Results for "eCommerce"
Amazon no checkouts shopping for Brick n Mortar Grocery Shops

How about visiting a big or a small grocery, choosing and putting all you want in your shopping cart; and instead of standing in a queue to wait for your chance to pay the bills, reloading the contents of your shopping cart in carry bags and simply moving out of the store. No, you're been given an opportunity to take all you ant for free. You're not sneaking out cleverly either. The shopping experience which is being described above is, what amazon calls grocery shop with no checkouts.   Amazon has revealed plans for a grocery shop without a checkout process, where customers will instead pay for the goods they have selected or taking home via an app.

Amazon innovating the use of Apps in no checkouts shopping or using an already existing innovation at a larger Scale


You may say you've witnessed the experience at a smaller scale already or at a different place, both are true. But if Amazon plans it then you can bet the system will be more smooth and at a much bigger scale. It took amazon four years to develop the  no checkouts shopping System.


How Amazon Walk out shopping experience will work


The system makes use of AI along with a mobile app. Customers will swipe into the store using the Go app. The system  will use computer vision, sensors and deep learning algorithms to detect when
items are taken or returned to shelves and tracks them in a virtual shopping trolley. Once the shopper leaves the store, their Amazon account will be charged and receipt sent to them.

The first shop is expected to open to the public in Seattle in the US in early 2017.


If Grocery Sector is crowded due to traditional checkout process 


If the shoppers in grocery stores are unhappy with long queues, then this experiment will work. As You will not have to wait in line with your cart full.

Removing the traditional checkout process, also means that although you will be having a real experience while choosing and filling your shopping cart, you will be venturing online for checkout process. A big incentive for anyone who wants have a real feel of things before he/she buys it.
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Anil Singh Tuesday, December 6, 2016
Online Banking Customers Beware of Dyreza

eScan alerts Online Banking Customers of Dyreza which primarily targets your Data. Tips to remain Safe.

eScan, leading Anti-Virus and Content Security Solution providers, warns users about online banking data theft. According to reports, a new banking Trojan named 'Dyreza' is targeting online bankers by stealing their credentials. This malware mainly targets customers of well-known financial institutions using Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Firefox browsers.

Dyreza or Dyre is delivered through a phishing campaign, says US-CERT. These phishing emails supposedly coming from banking or financial institutions include a malicious Zip or PDF document, which when extracted installs itself on the target system. These malicious PDF attachments take advantage of unpatched versions of Adobe Reader, i.e. it tries to exploit vulnerability in Adobe Reader to get itself installed on the targeted system.

Once the phishing email is received by an online banking customer, it entices him/her to download and extract the Zip file which then begins its destructive and stealing action. By using Dyreza banking malware, attackers can steal credentials used for online services, including banking services. They can bypass secure protection settings using browser hijacking, capture keystrokes, control browser traffic, perform man-in-the-middle attack and also communicate with command and control server.

With the advantage of reading all the encrypted traffic between targeted user's browser and financial institutions' servers, attackers can also try to bypass 2-factor authentication. Moreover, by controlling browser traffic, attackers can re-direct targeted users to the malicious banking site instead of the legitimate banking site with the aim of copying and stealing banking confidential and sensitive data.

US-CERT recommends users to follow basic security steps to safeguard against this malware. Users must configure their email server to block email that contains malicious file attachments that are commonly used to spread threats such as .vbs, .bat, .exe, .pif and .scr files.

Moreover, eScan recommends following preventive measures that will save you from falling prey to such attacks.

  • Update your system with the latest antivirus software that protects your system from all kinds of Malware attacks. 
  • Enable firewall in your PC to ensure that you are secure on local networks and the Internet.
  • Identify phishing emails, such mails are filled with countless grammatical errors and are often written in awkward English.
  • Never respond to emails or messages from unknown sender that has 'undisclosed recipients' in the address line.
  • Do not click on the link mentioned in the email, if required type it in another browser tab to see what it contains.
  • If at all you happen to click such a link and see a request for your banking credentials or other details for any kind of verification or updating purpose, do not enter your personal or financial information.
  • Never provide information related to your credit card, bank account numbers or passwords to any unknown site or a fake site.
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Anil Singh Monday, November 10, 2014
MasterCard introduces Wallet Services in Paypass
Mastercard has unveiled Wallet services for Paypass (its contactless payments service). The roll out is the company’s attempt to bundle together in-store NFC purchases, online purchases, and an API that will allow partners to create their own wallets using MasterCard’s infrastructure.

One of the salient features of the wallet is that, it not only store purchasing information, but shipping addresses as well.

Another important virtue of the wallet is that it is OPEN. That’s customers will be able to use other cards – like Visa, Amex, Discover – with the platform.

Ensuring that a customer has more places to use the wallet service, Mastercard has roped in Partners in the project, which include big names like American Airlines, Barnes and Noble, MLB, Citibank and The National Bank of Canada.

This is what Ed McLaughlin, chief emerging payments officer at MasterCard has to say about the Paypass Wallet Service,

“We realize that when it comes to payments, no single wallet will rule them all. PayPass Wallet Services simplifies the shopping experience while providing flexibility and choice to merchants, banks and consumers,”


With smart-device adoption fast exploding not only in developed countires (in US 50 percent population has access to smartphones), but also in developing countries (like India), the adoption of mobile payments in the future is becoming a foregone conclusion. By building a platform, rather than just a simple service, Mastercard might be able to capture a larger slice of the mobile payment market.

PayPass Wallet Services has three components, which aim at streamlining streamline a user’s shopping experience no matter where he/she shops:


1) PayPass Acceptance Network: Includes both online and contactless payments, and gives merchants a consistent way to accept electronics payments across multiple channels. NFC(Near Field connectivity) payments can be made in-store by simply tapping on them mobile device. A new PayPass online element lets a customer check out at a retailer by clicking a PayPass button — automatically providing your shipping and payment information to a retailer without having to fill that information out each time you pay.

2) PayPass Wallet: Enables banks, merchants and partners to white label their own wallets. Consumers can store payment and shipping information in one secure place including American Express, Discover, Visa and other branded credit, debit and prepaid cards.

3) PayPass API: Allows partners to connect their own wallets into the PayPass network, and lets those partners user MasterCard’s check-out, fraud detection and authentication services to allow their customers to make purchases wherever PayPass is accepted.

When will the MasterCard will the Mastercard Wallet Services for Paypass be available?


PayPass Wallet Services available to partners in the third quarter of 2012(October-December 2012), initially in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Australia later including other countries.

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Anil Singh Tuesday, May 8, 2012
A growing number of people shop via their mobile devices: Study
Have an online business and haven’t optimised your website for mobile phones? Then better tak the step before it’s too late.

As a growing number of people shop via their mobile devices, a recent study shows.

According to recent research from the Mobile Marketing Association,

* 67 per cent of European consumers will be using their phones to aid them with their Christmas shopping this year.

* 25 percent will be searching for gift ideas though the devices.

* 5 percent will be making online purchases on their internet-enabled phones.

Courtesy, an ever-increasing sales of smartphones; this market is likely to continue to grow.In addition, the increasing number of retailers launching mobile shopping sites is also helping to drive this trend. ---------

Anil Singh Monday, December 13, 2010
Amidst rising Facebook influence, Black Friday Online Spending Up 16%
First what is Black Friday, excerpt from Wikipedia,

Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Especially popular in the United States, the event is spreading to other nations such as Canada and Australia. On this day, many retailers open very early, often at 4 a.m., or earlier, and offer promotional sales to kick off the shopping season. Black Friday is not actually a holiday, but many employers give their employees the day off, increasing the number of potential shoppers. It has routinely been the busiest shopping day of the year since 2005, although news reports, which at that time were inaccurate,have described it as the busiest shopping day of the year for a much longer period of time.


The day's name originated in Philadelphia, where it originally was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic which would occur on the day after Thanksgiving.

This year Online spending rose much more than expected on Black Friday, should the trend continue, holiday 2010 sales may be stronger than expected, especially if e-commerce (online purchase) is a proxy for overall retail activity.

Comscore, the online research firm, had expected online sales to rise 12% this year. However, According to Coremetrics third annual Black Friday Benchmark Report, quoted here, “Online sales were up a healthy 15.9 percent, with consumers pushing the average order value (AOV) up from $170.19 to $190.80 for an increase of 12.1 percent.

Trends that are clearly seen in the recent report:

1) Luxury Goods have come back to favor. Jewelry retailers reported a 17.6 percent increase in sales.Affluent shoppers appear very willing to spend money.

2) Consumers are not wandering unnecessarily , they know what they want and where to get it. People are viewing 18.0 percent fewer products on sites than last year.

3) Shopping via Social networks or Social Shopping finding traction: Consumers appear increasingly interested about their favorite brands’ social presence (like a fan page on Facebook), and are turning to brands’ networks or communities on social sites for information about deals and inventory levels. Though the percentage of visitors arriving from social network sites is fairly small when compared to all online visitors—nearly 1 percent—it is gaining momentum, with Facebook dominating the space.

4) Facebook is changing the face of e-commerce. The social networking giant now carries 25 percent of all online display ad space. Owing to its low cost ads and 500 million plus user base, Facebook now appears to be on its way to becoming a major influence in the direct recommendation of the purchase of goods/services for the holidays as Facebook members are seen point out retail favorites to one another.

Shop well ! ---------

Anil Singh Sunday, November 28, 2010
Amazon Italy Launched
Amazon has just launched Amazon Italy. With this Amazon's tally of country specific sites has increased to eight. Other countries are -- Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom and the USA.

Amazon Italy already has 2 million Italian and foreign language books, more than 450,000 CDs and more than 120,000 DVDs, in addition to video games, music, consumer electronics, software and toys. This gives Amazon Italy the distinction of having the biggest selection (with more categories) than any other Amazon site at launch.

To celebrate the launch buyers on Amazon Italy are being offered discounts of up to 30% on most books; as well as the opportunity to sign up for Amazon Prime which gives free 2-3 day shipping for a very low annual fee of just €9.99; plus a one month free trial. To compare, in the UK Amazon, Prime is next day delivery and costs £49.00 per year.

Those buyers's who don't sign up for Prime, will still be getting free shipping for all orders over €19.00. Amazon Italy will ship as standard for free to Italy, San Marino, Switzerland and the Vatican City. ---------

Anil Singh Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Amazon starts New feature: Gift Kindle books to anyone with an email address
With festive season nearing, Amazon today launched a "Give as a Gift" button that lets an Amamzon shopper give Kindle Books as a gift to anyone with an e-mail address.

Kindle books can be read via an app on a variety of devices( Kindle reading apps for Apple's mobile gadgets, Mac and PC computers as well as BlackBerrys and Android devices available), not just Kindles.

Here is the List of Top 100 Books for 2010, you can a gift right NOW. ---------

Anil Singh Saturday, November 20, 2010
PayPal Launches Check Deposit capability to iPhone app
PayPal has added check deposit capability to its iPhone app last week. The new application allows the users to deposit checks by scanning them with iPhone camera.

The service is powered by BankServ.

BankServ allows users to deposit money into PayPal accounts by using the camera of their smartphone to click pictures of checks made out to them.

The new application is working well and it proved its potential right from the word go. In just 36 hours of its launch, more than 100,000 dollars worth of checks were handled by a Mobile Check Capture. ---------

Anil Singh Monday, October 11, 2010
Chinese Alibaba.com to buy U.S. e-commerce site Vendio
Top Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba.com, plans to buy Vendio Services Inc, making its first major U.S. acquisition to further its strategy of expanding its global footprint.

Founded by entrepreneur and former schoolteacher Jack Ma, Alibaba.com wants to increase its presence in US and India.

Vendio offers the same Internet business services in the United States as Alibaba. Alibaba.com is the listed unit of the Alibaba Group, of which Yahoo owns nearly 40 percent.The start-up already hosts services for 80,000 small U.S. businesses, which can now link into Alibaba's network of buyers and suppliers.

With this acquisition, merchants can source products from Alibaba.com's trusted supplier network and sell through channels such as eBay, Amazon, and their own Vendio-supported store, right from the Vendio Platform.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. ---------

Anil Singh Saturday, June 26, 2010
How successful is EBay iPhone Application
According to eBay Inc Chief Executive John Donahoe,

EBay’s application for Apple Inc's iPhone has been downloaded 10 million times till now. EBay had said in March that 8 million people had downloaded its iPhone app. Hence the company managed 2 million downloads in 2 months.

The company expects $1.5 billion to $2 billion in transactions to be conducted using the mobile application this year. This is 233 percent more than the last year volume of $600 million.

Ebay has also rolled out a similar application for Apple iPad, which is also seeing a great pick up. ---------

Anil Singh Friday, June 4, 2010
Questions that arise out of eBay win in Tiffany case
Please read this passage carefully, you’ll be asked questions based on this passage:

A store sells all kind of products on its shelves. Name a product and you’ll find it in some shelf. The store not only stacks variety in terms of products; it also sells all existing brands within a particular category. As if it would not be enough, the store has different variations of a product of a particular brand as well. Like a particular model of a Rolex watch is available in 10 different quality and prices. In short the store stacks authentics and fakes next to each other.


One day a lady enters the shop. She introduces her as an official from Authentic Rolex. She blames the owner of profiting by selling fake Rolex watches. She says this is harming her company.


To this the owner responds: I have no control on the incoming products.


The lady asks why?


To this the owner says: Trucks keep entering his store on their own 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. So if someone puts fake copies of Rolex watches on the shelves then it's he who needs to be blamed; and not him.

Now the questions:

Q. Is the lady from Rolex right in blaming the store owner for profiting from the sale of Fake Rolex watches?

Q2. Is the store owner’s claim that since products are kept on store shelves by the makers/vendors themselves for which he has no control, hence it’s the maker of fakes who should be blamed and not he; is correct?

You’re asked the above questions, as a recent ruling in favour of EBay, in EBay Vs Tiffany case has posed the similar questions.

Tiffany and other luxury brands have long argued that counterfeit merchandise bearing their names is sold on eBay. The Web commerce company, which does not itself put the goods up for sale, says it has spent millions of dollars to track down counterfeiters and remove such listings; plus it’s not EBay which itself places the fake goods.

The case was seen as a major challenge in the United States to the freedom of Web companies from eBay to Google Inc, which claim that they are merely hosting services, and any trademark infringement lies with others, not them. Google won a major trademark victory in the European Union over similar claims last month.

The court signaled that eBay met its responsibilities in its partnership with brand holders, hence is not at fault in this case.

Although the court gave the ruling in favour of eBay, it opined that, it is true that eBay did not itself sell counterfeit Tiffany goods; only the fraudulent vendors did, and that is in part why we conclude that eBay did not infringe Tiffany's mark; But eBay did affirmatively advertise the goods sold through its site as Tiffany merchandise.

All doors are not closed for Tifanny though and the luxary brand maker can appeal against the ruling at the higher court.
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That said, coming back to the example passage and the question, now merged into one:

Who do you think is to blame: The store or the makers/vendors of fake goods? ---------

Anil Singh Saturday, April 3, 2010
A useful tool to compare eBay and Amazon prices on same page
If you buy a lot from Amazon and eBay; and always wonder among the two, is giving the best price for that particular sunglasses or music DVD; then there’s a useful tool that lets you compare prices of products at Amazon and eBay marketplace, side by side on the same page.

Called Q-Compare, one can even use the service to compare the current prices and shipping charges of products; so that one can know the ultimate amount one has to shell out to own a particular product.

Q-Compare works for all countries where eBay has a presence. Just select your country and you’ll be shown only those products that are available for auction / sale on your country’s eBay site.

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Recommended reading for Shop-o-book-o-holics:
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Anil Singh Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Online spending during US holiday season 2009
By A Bisht

According to a comScore report, the retail e-commerce spending (money spent online) for the US holiday season 2009, from November 1 through Christmas Eve, is approximately $27 Billion.

This year’s spending is 5 percent more than the same period a year ago.

The Online spending during corresponding period last year was $25.7 billion.

Salient features:


-- The Season had Early Start and a Strong Finish
--Larger Retailers Outperformed the Smaller Ones
--Consumer Electronics Category Showed the Strongest Growth
-- The E-commerce sector sales had fell 3 percent in 2008 holiday shopping season.
--The growth in the Online sales this year came from an increase in the number of people buying online; the money spent per buyer has actually declined slightly versus last year. ---------

Anil Singh Friday, January 1, 2010
Traffic gainers and losers among ecommerce categories during Dec 2009
By A Bisht

According to Compete’s monthly data on eCommerce categories , during the first three weeks of December 2009(festive season), while certain eCommerce categories led the market with growth in their average daily visitor traffic; certain categories like Electronics and Jewelry saw loss in their average daily traffic compared to last year.

Gainers (percentage Rise in daily shopper volume over the same time period last year):

Apparel_________________26 percent

Mass Merchants_________ 12 percent

Toys__________________ 11 percent

Department Stores________10 percent

Books media____________ 9 percent

Sporting Goods_________ 9 percent

Home furnishings________5 percent

Home Improvement_______ 2 percent


Losers (percentage loss in daily shopper volume over the same time period last year):

Electronics______________6 percent

Jewelry_________________11 percent ---------

Anil Singh Saturday, December 26, 2009