Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly – Week of January 3, 2011

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 retailing applications and mobile marketing applications that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

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CKE Restaurants Inc.’s Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s restaurants are driving consumers in store via Happy Star Rewards, a GPS enabled loyalty program that rewards users for checking in at the fast food chains’ locations across the United States.

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/carls-jr-and-hardees-mobile-loyalty-program-to-drive-in-store-traffic/

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Online retailer Buy.com has launched its new app for Apple iPhone and iPod Touch. Using barcode technology and an advanced voice recognition platform from MeMeMe Inc., the Buy.com app makes mobile shopping easier and faster than ever before.

http://www.retailcustomerexperience.com/article/178376/New-Buy-com-mobile-app-features-barcode-scanning-voice-recognition

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A KPMG survey shows mobile devices are slowly gaining ground as the preferred media for e-commerce. Compared with only 18 months ago, the global percentage of respondents who have used their mobile device for banking has more than doubled from 19 percent to 46 percent, while the percentage that have used it to buy goods and services has gone from 10 percent to 28 percent.

http://ecbeez.blogspot.com/2010/12/mobile-devices-emerging-as-preferred-e.html

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eBay’s mobile app sold nearly $100 million of merchandise in the U.S. during the month before Christmas, which represents an increase of 134 percent over last year at the same time.

http://mashable.com/2010/12/29/ebay-mobile-shopping-trends-2010/

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Facebook is on track to generate more than $2 billion in ad revenues in 2010, far surpassing earlier estimates of around $1 billion, and will likely skyrocket past that figure in 2011 as more marketers shift budgets from TV, radio, and print to the social realm.

http://venturebeat.com/2010/12/31/all-marketing-will-become-social/

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CouponMom.com now has more than three million members on its free website. A family can save over $6,000 on groceries in 2001 by utilizing a few simple strategies. The site offers tutorial videos showing step by step directions for achieving fast and smart savings.

http://www.prnewschannel.com/absolutenm/templates/?z=4&a=3430

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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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Gant, an international fashion brand that already operates e-commerce portals in the UK and Sweden, is building an expanded worldwide online shopping platform beginning with a US launch in the first quarter of 2011. The retailer worked with independent digital shop Code and Theory on the launch.

http://www.dmnews.com/retailers-poised-to-launch-major-e-commerce-upgrades/article/193093/

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Location-based services were hugely popular in 2010, and there is no shortage of mobile apps to choose from when you're looking for the best app to use. SCVNGR takes top honors this year as favorite location-based app of 2010.

http://www.geeksugar.com/Top-Location-Based-App-2010-13002608

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In the digital world, last year saw explosive growth in the development of mobile applications. On the Web, however, it was a year of what might euphemistically be called transition. Some wonder if the growth of applications, pay sites and other “walled gardens” could fragment the Web.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/03/technology/03iht-cache.html?src=busln

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If you sell products or promote services online, 2011 might be the year you need to optimize your site for smartphone browsers. In June 2010, a comScore study found that among all mobile users, 50 percent of Web browsing was conducted on a smartphone.

http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/news/article.php/3918906/The-Top-Mobile-Trends-of-2011.htm

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What will be the top mobile story of the year in 2011? Google and the continued expansion of its Android operating system, according to an annual survey of industry executives and analysts. The survey of 225 mobile "movers and shakers" asked to predict this year's trends was made up one-third by CXO-level company officers, 23 percent directors, 20 percent managers, and 12 percent each, company vice presidents and industry analysts.

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=142210

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The global mobile advertising market is expected to grow to $13 to $14 billion in 2011 and Asia Pacific is expected to bring in the majority of this revenue followed by North America and Europe.

http://www.rediff.com/business/slide-show/slide-show-1-tech-the-top-10-mobile-marketing-trends-for-2011/20101228.htm

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The growing strength of mobile advertising has been highlighted by new figures from ABI Research. According to an ABI analyst, revenue from mobile display ads will reach approximately $1.5 billion by 2016.

http://www.equimedia.co.uk/index.php?id=98&article=800289595

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Google is the main player in mobile ad revenue, with 59 percent of all mobile advertising revenue in the U.S. Apple comes far behind with 8.4 percent. Google’s share represents a jump of 10 percent on last year’s 48.6 percent - a result of the growing use of smartphones, the growth of the Google backed Android platform, and the $750 million acquisition of AdMob in November 2009.

http://www.portada-online.com/article.aspx?aid=7222

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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, mobile industry analyst and experienced mobile industry executive, offers both one and two day onsite workshops designed to educate and inform executives and management teams on enterprise mobility and mobile strategies for businesses. This workshop is designed to provide a complete overview of enterprise mobility and what it means to the business. The workshop is customized based upon the needs of participants. For more details, visit http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/p/workshops.html.

Recent Articles by Kevin Benedict

Changing Attitudes of Mobile Shoppers
Tablets, Mobile Applications and the Enterprise
Wall Street Analyst and SAP Enterprise Mobility
The Global Market for M2M Devices is HUGE!
The Internet of Things (M2M)
SAP StreamWork, Social Intelligence and Mobile Devices
Mobile Expert Interview Series: Aberdeen Group's Andrew Borg

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

Also available are:

Kevin’s Mobility News Weekly
Kevin’s Mobile Money News Weekly
Kevin’s M2M News Weekly

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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, 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.