE; MacWay; Madeinsport.com; Maison Tasset; Maisonic
Mikalo; Ruedespiles; Session Music; Spartoo; Tinkco; UBALDI.com; Univers Broderie; zooplus

Germany:
buttinette; Session Music

These retailers can now proudly display the Shopzilla Circle of Excellence badge on their websites for the next year.

Continue reading "Online retailers celebrate as Shopzilla awards excellence" »

Posted by Hatem at 6:34 PM to Events | Permalink | Comments (0)

Avactis Shopping Cart 2.0 have been released with many new features and improvements. Version 2.0 got a new layout and CSS editor in this release to make quick and easy modification in any store design, but the most interesting features for store owners are the Multi-language support, gift certificates, whish list, and new payment, in addition of being officially certified by PayPal, Gate2Shop, PayPoint, CheckGateway, and Moneybookers.

Key improvements in Avactis Shopping Cart 2.0 :

• Visual CSS editor: Using the visual CSS editor you will be able to easily and quickly change the store design. Choose the element you want to modify in the editor, change the style using the color palette, and apply your changes.
• Visual layout editor: The layout editor allows you to move store blocks any way you like. Drag-n-drop any store element, e.g. the newsletter box, to any position on the site in several clicks.
• Multi-language support: To better serve your customers, you can use several languages in your administrative storefront and interface.
• Gift certificates: Your customers will be able to purchase gift certificates in your store.
• Wish list: Help your customers remember the products they want to buy later using a wish list.
• Access Control List (ACL): Create new types of administrative users and restrict them to specific store functions.
• Certified payment methods: Avactis is officially certified by PayPal, Gate2Shop, PayPoint, CheckGateway, and Moneybookers.
• New payment methods: We added Moneybookers eWallet and PayPoint payment as new payment methods in Avactis Shopping Cart 2.0.

Posted by Hatem at 3:02 PM to Software | Permalink | Comments (0)

Packt Publishing have recently announced that PrestaShop has won the inaugural Open Source E-Commerce Applications Award category in the 2010 Open Source Awards. Open Source E-Commerce Applications Award is a new category introduced to the Award this year, featuring various different types of type of web applications that simplify buying and selling of products on the Internet.

"This award is a great recognition for PrestaShop's hardworking team and, of course, the contributors who help us enrich our software every day," said Bruno Lévêque, PrestaShop Co-Founder.

"We are glad to have received this award from both a panel of expert judges and our growing Community -whose members increased threefold in the past year! They have really mobilized to support our project," adds Sabrina Maréchal, Head of Marketing & Communications for PrestaShop.

"PrestaShop have achieved a lot in a short period of time considering that it is a community driven project, with the product maturing steadily and in a way that will stand the test of time." Added Paul Anthony, bespoke e-commerce solutions developer and one of the judges for the 2010 Open Source E-Commerce Applications category. "The structure of the product has also given rise to numerous creative implementations, and the community is large enough and responsive enough to cope with these requests for improvement."

Continue reading "PrestaShop Wins the 2010 Open Source E-Commerce Applications Award" »

Posted by Hatem at 8:32 PM to General | Permalink | Comments (0)

Verdict Research, the UK's leading retail analysts, forecast online sales for Q4 2010 will be 17.6 per cent higher than in Q4 2009, resulting in online shopping accounting for a predicted £8.1bn in the run up to Christmas. Peer 1 Hosting shared with us this press release, after a survey based on 11,037 responses from Smooch.com global members aged between 18 and 105 years. This year, Christmas is going to be very Hot for the e-Commerce businesses.

Cyber-Monday, 6th December to break online shopping records, retailers warned

SOUTHAMPTON. UK, 19th October, 2010: PEER 1 Hosting, the global online business hosting provider, is predicting the biggest ever peak in online shopping this Christmas after survey results show Britons are increasing their festive budgets and plan to buy more gifts online than ever before. 'Cyber Monday', which this year will fall on Monday 6th December, is predicted be a peak traffic day, as people log on to kick-start their Christmas shopping.

When surveyed, a staggering 88% of respondents in the United Kingdom said they will spend more online this year than they ever have before. Just over half said they actually found it easier to shop for Christmas gifts online compared to physically going to the shops in one of Britain's high streets. PEER 1 Hosting has warned many online retailers could be under prepared for the demand on their servers as the survey also showed that almost 40% of people will leave their shopping until December, which will cause huge increases in traffic.

Continue reading "8.1bn GBP To Be Spent Online For Christmas" »

Posted by Hatem at 9:17 PM to General | Permalink | Comments (0)

What happens when we throw out a lot of today's assumptions around card payments and e-commerce and assume that the merchant shouldn't have to store the data at all? What if we never even handed this sensitive information over to the merchant in the first place?

With a few clicks (and an NSDT "chirp") customers can now make purchases online conveniently and in complete security. This new function revolutionizes online shopping by introducing a critical security mechanism and opening e-commerce to the billions of un-banked mobile phone owners.

In addition to the security risks in online card payments, e-commerce's reliance on the card has resulted in the exclusion of un-banked populations. As the internet continues its expansion into developing countries, a solution allowing un-banked populations to participate in the e-commerce economy is needed. In many countries, even customers who do have payment cards do not have the possibility of using them to make purchases online due to high fraud risks. However, with MobiCash online mobile payments, the risk is eliminated and e-commerce can take place in complete security.

Continue reading "e-Commerce To The Billions of Un-Banked Mobile Phone Owners. How?" »

Posted by Hatem at 11:33 AM to Mobile e-Commerce | Permalink | Comments (0)