Mobile Marketing

Amazon.com has come up with another new and exciting way to keep its brand out in front of potential customers.

The e-commerce giant has put a so-called Treasure Truck on the streets of Seattle. Each day the “Treasure Truck cruises to different neighborhoods loaded to the gills with one amazing item you won’t want to miss,” the company says. Photos on social media show the truck has a sign that says, "What's on the truck today?"

North Plainfield, N. J. -- Nearly one-third (31.1% ) of retailers report that their companies have opened or will open new stores this year, according to a survey by retail real estate management firm Levin Management. It is the highest mid-year percentage in the four years for which comparative Levin survey data is available.

Digital media company Catalina is launching a new solution that personalizes the deals found in weekly retail ad circulars. 

The program, called My Favorite Deals, is designed to increase ROI in a major area of marketing spend for U.S. retailers.

Redwood City, Calif. – The Shopular mobile shopping app is rolling out two platform upgrades -- Shopular Products and Shopular Curated Content. Shopular, available for free download from iTunes and Google Play, geo-targets consumers with time- and location-sensitive deal alerts and savings from their preferred merchants from more than 40,000 retail locations across the U.S.  

Sunnyvale, Calif. – Retailers who target a consumer base of moms have some new competition. PatPat is a new, free-to-download app for iOS and Android that brings moms direct access to manufacturers of clothing, toys, electronics and home goods at a price that is up to 90% less than traditional retailers.  

All good things must come to end — including, after nearly four years, my contributions to this column. “Retail Rap” will soon be forging on without me. This is the first of two final columns I’ll be contributing, and I’ll beg your indulgence if I wax nostalgic at times in this, column number 99, and in my last submission two weeks from now, Retail Rap number 100.

Deerfield, Ill. - Mondelez International has renewed its global strategic partnership with Facebook, with a focus on creating and delivering creative video content and driving impulse snack purchasing online. Through this partnership, the companies will work together to leverage and innovate around video consumption and mobile commerce.

Ann Arbor, Mich. – A no-hitter is an exciting event for baseball fans. For digitally connected baseball fans who also love pizza, no-hitters just got more exciting.

Domino’s Pizza and Major League Baseball (MLB) are extending an omnichannel partnership that provides free pizzas to the first 20,000 registered MLB.com users who visit a dedicated MLB.com/dominos page and log in. The offer is redeemable for carryout pizzas only and available for five consecutive days or until 20,000 codes are given away.

New York – Barneys New York keeps expanding its use of  social media. The luxury retailer will enable customers to shop directly from a link embedded in its official Instagram account. Utilizing technology from Like2Buy, the feature will link customers to shoppable Instagram images which connect to the Barneys e-commerce site.