Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly – September 21, 2010

Kevin's Mobile Retailing News Weekly is an online newsletter that is made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile retail applications, mobile payments and mobile marketing applications that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

Archived editions of Kevin's Mobile Retailing News Weekly are available at here.

You can follow me on Twitter @krbenedict and read my blog, Enterprise Mobility Strategies for SAP and Others.

Also available are Kevin’s M2M News Weekly and Kevin’s Mobility News Weekly.

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Restaurants, retailers and other small businesses with storefronts are embracing location based social networks – think Foursquare or Facebook Inc.'s Places – to woo customers and keep them coming back.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703597204575483832278936028.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

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Smartsoft Mobile empowers some of the world’s largest multi-national organizations to extend and improve business processes by providing mobile solutions to their employees and customers. Smartsoft has more than 700 experienced ERP/mobile consultants with over 5,000 man years of experience helping 400,000 plus mobile users achieve their business goals with powerful mobile B2B and B2C applications, designed and developed specifically for today’s popular consumer and industrial grade mobile devices. For more information please visit, http://www.smartsoftmobile.com/. This newsletter is sponsored in part by Smartsoft Mobile Solutions.

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Macy’s has taken steps to improve customers’ shopping experience in store and on the go via enhanced mobile offerings. The company and its upscale sister store Bloomingdale’s have optimized their e-commerce sites, so when consumers enter it via their mobile device, they can view larger and clearer images.

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/macy’s-aims-for-customer-satisfaction-via-new-mobile-technology-adoption/

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Shopkick has made quite a name for itself in recent months. The location based iPhone app recognizes when users are near a retail store, and then offers rewards for coming closer to it and bigger rewards for stepping inside.

http://www.internetretailer.com/2010/09/09/mobile-app-rewards-shoppers-entering-store

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The business model seems simple enough: Convince merchants to offer steep discounts in exchange for a guaranteed stampede of customers. That is the premise of the wildly successful social couponing Web site Groupon, which in less than two years has 18 million subscribers and spawned a host of imitators; but some businesses that advertise through the site are learning that there can be too much of a good thing.

http://mobile.washingtonpost.com/rss.jsp?rssid=601&item=+http%3a%2f%2fwww.washingtonpost.com%2fwp-syndication%2farticle%2f2010%2f09%2f17%2fAR2010091707048_mobile.xml+&cid=573&spf=1

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According to a new report from ABI Research, location based marketing will increase from only about $43 million this year to $1.8 billion by 2015 as part of overall mobile marketing budgets.

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=135110

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For all the hype and attention location based services are getting these days, only 1 in 25 Americans have ever tried one, and only 1 out of 100 use them weekly, according to a recent survey by Forrester Research.

http://venturebeat.com/2010/08/30/location-based-services-survey/

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Consumers are flocking to smartphones and the apps that run on them as fervently as mobile technology investors had hoped; but so far, iPhone, BlackBerry and Android users have shown a preference for applications that extend well known Web properties, rather than apps that have appeared for mobile devices only.

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/09/15/which-mobile-apps-are-poised-for-success/

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The decision by the largest regional mall owner in the country to embrace a smartphone application marked a new stage in the rapidly unfolding evolution of mall marketing.

http://retailtrafficmag.com/management/marketing/owners_keep_pace_marketing_09072010/

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By now consumers have become very accustomed to using their Smartphone as a personal global positioning system. It was not long ago that companies like TomTom and Garmin thrived selling GPS devices as a stand-alone tool. It is funny how fast technology caught up with these companies. Along came the huge growth in consumer grade Smartphones, such as the iPhone, Blackberry, Droid, and Windows devices. Consumers now had a GPS in their pocket that can give directions for driving, walking or even using public transit systems.

http://smartsoftmobile.com/wordpress/2010/09/21/mobile-geo-location-tools-for-applications-and-their-usage-in-retailing/

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From sticking to a budget to finding the best price on literally billions of items, these 20 mobile shopping apps for Android, iPhone, and Blackberry will save you both time and money. Whether you prefer to shop online or at a brick-and-mortar retail store, these apps maximize quality while minimizing cost.

http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/my-money/2010/09/20/20-best-mobile-apps-for-saving-money

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Bharti Airtel has become the first telecom player to be issued a semi closed wallet licence by the Reserve Bank of India.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/business/rbi-allows-airtel-offer-limited-mobile-banking-147

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Technological advances have made it easier for consumers to stay on top of their finances by enabling them to easily check how much money is in their bank accounts and manage their funds.

http://www.uknetguide.co.uk/Finance/Article/Keep_eye_on_current_account_with_mobile_phone_banking-105321.html

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Mobile technologies can evolve customer experiences with in store navigation, product searches, digital shopping lists, in store coupons, reviews and more.

http://mobile-barcode.tmcnet.com/topics/mobile-barcode-innovations/articles/102091-delivering-rewarding-retail-experiences.htm

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Zappli Inc. announced the launch of myShopanion, a mobile social shopping solution, available as a free download at the iPhone App Store. myShopanion is a mobile shopping advisor that lets consumers access extensive information on millions of products, share shopping insights with friends, and buy at the best price.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-mobile-solution-turns-all-shopping-social-102831909.html

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PlacePop, a company that allows any company to create and maintain virtual loyalty cards, launched its iPhone app today. It also announced fresh funding of $1.4 million from a number of angel investors.

http://venturebeat.com/2010/07/30/placepop-launches-mobile-loyalty-programs/

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CardStar’s loyalty card smartphone app — also available on iPhone, BlackBerry and Android devices — has made that a scene from the past, though certainly not a simpler time. Consumers can manage their collection of retailer and brand discount cards through the app, which boasts 19 retail categories and 700 merchants.

http://www.adotas.com/2010/08/cardstar-brings-loyalty-programs-to-ipad/

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Best Buy Co., Inc., a leading retailer of consumer electronics, has announced it plans to bring a location based retail experiment, using the "shopkick" mobile application rewards system, to 257 U.S. stores by October 1. Best Buy will examine the ways in store shoppers value and redeem offers and rewards through their smartphones.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/best-buy-to-launch-location-based-retail-experiment-in-257-us-stores-2010-08-16?reflink=MW_news_stmp

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Another company has launched a location based mobile phone application that aims to encourage consumers to make repeat visits to bricks-and-mortar merchants.

http://www.internetretailer.com/2010/09/16/placepop-launches-geolocation-app-consumers

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Recent articles from Kevin Benedict’s blog Enterprise Mobility Strategies for SAP and Others

Mobile Retailing - Macy's and Bloomingdale's Mobile Applications Strategies

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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join SAP Enterprise Mobility on Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant, mobility analyst, writer and Web 2.0 marketing professional. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

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