In a recent report, Wells Fargo tech analyst Jason Maynard zeroed in on syndicated commerce as an emerging software-as-a-service category extension to ecommerce solutions.

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Its Japanese-language counterpart, which currently accepts orders but not online payments, will be relaunched next month as a full-service e-commerce center complete with virtual shopping trolleys and real-time credit-card processing.

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Second, electronic commerce poses a headache for national regulators, especially in service industries such as medicine and financial advice where suppliers are much better informed than their customers.

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Freeserve describes the service as a "loss-leader" for its e-commerce operation.

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And China's internet start-ups, such as Tencent (a social-networking service) and Alibaba (an e-commerce company), have had a genius for copying Western business models and adapting them to the Chinese market.

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As I have written, this gift-giving service is a move by Facebook into the e-commerce market, and likely a sign of more e-commerce moves to come.

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Though they're clearly keeping mum on the subject, it does seem a delivery service would be in line with Google's recent moves in the commerce space, such as the acquisition of locker startup Bufferbox and e-commerce firm Channel Intelligence.

ENGADGET