Mobile Commerce

Cyber Monday was the busiest shopping day last year. Up 29 percent over 2010, Cyber Monday's purchasing surge was no doubt due to a number of deals offered by retailers. And with the deal the U.S. Postal Service is planning for online merchants this holiday season, Cyber Monday 2012 could be even better.

Mobile shopping rose while social media sales fell, providing an indication of where U.S. retailers may invest in order to capture the attention and loyalty of the digital consumer, according to a new report from IBM. The IBM Retail Online Index, a cloud-based analysis of the online retail sector, reported that retailers experienced 15 percent growth in sales from mobile devices but saw a 20 percent decline in sales traced to social media based on a much smaller base over a three-month period.

Signature, a mobile app company that bills itself as the "ultimate personal shopping assistant," is looking to re-engineer the way consumers shop in stores — namely, the stores of upscale clothing retailers. The San Francisco-based startup has partnered with Neiman Marcus to develop a custom iPhone app to better facilitate communications between stores and consumers.

Swedish furniture retailer Ikea is continuing its mobile advertising push with a new interactive promotion that helps consumers find the products they need for the upcoming school year. The company is running the mobile ad campaign within Pandora's iPhone application. Ikea has relied on mobile advertising in the past to help drive in-store traffic.

Despite rampant showrooming concerns, a new study finds smartphones "contributing to — not taking away from — in-store sales," with smartphone shoppers 14 percent more likely to convert and make a purchase in the store than nonsmartphone users. According to the Mobile Influence Factor study from Deloitte Consulting, through activities such as product research, price comparison and other mobile application use, smartphones currently influence 5.1 percent of annual retail store sales, translating into $159 billion in forecasted sales for 2012. 

According to a recent study from Mashable, tablet shopping is on the rise. Sixty-five percent of tablet users report shopping on their devices at least two to three times monthly (going up to twice a week). This growth is promising for retail marketers wishing to capitalize on this trend. Tablet shoppers are generally a wealthier, more educated population. 

Virgin Mobile, the pay-as-you-go carrier owned by Sprint Nextel, plans to open its first 10 retail stores Friday in Chicago, aiming to profit from the iPhone's expansion into the prepaid wireless market. Virgin Mobile will become the second U.S. prepaid service to offer the Apple device, following the iPhone's debut Friday at Leap Wireless International. The new stores also mark a strategy shift for Virgin, which has previously relied on retailers such as RadioShack and Best Buy to market its service, said Jeff Auman, a vice president at the carrier.

Smartphones currently influence 5.1 percent of annual retail store sales, translating into $159 billion in forecasted sales for 2012, according to new Deloitte research. For the first time in the industry, the in-depth study measures the "mobile influence factor," or impact of smartphones on in-store sales. The mobile influence factor captures the in-store sales driven by consumers' store-related smartphone activity such as product research, price comparison or other mobile application use.

Best Buy announced Tuesday it's expanding the Best Buy Mobile brand and store-within-a-store concept into 14 five-star stores throughout Nanjing, China, this summer. The expansion of Best Buy Mobile into the Chinese market is the first evolution of Global Connect, a partnership that was formed in November 2011 between Best Buy and Carphone Warehouse. "The launch of Best Buy Mobile in China is a true global effort,” said Shari Ballard, president, international for Best Buy. 

During the “Mobile Meets Retail: Matching Products with People on Mobile and Social” session at the 2012 Mobile Marketing Association Forum, Steve Morse, manager of search and mobile marketing at Omaha Steaks, discussed the strides the company has taken since it dipped its toes in the mobile space.