Social Media

I recently participated in an SAP-sponsored panel discussion on Game-Changers Radio about how consumer product companies are using real-time consumer insights and engagement. Buoyed by constant customer connectivity, consumer product firms are gaining a much clearer and timelier picture of their end customers, and also directly engaging them near or in real time.

New York – Teen girls are known for being social, and they are staying true to form for the back-to-school season. According to a study of 1.035 teen girls by Teen Vogue and the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), 75% of respondents will use their smartphone to seek out back-to-school inspirations and ideas.

GameStop is known for innovative promotions, but now the specialty retailer has made social marketing personal with its latest Summer at GameStop event.

The retailer has announced the winners of Summer at GameStop, a five-week social engagement and contest series aimed at gamers who shared their personal stories on how video gaming brings fans together to create unique friendships and lifelong relationships - and brought longtime friends together from across the country in the process.

When it comes to the rapidly changing retail landscape and how retailers should respond to engage shoppers, it turns out that it's not all about the app.

A new study by Forrester Consulting commissioned by RetailMeNot Inc. shows that while today's consumers overwhelmingly prefer to access the Internet on their mobile devices, only 30% use retailer applications to purchase products. In fact, 60% of consumers have two or fewer retailer apps on their phones, and 21% have none.

Pittsburgh -- Consumers love their smartphones, but retailers shouldn’t count out the “old tech” yet in terms of customer appeal. And merchants will have to put some effort into getting consumers to accept some of the new high-tech bells and whistles.

Austin, Texas -- Smartphones are quickly becoming the first screen for consumers — even in retail stores. But while consumers overwhelmingly prefer to access the Internet on their mobile devices, only 30% use retailer applications to purchase products.

Those are two of the key takeaways of a study RetailMeNot, which commissioned Forrester Consulting to look at how smartphones and apps are changing the retail landscape and how retailers should respond to engage shoppers.

New York -- Female millennial shoppers still like the mall when it comes to shopping for back-to- school goods, and they are also using social media platforms to talk about it.

From mobile tech-savvy teens to the octogenarian shopper, retailers are perhaps for the first time ever addressing the widest and most diverse customer set in history. With life expectancy in the United States at an all-time high, the economy in an upswing and more people connected than ever before through smart phones and smart jewelry, retailers are marketing to increasingly wider and diverging audiences.