As the world becomes increasingly digital, more and more business is conducted on smartphones.

In a rundown of the region’s key software makers, the Philadelphia Inquirer highlighted QVC’s alliance with Philadelphia firm Curalate and its visual commerce platform.

“QVC, the West Chester TV-shopping group, moved further online when it bought Web-shopping pioneer Zulily for $2.4 billion last summer,” writes Joseph DiStefano. “But to boost its reach among customers who bypass TVs and laptops to spend more time on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Snapchat from handheld devices, QVC hired a Philadelphia firm, Curalate.”

“We are in seven countries,” QVC senior VP Alex Miller said. “The quality of the Curalate platform is so good, we’d use it anywhere. The fact they are nearby does make it easier.”

According to DiStefano, Curalate links consumers’ images and social-media posts to product info and purchasing, enabling the firm to connect to brand advocates and likely buyers.

“What used to be just nice images shot by your friends are now becoming programmatic ads,” linked by Curalate to product and purchasing locations, CEO Apu Gupta said.

“Just as [newspaper stories] are now being consumed as instant articles on Facebook or Apple News, outside the entity for which they were created, the same thing is happening to commerce,” he said. “It is disaggregating [from stores] and moving closer to where consumers now live.”

Consumers give permission for images to be tracked and used when they sign up for online services, Gupta added.

Click here to read more about QVC’s alliance with Curalate in the Philadelphia Inquirer.