Gift cards going mobile

Boston --Survey results released Tuesday by Shop.org showed that almost half of all retailers plan to offer eGifting this holiday season and 44% are looking at location-based deals as a key element of their mobile marketing strategies.

The survey, sponsored by CashStar and conducted in September at the annual Shop.org Retail Summit in Boston, found a growing concern among retailers about the lack of personalization of gift cards.

Of those retailers surveyed, 72% planned to increase their mobile marketing spend this year, with 6% planning to increase it significantly. Only 2% of survey respondents planned to decrease their mobile marketing spend.

When it comes to mobile marketing, mobile coupons were the most popular offering (64%) followed by location-based deals (44%).

Retailers are planning to promote to the last minute, as 42% of those surveyed plan to stop holiday promotions on the last day consumers can ship an item and have it arrive in time for Christmas, but 32% percent plan to continue their promotions to Christmas Eve.