E-commerce industry body IMRG is joining forces with fellow trade associations Internet Advertising Board (IAB) and the Association for Interactive Media and Entertaiment (AIME) to roll out a joint industry committee on m-commerce – snappily titled MC-JIC – that hopes to, in its words, “represent the whole value chain in m-commerce and m-retail”.
Details about the body are scant as we go to press, but M-Retailing has learned that the body has been formed following a joint research project into m-commerce undertaken by the three industry bodies earlier this year and spurred on by mobile operator Orange’s Everything Everywhere brand, which has lobbied AIME – of which Orange is a member – hard to do more in the m-commerce space especially to get operators involved in m-commerce.
The body is thought to have attracted a leading e and m-commerce expert from Tescos, rumoured to be Nick Lansbury, and another senior m-commerce figure from eBay to its board. That said, with AIME and IAB’s digital media pedigree, it is likely that the joint industry committee will be dealing with all things m-commerce, not just retail.
The full extent of what the new group has been set up to do and who it will represent is expected to be made clear next week and M-Retailing will have all the details then along with some video interviews with those behind the formation of the working group on what they are trying to achieve. Watch this space.
