The annual transaction value of online, mobile and contactless payments will reach USD 4.7 trillion by 2019, up from just over USD 2.5 trillion in 2014.

"The largest net increase in spend would occur through remote physical goods purchases. The research has also highlighted the dramatic surge in activity in emerging markets such as China, with the online retailer Alibaba accounting for 20% of global business to consumer (B2C) and consumer to consumer (C2C) eRetail worldwide in 2013."

"However, the study has observed that while there was organic growth in the overall transaction levels due to increased purchasing on tablets and mobile, a significant proportion of tablet usage represented migration from desktop activity. The research has also pointed out that combined transactions on mobile handsets and tablets would exceed those on desktops and laptops for the first time this year."

"The report has also noted that there was accelerating migration from physical format (DVD, CD) to digital (stream, download) across all core content sectors. These included a marked trend towards VOD (Video On Demand) from players such as Lovefilm and Netflix at the expense of DVD, with online VOD services in commercial deployment in most European markets."

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Polish Post has revealed plans to launch a new service for ecommerce shipping by combining shipping with financial and digital services.

"The company will provide a returns capability to allow consumers to return items purchased online. The would be platform will involve services from Bank Pocztowy, Polish Post’s postal insurance business Ubezpieczenia Pocztowe and the company’s digital platform Envelo for payment and invoicing."

"Online shopping accounted for about a quarter of the entire parcel market in Poland in 2013. Additionally, it carried out about 31% of those ecommerce shipments."

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Indonesian B2C ecommerce growth potential global market.

"Indonesia, a market with high double-digit annual growth rates, is the second fastest growing B2C ecommerce market worldwide. However, logistics and payment infrastructure represent ecommerce development hurdles."

"Indonesia ranks fourth globally in terms of population and has had a relatively low internet penetration, reaching under 30% in 2013. Internet penetration, however, is projected to top 100 million, with online shopper penetration also increasing by 2016. "

"A revised ecommerce legislation is expected to take effect in Indonesia in 2014 and, thus replace the current unclear regulations for the industry. Among the considerations in the proposed legislative package are provisions to strengthen consumer rights, such as the obligation of merchants to provide full information about their services and their legal status."

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Only 2% of micro-businesses in the UK use a mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) to accept payments.

"According to a recent report, the number one barrier to business growth is cash flow. mPOS solutions enable businesses to accept a card payment using a smartphone instead of a traditional fixed point-of-sale terminal."

"The research reveals that 45% of micro-businesses identify cash flow as the number one barrier to growth. In addition, 48% of micro-businesses surveyed miss sales or face delayed settlement, with one in ten saying they miss sales because they don’t have the required payment capability. And more than half of respondents believe multi-channel payments will be important in the future."

"19% believe mPOS will help with cash flow and 17% expect it to remove payment issues. An encouraging 38% of respondents say they will adopt mPOS in the near future as long as their concerns are addressed. Given mPOS is a relatively new technology and micro-businesses are typically hard to reach, it is surprising that 47% of respondents correctly identified the actual definition of an mPOS."

"Just 2% of respondents currently use mPOS technology. One major reason is that current mPOS and POS offerings are too slow to settle payments and help businesses’ improve cash flow. The majority of existing mPOS services takes between 7-10 days to settle payments."

"The research also reveals that mPOS security (56%) and connectivity (29%) are major concerns among micro-businesses."

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Cross-border and digital expansion, followed by product diversification, are the main objectives on businesses' agenda in Q3 2014.

"The analysis, which includes 10,000 firms across 145 countries, reveals that almost 40% of businesses are seeking to reach new geographic markets or expand their online presence, instead of keeping their focus on customers in existing markets."

"Nearly 12.5% of businesses are focused on finding partners who could help them diversify their product range and application, while over 10% of businesses are actively seeking a partner to help them raise capital. The quest for partners that can assist online expansion reflects the rapid increase of the online B2B market, which at USD 559 billion was estimated to be around twice the size of online B2C sales in 2013, according to Forrester Research data. Equally, the search for partners to support cross-border expansion reflects the opportunity that remains off-shore, particularly in developing economies, and the recognition that such a goal often requires on the ground support, the report indicates."

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