Mobile Marketing

In an effort to better meet the needs of their mobile-savvy customers this holiday season, Express has continued to make enhancements to its mobile strategy. Eric Gohs, director of digital marketing at Express, says, "our guy and girl are definitely ahead of the curve when it comes to mobile, so we're taking a mobile-first approach with just about anything we do." The newest enhancement to Express’ mobile platform include a new series of iPhone, iPad and Android apps that enable existing Express Next credit card holders to view their payments history, make purchases and pay existing balances. 

The unprecedented adoption of mobile devices will make this holiday season the most connected in history. Consumers are turning to their mobile devices for information, promotions and discounts, giving marketers the opportunity to transform each interaction into a personalized customer experience across every channel — email, SMS, apps, social and the web.

As the holiday season swings into gear so does competitive shopping, with consumers scoping out merchandise in physical stores and then comparison shopping for the lowest price on their mobile device, dubbed "showrooming." In an effort to combat or "embrace" this phenomenon, some retailers, led by Best Buy, have implemented strategies including price matching to convert more shoppers into buyers. Nobody is winning in this new game — not manufacturers, retailers or consumers.

The burgeoning mobile market continues to create new complexities for brands and retailers, especially as consumers increasingly use mobile devices to shop, and mobile payment, loyalty and gifting capabilities continue to advance. However, as mobile wallets continue to generate buzz, the rate of mobile payment adoption remains slow. For example, in its "Mobile Wallets for the Masses" report, research firm Yankee Group stated that while nearly 70 percent of consumers are interested in adopting mobile payments, less than 14 percent have actually completed a mobile transaction in the past six months.

Apple's iBeacon devices have the potential to change many aspects of shopping — and to demonstrate its commitment to the idea, Apple is turning on the iBeacons in 254 of its Stores across the U.S. today. The iBeacons, 20 of which are said to be in NYC's Fifth Avenue store, will connect to the

Compuware Corporation, a technology performance company, today announced the top three mobile performance trends so far this holiday shopping season. This is based on its analysis of the mobile performance of top U.S. retailers between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. These trends reveal the critical importance of mobile performance during the holiday shopping season and the impact it can have on a business. 

As the year comes to a close, it's time for my annual roundup of omnichannel retail predictions for the year ahead. I'm focusing on a few interesting trends I saw come to light in 2013 that I believe will become even more widespread next year. Enjoy!

With the employee turnover rate typically high in the retail industry, particularly within brick-and-mortar stores, managing the process of finding and hiring qualified individuals is a challenge for many brands. It often proves time consuming and can be expensive. Such was the dilemma facing VILLA.

With consumer usage of smartphones continuing to skyrocket, it's past time for your brand to have a mobile presence, be it a mobile-optimized site, app or both. To help your efforts in generating sales from mobile devices, consider the following eight tips:

With the holidays just around the corner, online retailers must be well-equipped to support and engage the abundance of holiday shoppers. Along with a projected increase in online sales from last year, retailers need to be prepared for an increase in mobile shoppers who are ready to begin their holiday bargain hunting. With this in mind, I've compiled a few tips for companies looking to create a winning mobile engagement strategy this holiday season.