Mobile Marketing

Washington — The National Retail Federation, in partnership with its member companies, has launched a new initiative to address the challenges and opportunities of mobile retailing.

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Retail shopping app, Shopkick has named Alexis Rask as its new VP and general manager brand partnerships. As the head of Shopkick's newest business unit, Rask is tasked with leading and further developing shopkick's relationship with major brands in the CPG, consumer electronics, entertainment, toy/game, financial services and automotive verticals.

NEW YORK — Days of cutting back-to-school spending are over, as nearly 9-in-10 consumers plan to spend the same or more, according to Deloitte's annual back-to-school survey.

Former Walmart chief merchandising officer John Fleming was named to the board of advisors at the online shopper engagement firm Jingit.

New York -- Modell's Sporting Goods has added a mobile component to its MVP loyalty program. The sporting goods retailer is using Key Ring Reward Cards’ mobile coupon and customer acquisition platform to introduce mobile into its loyalty marketing mix for its 150 retail locations.

ARMONK, N.Y. — IBM's fifth annual Online Retail Holiday Readiness report has uncovered that 2012 may just be the year of mobile.

Based on data from more than 500 U.S. retailers, the report found that online mobile sales increased 88.8% in second quarter 2012, compared with year-ago period.

What's more, IBM is forecasting that mobile sales will reach 20% of total online holiday sales this holiday season, and that mobile traffic will close in on 25%.

LOS ANGELES — Supervalu is making the mobile couponing app, Yowza!! available to more than 1900 independent stores. The new alliance means independent retailers supplied by Supervalu have the opportunity to offer the free Yowza!! app to their shoppers to receive real-time savings on in-store purchases.

NEW YORK — The Deloitte Consumer Spending Index continues to rise, thanks to improvements in the housing market.

WAYNE, N.J.  — Toys"R"Us, Nickelodeon and Playmates Toys have a potential cash cow on their hands with the revamped "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" CG-animated series and corresponding line of action figures, vehicles, role play items and playsets. The series premieres Saturday, Sept. 29, at 11:00 a.m. (ET/PT) with a one-hour special event. The toys, developed by Playmates, is available in stores and online.

Chicago -- Amazon ranks as the coolest mobile or social affiliate program,  according to a survey conducted by EPiServer, a provider of multichannel digital marketing and e-commerce software. The  survey was conducted among CEOs, VPs, directors and e-commerce managers at more than 94 organizations including retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers, catalogers, web-only merchants and local-retailers.