According to this, in the North American ecommerce market, more merchants in the US offer free and same-day delivery options, while the larger ones are developing their own delivery fleets.

"fact is a result of demand of consumers for free and convenient delivery which is driving online retailers and delivery service providers to look for a wider range of delivery methods such quick delivery, growth of the free delivery option, and a movement of some retailers to establish their own logistics and delivery services."

"The same-day delivery has become a trend among cross-channel and online merchants. However, less than 10% of shoppers think that same delivery is a prime factor in shopping. More than three quarters of online shoppers are fond of free delivery more than same day delivery. Free or low cost shipping has been the most important aspect of the online shopping experience for the majority of online shoppers in Canada, also."

"Gamification has been adopted in one form or the other for years now. This phenomenon has given structure to the process by not only incorporating game-like techniques in the initial design process but also by quantifying the results and outcomes. This has been enabled by the coming together of analytics, automation and behaviour modification. Analytics is essential to fuel the change that gamification will bring about. It provides the tools and technology required to study the behavioral data being collected, to understand the modification taking place, how these aspects are affecting business and where we can make further refinements. As user interfaces change rapidly and new mobile devices flood the market expanding the range of business problems gamification can be applied to, analytics will allow gamification to be systematized into organizations at scale. This will also be key to proving if the detractors were right all along by calling gamification nothing but a fad that uses shallow and exploitative ways to propagate marketing ‘evil’."

“We predict that by 2014, 80 percent of current gamified applications will fail to meet business objectives, primarily due to poor design. This design includes defining business objectives…In the longer term, as design practices improve and organizations focus on defining clear business objectives, gamification will have a significant business impact.”

More info here.

The Paypers published an interview with Marc Terry from VocaLink, on subject of world-class payments systems.

"Real-time payment systems offer the ability for 24/7 instantaneous bank account-to-bank account credit transfers across different channels, providing a source of competitive advantage for governments, banks and corporates. To expand this, overlay services, such as digital payments initiation propositions, utilise and leverage real-time capabilities that underpin the banks’ business case and provide maximum returns on investment. The underlying infrastructure enables banks to launch game-changing products and services that provide real customer value and position the banks, in particular the bank account, at the centre of the payment process. The latter is extremely important as many non-banks are beginning to extract great value from the payments process and more importantly the customer relationship."

"Consumers across the world are adopting a 24/7 mobile lifestyle, evidenced by the fact that m-commerce is growing 10 times faster than e-commerce. It is critical that the underlying payments structure is fit for purpose and capable of meeting the technological demands of overlay services in the digital age. Real-time technology is playing a leading role in driving the development and proliferation of mobile payments. Zapp, an independent VocaLink subsidiary, will allow mobile payments between the bank accounts of consumers and merchants, using existing mobile banking applications providing secure payments when it goes live later this year. The initiative will put the bank account back at the heart of payments."

"• Implementation of a real time payments infrastructure is essential
 • Creating payment structures that can address the needs of the digital age
 • Collaboration and ubiquity are vital ingredients of a successful payments implementation
 Plus – political desire to create a road map (ie. government support or that of a central bank are to drive this through and make it ubiquitous)."

Full interview here.

Crossborder-ecommerce.com published an article, where they write:

"Annual volumes of China’s cross-border online shopping have reached USD 2.92 billion in 2012 and by 2015, this segment is projected to surpass USD 8.11 billion. This growth is making the area an attractive one for banks and non-banks."

"Today, cross-border ecommerce is relatively small – at 8 percent of online commerce – so there’s lot of room for growth. E-commerce opportunities, the increased penetration of smartphones, the fast technological developments and innovative products and services made merchants in Asia-Pacific, and worldwide, realize that brick and mortar is not the most important starting point of their business, and that online shopping connected to an unlimited base of customers could actually help them save money, adapt quicker to the new technology and reach out faster to new customers. Selling online in multiple geographies is the holy grail of retail, but it is the most complex commerce territory to conquer with the ability to accept in-country payment methods as the main battle to be won. The key to successful cross-border online shopping is to offer the shoppers the same services online as they have received in-store for years, with the ability to pay in their own language, currency, and preferred (local) payment method."

"Enhancing cross-border ecommerce and making it transparent, domestic and profitable, has strategic importance for Payvision; we believe that sharing knowledge within the global acquiring network, in which different stakeholders cooperate with each other, will ultimately prove to be profitable for all participants in the ecommerce landscape. Different aspects of international expansion and cross-border ecommerce such as fraud & risk management, logistics, payment processing, or law & legislation have to be thoroughly understood by ecommerce players around the world in order for them to really benefit from the immense business opportunities raised by the digital era."

More info here.

Nornir is part of a European Commision funded project that is developing new language versions of the UK Planning For Real programme that is based in the UK. For more information see the link below:

http://www.planningforreal.org.uk/

Partner countries are France, Turkey, Italy and Poland. The trechniques of community action planning are being used to address the issue how all sections of European society can engage effectively in policy making.

With less public funding available for investment in regeneration, concerted action takes place to address the challenges and problems faced by communities across the EU. That will depend on characteristics, opportunities and threats that define each community and their capacity to respond to the subsequent challenges.   When developed effectively, grass-root involvement in the regeneration process can remove the barriers to economic growth and provide the opportunities to tackle disadvantage, deprivation and dilapidation.

The Planning for Real project will help to provide training and resources to help facilitate this in all the partner countries. For more information please visit the project web site.:

http://www.planningforreal.org.uk/planning-for-real-in-europe/