According to this, 14% of the Chinese consumers shop online daily, according to a report commissioned by the consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC).

"More than 60% of the Chinese consumers claimed they shopped online at least once a week, a percentage which is much higher than the global average of 5% daily online shopping, and 21% every week. As regards mobile shopping, Chinese consumers still ranked first. 4% of Chinese respondents said they used mobile shopping daily, 20% used it once a week and 27% once a month. The global percentages, on the other hand, were 2%, 7% and 12% respectively."

"In terms of mobile shopping, 71% of the Chinese consumers used mobile shopping , as compared to 32% for the US counterparts. 37% of the Chinese used the smartphone for dining reservation, while the percentage in the US was only 13%, 35% of the Chinese consumers purchased stock using smartphone, as compared to 5% for the US respondents."

"The same source indicates that Chinese consumers are more likely to accept mobile payments. In 2013, Square, PayPal and Tenpay’s total transaction reached USD 20.11 billion (CNY 124 billion), USD 27.09 billion (CNY 167) and USD 8.45 billion (CNY 52 billion) respectively."

"The PWC report interviewed 15,000 online consumers, covering 15 regions including Brazil, Canada, mainland China and Hong Kong, France, India and Middle East."

According to Post&Parcel, the Universal Postal Union’s member countries have demanded the organisation speed up its work to improve the flow of e-commerce through the global postal system. The Berne-based agency affiliated with the United Nations has been working to break down the barriers to cross-border e-commerce.

"The issue is seen as “critical” to the world’s postal operators as their letter volumes decline, and the UPU said Posts are “well positioned” to help particularly small and medium-sized businesses expand their sales across national boundaries."

"The organization’s Postal Operations Council – the group of 40 member countries elected every four years to direct the UPU’s technical and operational work – has passed a resolution emphasizing the need to act swiftly on the issue."

"The Council’s working groups are pushing for simplified international products and services for e-commerce shipping, ways to work more closely with Customs to reduce cross-border shipping delays, and improve the overall delivery service. This includes the development of specifications for an e-commerce package service for items up to 30kg in weight, which would include tracking, customs pre advice and supporting customer service features."

"Efforts are also underway to put in place a more effective merchandise returns service, for international consumers to easily return goods ordered online from other countries."

"Postal customers want “simple, reliable, consistent” services for e-commerce delivery, in a business worth more than $1.5 trillion according to the UPU."

“Customers say to the Post: ‘I trust you, but I need better information, better delivery options, better process’. They know we are capable of handling logistics operations, but they are also saying: ‘We need more than that, and we need it as fast as possible’,”

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According to this, online consumer spending via smartphones and tablets increased to EUR 1.3 billion in 2013 in Netherlands.

"H2 2013 mobile spending totaled EUR 735 million, which means 13% of the total ecommerce market. Smartphone and tablet sales more than doubled in comparison with the same period in 2012, according to the 2013-2 M-commerce Monitor, the six-monthly research into mobile consumer spending conducted by Blauw Research. The research was conducted in cooperation with Thuiswinkel.org, the association of more than 2,000 online shops in the Netherlands, and was also made possible by iDEAL."

"According to Wijnand Jongen, Director of Thuiswinkel.org, in 2012, m-commerce was worth EUR 560 million, whereas in 2013 it went up to EUR 1.3 billion. The share of products and services acquired via smartphones reached almost 30%, representing nearly EUR 400 million."

"The strong increase in mobile consumer spending is partly due to the fact that more and more people purchase online using their smartphone or tablet. The number of mobile buyers increased to 2.7 million in the last six months of 2013. This is almost twice as compared to 2012."

"In H2 2013, more than 14 million orders were placed through mobile devices, accounting for a growth of 84% compared to H2 2012. Cumulatively, more than 26 million online orders were placed through a smartphone or tablet in 2013. Consumers also make larger or more expensive purchases increasingly often through their mobile devices. On average, consumers spent EUR 52 per order in the last six months of the year, which was 21% more than in 2012. Generally speaking, payment of mobile purchases primarily takes place with iDEAL, just as is the case with other online purchases."

"The same source indicates that most purchases are made through tablets. 7 in 10 consumers order their products and/or services primarily via mobile devices. Almost 75% of mobile spending was made with the use of tablets (€ 532 million). Tablets are especially used at home, often as a replacement of laptops. Nearly all mobile buyers who made their last order on this device did so from their homes (96%). Smartphones are more often used outside the home (such as en route or at work) for mobile shopping (37%)."

"People who buy online using their tablet are more positive about mobile shopping than the ones who use their smartphone. As a result, they make almost half of their online purchases using a mobile device. People who use their smartphone for mobile shopping still make one third of their online orders through a mobile device."

"It is expected that mobile spending will continue to increase significantly to a turnover of around EUR 2 billion in 2014. This amounts to about 17% of the total online shopping market."

According to this Facebook is waiting for Irish regulatory approval for providing financial services in the form of remittances and electronic money.

"The approval from the Central Bank would enable the social network to offer consumers the possibility to store money on Facebook and use it to pay and exchange money with others, according to several people involved in the process, cited by the same source. By becoming an “e-money” institution, Facebook would issue units of stored monetary value that represent a claim against the company. This e-money would be valid throughout Europe via a process known as “passporting”."

"The money transfer project signals a strategic shift for the company, which makes most of its money from advertising. It also comes as other internet groups in particular, China’s Tencent and Alibaba, race to turn their websites into mobile payment platforms."

"Facebook has also discussed potential partnerships with companies that provide international money transfer services online and via smartphones. These include TransferWise, Moni Technologies and Azimo."

"In 2013, the company facilitated USD 2.1 billion worth of transactions, almost exclusively from games, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Facebook takes a fee of up to 30% for such payments, and these fees account for about 10% of its revenues."