Mobile Marketing

Woody Allen famously said 80% of success is showing up, and that saying may well apply to mobile retailing. According to a new study from Google, “Micro-moments: Your Guide to Winning the Shift to Mobile,” 51% of smartphone users have discovered a new company or product when conducting research.

In addition, showing up in mobile search ad results can increase unaided brand awareness 46%. And one in three smartphone users have purchased from a company or brand other than the one they intended because of information provided in the moment they needed it.

Consumers are taking an increasingly varied path to purchase for tech accessories. According to the Second Annual Accessories at Retail study from the Consumer Electronic Association (CEA), almost two-thirds of U.S. consumers (62%) and more than three-quarters of millennials (77%) now go online via computer or mobile device to learn about tech accessories before making a purchase decision.

However, fewer U.S. consumers are making their final purchases online using a computer (30%) or mobile (7%).

Mobile customers of two discount Kroger grocery banners have a unique connection to Pope Francis’ U.S. visit.

DigitalFood, the free mobile app for Kroger's Food 4 Less and Foods Co. shoppers, is providing a free, mobile virtual reality viewing of Pope Francis' American trip and his canonization of Fr. Junipero Serra in Washington, D.C.

Most consumers would prefer to buy products from nearby stores. Shoe Carnival Inc., an Evansville, Indiana-based specialty footwear retailer with 404 stores, is responding to that preference with a new local marketing initiative.

Shoe Carnival has implemented the SIM Partners Velocity local marketing automation platform, to scale local search marketing in an effort to drive incremental in-store traffic and sales, as well as improve the overall customer experience.

Adidas is taking its act on the road with a futuristic-looking pop-up that lets shoppers get up close and personal with its high-tech footwear.

The “Boost Experience by Adidas” is an interactive mobile store that is touring the country’s premier running events. It made its debut at the San Francisco Marathon. In all, 14 stops are planned, with a schedule that continues into 2016.

A leading pizza chain is testing beacon technology – in stores in China.

Yum Brands subsidiary Pizza Hut is using devices from global beacon technology provider Sensoro at all 1,471 locations in mainland China through Sept. 23.

October will be over in a flash, and with it, all eyes will be on the holiday season, which is measured from November 1 through December 31.

The 2015 retail calendar has several distinctions, as we saw Memorial Day fall on the earliest possible date and Labor Day on the latest possible date. This holiday season, there are 28 days between Thanksgiving (not counting the actual day) and Christmas, which is an average amount for the period separating the two holidays.