Dollar General is currently using the CliqLaunch platform to full benefit! If you go to http://m.dollargeneral.com and click on several of their swiping banner ads you will land on CliqLaunch created pages!  These CliqLaunch sites are in addition to sites they have integrated into their APP’s and the in-store environment.  The DG Summer page and the Father’s day page are fully integrating mapped images and swipe widgets!  The sites look great and were made in no time at all using CliqLaunch!

Take a look at these great links!

Careers: http://dollargeneral.cliqlaunch.com/dollargeneral/DG_Circular/DollarGeneralCareersEvent.aspx

DG Summer: http://dollargeneral.cliqlaunch.com/dollargeneral/DGcomOnlineSpecials/DGSummer.aspx?HOSTURL=DA9j1NgDwz9qOcYmXwKWY0bPmOxwVWHh%2fM0zziDEVd1IXxMorSMWRo2VUw3W7alQqUAA9Clmo8qahM3K96tytA%3d%3d

Coupons:http://dollargeneral.cliqlaunch.com/dollargeneral/dgmobilecoupons/DollarGeneralMobileOffers.aspx

Father’s Day: http://dollargeneral.cliqlaunch.com/dollargeneral/DGcomOnlineSpecials/fathersday.aspx?HOSTURL=DA9j1NgDwz9qOcYmXwKWY0bPmOxwVWHh%2fM0zziDEVd1IXxMorSMWRo2VUw3W7alQqUAA9Clmo8qahM3K96tytA%3d%3d

If you think about it, there are only three ways to increase a retailers sales- get a customer to shop more often, get the customer to put more in the basket, or get new customers to shop with you. DG has recognized that mobile is a critical channel that will positively effect these three metrics.

The subtle change is that DG has made the customer more the center of brand engagement versus the brand. This is the way progressive retailers are beginning to manage customer relationships. Leveraging the technology that consumers have adopted – the mobile phone- to more effectively market the brand.

DG is using APP’s, Mobile web and Mobile In-store engagements and using acquisition tactics through eMail, text, social medias and QR codes attached to print advertising and store signage to create a 360 degree consumer mobile experience. The control of consumer mobile touch points ensures better, more relevant calls to action, delivering value through mobile that the customer demands.

One key way that Dollar General is able to accomplish this effort is by using a mobile web content delivery platform called CliqLaunch.

CliqLaunch provides clients the tools to attract and engage new customers through an innovative and cost effective revenue stream. The CliqLaunch platform is a Mobile Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP) that not only allows a company to make the PC to Mobile transition, but also allows for marketing efforts to be deployed on the mobile web without the need for IT to be involved. The platform is a scalable cloud based SaaS environment or can be migrated to a client based server environment.

CliqLaunch benefits include: 1) Mobile content creation and delivery in hours not weeks. 2) CliqLaunch easily fits within existing platforms. 3) The platform empowers marketing and advertising (including the use of the platform by a brand’s external mobile marketing firms). 4) Easy to use AND Reuse- rapid prototyping and deployment exceptional for marketing and advertising needs. 5) Low cost threshold to get started. 6) CliqLaunch allows experimentation without risk.

The flexibility of CliqLaunch makes mobile a part of every advertising and marketing plan. The ability to not only control mobile content, but change it in real time as consumer analytics dictate is a requirement for companies to excel past the old ways of thinking about consumer brand experience and leap forward to where customers are currently experience the brand at the end of the sales cycle- predominantly through a handheld device.

At first glance, the store Hointer in Seattle looks like any other clothing retailer — jeans, tops and accessories on display.

“When you’re in a store, if you think about it, there are many things you do that are very unpleasant,” Hointer CEO and founder Nadia Shouraboura told ABC News.

That’s why Hointer, which caters to men and women, isn’t run by people. Instead, smartphones and robotic-style technology control the shopping experience.

“I thought of an idea to bring the convenience of online shopping to the traditional store,” said  Shouraboura, a former vice president of technology at Amazon.com.  “It’s all run through technology. The ability to link it with your mobile device is where the power comes from. My mission is to make every experience of shopping easy and fast. ”

Hointer works from  a customer’s own smartphone. All a shopper has to do is download the app, walk around the store and start scanning favorite items from the tags on the clothing. Once the item is scanned, the app allows shoppers to choose what sizes to try on, and indicates which fitting room the clothes will be in.

“Every fitting room has two shoots in it. One shoot is in, one shoot is out,” explained Shouraboura. “When you start tapping items you want to try on, they appear through the shoot.”

If an item doesn’t fit, the customer simply pulls up the app and requests a new size, and in 30 seconds the shoot spits out the new item.

“When you shop, you don’t enjoy going to the fitting room, standing there naked for a new size, and then having to dress up and go back to the floor. It’s not about fast shopping. It’s about an easier way to shop,” said Shouraboura.

Easier, but is it cheaper than shopping in a typical brick-and mortar store? Shouraboura said the operation saves the customer and the retailer money.

“Our store is significantly cheaper. It’s less square footage, less people,” she explained. “We match all online prices because our model is so effective.”

The high-tech technology doesn’t stop there. The fitting rooms also include tablets that keep an inventory of the clothing customers want  to purchase. Once  shoppers are ready to check out, they simply swipe their payment cards and leave, without experiencing any human contact.

“There are employees if the customer wants to talk. They’re more for styling,” said Shouraboura.

Hointer opened in Seattle last October, and Shouraboura said she has plans to open stores in Palo Alto, Calif., and eventually in Las Vegas.

“Our main invention is this micro-warehouse that sits within a store,” she said. “What we’ll see is that several years from now … that’s how people will shop. I’m absolutely convinced of that.

This requires new thinking as well as new competencies and skill sets.

Advertising graduates entering the workforce today need to be equipped with a full understanding of how to engage the consumer using the adopted new technologies – most important- mobile interactions.

What are some of the new things that an advertiser must deal with that were not on the radar screen even 5 years ago?

Consumer behavior across multiple screens for one- Consumers digest and ingest media across a growing number of devices- or screens. Be it TV, Tablet, Notebook, PC, or phone. The need to carry an advertising message in a time and location continuum across these different devices requires new approaches in advertising

Mobile is now a full funnel channel and not just an ‘add-on’ to advertising strategies. The contextual nature of mobile gives advertisers and marketers a real opportunity to know and understand their customers.

Mobile is the new big data opportunity to parse consumers and their behavior. A key understanding of the consumer mobile behavior, coupled with an understanding of the intimacy of the mobile device to the consumer and delivering relevant, close to real-time calls to action will make significant differences in the conversion rates and ROI in advertising.

New rules for the business must be created. For example, the use of scan codes for improved consumer store experiences must be determined and consistently acted on.

Mobile can extend the brand beyond a purchase. Mobile content must be included to captivate the entire consumer journey. Mobile allows for new ways to launch products and services as well as enhancing existing consumer touch points with the brand.

ATLANTA, Apr 10, 2013 (BUSINESS WIRE) — SiteMinis, a mobile web App technology platform and services provider, today announced an initiative to partner with universities globally, to enable professors of Advertising, Graphic Design, Marketing, PR and other courses to incorporate a real time asset of adding mobile into the class environment through use of the CliqLaunch Platform.

“Enabling students to build and deploy mobile sites in real time and make changes on the fly allows students to deploy and test on mobile with an App for mobile web. Not needing a developer to deploy a site/App, which hasn’t been accessible to date, is a very real asset not only for a student’s portfolio, but also for learning the asset of A/B testing on mobile with ease of use.”

“SiteMinis has offered their CliqLaunch Platform to the universities as this helps further the mobile discussions in class and benefits the overall market with students entering the workforce with an added knowledge of how to integrate mobile,” said Marci Troutman, CEO and founder of SiteMinis. “Partnering with these Universities makes sense as it can be global, the professors have free reign to have as many users and as many sites as they would like and can incorporate the benefits of mobile to their classes with ease.”

“Faculty members in the programs of advertising, communication, journalism and marketing at eight universities in the U.S. formed a partnership with an Atlanta, GA-based firm to bring the latest mobile technology into the classroom. Through the partnership, SiteMinis, Inc. made its flagship product Cliqlaunch available to the students in the courses that are taught by these faculty members, along with video demos for each class and dedicated customer support from SiteMinis. SiteMinis also created a Facebook group as a venue for knowledge sharing among the students and faculty members,” said Hairong Li, Ph.D., Professor of Advertising, Michigan State University.

“This partnership and resulting instructional innovations have helped build an active learning environment for the students and answers some fundamental issues that are challenging today’s educators, such as how to introduce the latest digital technologies into the classroom effectively, how to better meet the “trial and error” learning style of this generation of students, how to customize our instruction to meet individual needs of each student, and how to narrow the gap between what is taught in the classroom and what is needed in the ever changing mobile marketplace.”

Click here “http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVHoU22s4pc” to view a video from Courtney Childers, Courtney Carpenter Childers, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Advertising; THE UNIVERSITY of TENNESSEE, discussing UT’s success incorporating mobile into the classroom.

“The next generation of mobile technology leaders is being created thanks to SiteMinis and its innovative mobile web development platform. In mobile learning today it’s all about hands-on experience for students. That’s what the professionals at SiteMinis provide,” said Michael Hanley, Associate Professor and Director, Institute for Mobile Media Research at Ball State University and Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Mobile Marketing.

About SiteMinis

Atlanta-based SiteMinis, Inc. offers one of the only mobile website App platforms that can be deployed across every Web-enabled cell phone and all popular smartphone operating systems such as iPhone, Android, Palm, Nokia, Blackberry, and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile without a reduction in quality of the user experience. SiteMinis develops and integrates profitable mobile e-commerce and informational Web sites that simplify the IT deployment and brand design issues faced by companies doing business on the Internet today. The firm provides M-Commerce technology and consulting services that radically improve, simplify and increase a company’s mobile marketing and branding exposure to attract and engage mobile consumers.

Reach and Frequency is the key while retaining your brand. The mobile web company. For more information, visit http://www.siteminis.com, call 1-888-981-9777 or email info@SiteMinis.com.

Join mobile in the classroom contact: Tim Canada, SiteMinis; Aaron Zeanah, SiteMinis tim@siteminis.com, aaron.zeanah@siteminis.com http://www.siteminis.com

Google alleged to be using Android as a Trojan horse to deceive partners By Chantal Tode Mobile Marketer NY

Google is facing antitrust allegations related to its mobile business in Europe in a new complaint filed by a group of companies including Microsoft.

FairSearch.org has filed a complaint with the European Commission alleging that Google is employing anti-competitive strategies to dominate the mobile marketplace and gain control over consumer Internet data for online advertising as users shifts to mobile devices. In the past, Google has faced antitrust claims related to its search business in both Europe and the United States but recently the Federal Trade Commission said the search giant did not break any laws.

“EU anti-trust seems willing to be more aggressive than the U.S., so I don’t think it is a bellwether for the U.S.,” said Brennan Hayden, executive vice president and chief operating officer at WDA, East Lansing, MI.

“EU watches mobile probably even more closely than the Internet, because mobile is more significant to EU society relative to broadband,” he said. “So I think the authorities will be even more receptive to an anti-trust complaint in mobile than search.

“The dominance of Android as the OS of choice is accelerating. It isn’t uncommon for large corporate rivals to move to the courts when market competition alone isn’t achieving the desired results.”

Google apps
Android is the largest mobile operating system and is installed on approximately 70 percent of new smartphones.

Android is open-source software that manufacturers can use and modify for their own purposes. For example, Amazon’s Kindle Fire is built on Android and excludes many Google services.

The allegations claim that Google is acting unfairly by giving Android to device manufacturers for free but requiring them to pre-load a variety of Google mobile services and give them prominent default placement on a phone in order to be able to include must-have apps such as Google Maps, Google Play and YouTube. As a result, the claim alleges, other providers are at a disadvantage and Google is in control of consumer data on a majority of smartphones.

Google Maps

A total of 17 companies are involved in filing the complaint with European authorities including Microsoft, Nokia, and Oracle. The group claims Google is deceiving partners, monopolizing the mobile marketplace and control consumer data.

They are asking that an antitrust investigation be launched into Google’s role in how the Internet is accessed via mobile devices.

The commission has reportedly not decided yet whether to take up the case or drop it.

Trojan Horse
The FairSearch complaint says Google uses deceptive conduct to block competition in mobile.

“Google is using its Android mobile operating system as a ‘Trojan Horse’ to deceive partners, monopolize the mobile marketplace, and control consumer data,” said Thomas Vinje, Brussels-based counsel to the FairSearch coalition, in a statement.

“We are asking the Commission to move quickly and decisively to protect competition and innovation in this critical market,” he said.

“Failure to act will only embolden Google to repeat its desktop abuses of dominance as consumers increasingly turn to a mobile platform dominated by Google’s Android operating system.”

The European Commission is already considering allegations that Google may be abusing its dominance in desktop search advertising.

Kindle Fire

The search giant is also the focus in Europe of concern over its privacy policies, with six European data protection authorities having begun coordinating efforts to force Google to comply with EU privacy laws they say Google violated by consolidating its privacy policies, according to FairSearch.org.

“This case – Android OS giving Google apps priority position on the handset – seems a bit different than the case specifying Google search algorithm concerns, whereby some have put in complaints to the European antitrust regulators that their web properties virtually disappeared in the Google search results if they were deemed competition to Google,” said Steve Timpson, president of Siteminis, Atlanta.

“Both allegation sets are similar in that competitors want equal footing for customer acquisition of their web properties,” he said. “The main difference is that the search issue seems to not be tied to a license agreement as does the Android issue.”

“The success of Android is most likely behind this antitrust activity and it would appear this is related to the successful adoption by consumers of Android.”

      This writer is focused on the message HP is sending through the ads, which I believe are being done very well.  It is targeting a very specific group of people – late teens and early twenty-somethings who are probably more tech savvy than most.  The ad itself is straightforward, which is a huge plus.  You are prompted to click the ad to learn more about the laptops and Windows 8, and you are brought to a landing page that does just that.  Bravo.

     It will be interesting to see how effective these ads were when it is all said and done.  

Davis Wood, Senior Account Manager, SiteMinis Inc

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/hewlett-packard-touts-new-laptops-via-mobile-advertising

Hewlett-Packard touts new laptops via mobile advertising

By Lauren Johnson

     Of all the people who opt-in to text campaigns, 50% are iPhone users despite iPhone having a smaller market share than android (34% to 52% respectively).  In-the-know tech oriented consumers – check.  Here is the best stat though – the open rate for text messages is currently 98%.  So how do you make it count?  Send out effective and relevant content that consumers will actually want and use.  On top of all that, who is more loyal of a customer than the consumer who takes the time to opt in to an offer?  Just food for thought.  If marketers are able to harness the power of the iPhone and its users for effective marketing, they will find themselves in the corner office.  

Davis Wood – Senior Account Manager – SiteMinis Inc

http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/messaging/14375.html

How to create effective iPhone-targeted SMS campaigns

By Chantal Tode

December 11, 2012

Marketers have opportunity to target text campaigns to iPhone users

While much of the focus on marketing to iPhone users centers around advertising, they are also heavily engaged with SMS campaigns. Using device targeting, marketers can reach iPhone users via SMS with campaigns designed to meet their needs.

According to a new report by Mogreet, iPhone users are the most engaged mobile audience for SMS campaigns, with 50 percent of the consumers who opt-in to text messaging programs being iPhone users despite the fact that Apple has a 34 percent share of the overall smartphone market. In contrast, while Android phones have a 52 percent market share, only 34 percent of consumers opting into text market campaigns use Android smartphones.

“Our mobile data report found that iPhone users significantly over-index in opting in to text message marketing programs compared to others,” said James Citron, CEO of Mogreet, Venice, CA.

“What does that show?,” he said. “That iPhone users continue to lead the way in engaging in multimedia and text message marketing programs.”

“With handset detection and customer segmentation tools provided by text marketing programming, marketers can target only iPhone users to promote iOS specific apps or opportunities. We see this all the time, it is a great way to support specific iOS mobile programming and to drive platform specific app downloads.”

SMS opt-ins grow
Despite all the attention that other forms of mobile marketing receive, Mogreet also found that SMS and MMS-based marketing programs continue to grow, with more than 100 percent growth in participation since April 2012.

In general, text messaging offers brands the ability to invite a consumer to opt-in to engage in a dialogue and receive content in exchange.

The open rates for text messages are around 98 percent, meaning that this strategy offers marketers a strong method for insuring that their message will be seen.

IPhone users, in particular, are an attractive audience to target via SMS because they are often confident technology users, which helps reduce barriers to clicking on a link delivered by text message.

IPhone users are also heavily engaged with apps and like real-time information, being strong users of mobile for news related to sports, current events and weather.

Content is king
When reaching iPhone users, it is important to include valuable and interesting media specific to a particular mobile campaign.

For iPhone users, the strong integration of multimedia creation and sharing tools makes these users heavy creators and sharers of multimedia. As a result, they appreciate new and exciting multimedia content and are turned off when they receive old content.

“This may seem obvious, but marketers still continue to recycle their other digital assets,” Mr. Citron said. “Consumers who opt-in to text marketing programming want to receive something exclusive and valuable in exchange for giving brands permission to engage with them on such a personal device.”

There is also an opportunity for marketers to leverage the fact that the text messaging experience on the iPhone resembles a friend to friend IM chat with easily viewable images and video.

“This provides MMS marketers the option to create longer text messages with hyperlinks, images, videos, flip books, and more to promote their products or upcoming films/TV shows in a highly personalized manner,” Mr. Citron said.

“SMS is great for sending quick messages such as reminders, but to engage the iPhone users, smart marketers will take advantage of the phone’s high-resolution screens and send something that is highly branded and engaging such as exclusive video content,” he said.

Huge potential
Currently, not a lot of marketers are targeting SMS campaigns by devices, according to Brian Teague, chief technology evangelist atPocketstop, Dallas.

This means there is an opportunity for brands to adopt a device-specific strategy to iPhone users.

“The potential for reaching iPhone users via text is huge,” Mr. Teague said. “Every iPhone user has SMS and they know how to use it.

“Most text messages are looked at within 15 minutes and responded to within an hour,” he said. “You don’t get that with any other form of communication.

“If you were to get someone to download and app, with notification, you wouldn’t get the same response that you would by sending a message directly to their inbox via text message.”

So how do marketers improve the message they are sending out?  Three things come to the forefront of my mind.  The first is to make calls to action as simple as possible.  The clearer the message the smaller the chance for confusion.  Secondly, make sure the engagement is user friendly, quick to load, and free of charge – this especially applies to apps.  Lastly, and most importantly, less is more.  Keep relevant and useful information the consumer wants and scrap the riff raff.

Davis Wood, Senior Account Manager, SiteMinis Inc

http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/14296.html

Mobile marketing experiences fall short of expectations: study

By Chantal Tode

November 28, 2012

Consumers are receptive to mobile marketing

Marketers came up short in an analysis of consumers’ mobile expectations, pointing to the need for brands to step up their mobile game.

The 2012 U.S. AdReaction Report from Millward Brown found that consumers have very high expectations for mobile marketing but, for the most part, their experiences are falling short. Users expect apps, mobile sites and ads to work and are disappointed when they do not, which is often.

“By and large, marketers are falling short when it comes to pleasing mobile users,” said Joline McGoldrick, research director at Millward Brown’s Dynamic Logic unit. “ Good news is – the window’s open for mobile marketers – consumers are receptive to it and as of now, it’s a wide-open playing field.

“While some brands have succeeded in mobile innovation and branding, there’s still a lot of testing and learning to be done and there’s a huge opportunity for marketers to make their mark,” she said.

Low favorability ratings
While mobile ads can be significantly more effective than online ads at increasing brand awareness, message associate and purchase intent, the report from Millward Brown, New York, found that only 11 percent of smartphone users and 16 percent of tablet users are favorable toward mobile advertising.

While favorability rates are low for mobile advertising, they are significantly higher for other media, highlighting the fact that there is an opportunity for brands to win over consumers who are open to being advertised to. The favorability rate for magazines ads is 30 percent and for TV ads, 27 percent.

“Mobile is proven to be an effective medium to build brands,” Ms. McGoldrick said. “Marketers should take advantage of this unique platform but focus on getting it right.”

“It’s important to remember that a strong mobile strategy consists of several layers – mobile apps, Web sites and display should all work together but offer something unique,” she said. “Each should have a specific objective and all should be strictly targeted.”

Mobile opportunities
With mobile ad spending expected to grow significantly over the next few years and mobile penetration also expected to increase, other key findings also underscore the opportunity in mobile marketing. For example, 55 percent of users consider their device indispensable and 55 percent feel having a mobile device makes them more efficient.

Additionally, almost half of mobile users interact with a brand on their mobile device after receiving a recommendation from friends or family members while one-in-four mobile users are willing to give up privacy about their location to receive relevant content.

Other key findings include that one-third of mobile users report taking an action in response to mobile advertising and one-third say that receiving deals or promotions on mobile improves their opinion of the brand.

Getting it right
The report also provides a roadmap for marketers to drive brand growth through effective mobile marketing, with recommendations for how to win over audiences and build value for brands.

When it comes to mobile display ads, marketers need to offer a clear call-to-action as no other medium is more primed to engage a consumer on the spot. Marketers should also target ads based on the person, the moment and location as well as develop integrated campaigns that use display ads to drive traffic to an optimized Web site or app.

In terms of mobile Web sites, the report recommends marketers make their sites fast, clean and functional and be sure to not value entertainment over competence. Additionally, it is important to keep the latest news at the top of the site and tailor it to a user’s location. 

Mobile apps should be user friendly, crash-proof and free of charge. They should also be relevant to the core target and primary use without draining the battery. Once these elements are in place, apps should be designed to surprise and delight.

“When you think of having a mobile presence, you assume people want the wow factor, but based on this data and in-person interviews, it’s clear that it’s more about getting the essentials right first,” Ms. McGoldrick said.

“People want mobile Web sites and apps to be fast, functional and offer value,” she said. “Focus on that first, then aim to surprise and delight.”

     Many will wonder what the individual drivers for mobile shopping are.  Marci Troutman of SiteMinis Inc states that “Comparison shopping, checking inventory, coupons and values, social media postings and store locators are likely to be some of the most popular ways that consumers will use mobile during the holiday season.”  

     It should also be noted that in the same time that mobile usage is climbing, desktop pc usage for shopping is on the downfall.  The percentage of traffic from pc sites has dropped from just above 84% to just above 74%.  People simply want to be able to shop no matter where they are – not just the store or computer den.  

Davis Wood, Senior Account Manager, SiteMinis Inc

http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/commerce/14280.html

Mobile traffic jumps in advance of holiday season start

By Chantal Tode

November 26, 2012

Mobile traffic is already up significantly

The evidence is already accumulating that mobile will play a bigger role during the holidays this year, with retailers seeing significant increases in mobile traffic even before the holiday shopping season officially got underway.

ChannelAdvisor reports that mobile accounted for 25.8 percent of the traffic to retail sites driven by search between Nov. 1-15, up from just 12.6 percent during the same period a year ago. The increase in mobile traffic started even earlier for some retailers with CVS.com reporting that mobile Web visits increased 17 percent from September to October while CVS mobile app sessions increased 42 percent during the same period.

“Most retailers should anticipate on a conservative side a 10 percent increase in mobile traffic year-over-year, and on the high side over 20 percent just by being in the mobile space with their brand as mobile continues to grow and social media grows,” said Marci Troutman, CEO of SiteMinis, Atlanta.

“Comparison shopping, checking inventory, coupons and values, social media postings and store locators are likely to be some of the most popular ways that consumers will use mobile during the holiday season,” she said.

Being prepared 
The numbers reflect the growing penetration of smartphones as well as the fact that consumers are using their mobile devices for a growing array of shopping-related activities.

According to ChannelAdvisor, during the first half of November smartphones accounted for 13.8 percent of the traffic driven to retail sites while tablets accounted for 12 percent, up from 7.2 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively, last year.

In absolute numbers, mobile traffic is up 300 percent.

Traffic from PCs dropped to 74.2 percent from 87.4 percent during the same period a year ago.

The increase in mobile traffic means retailers need to be prepared with a strategy to insure that they continue to deliver a fast experience, even on the busiest shopping days during the holiday season. This may mean avoiding redirections as much as possible and reducing the number of separate domains on a page.

Dealing with fragmentation 
Retailers also need to insure that they deliver an optimal experience for as wide an array of devices as possible. This can be a challenge because of the significant fragmentation that exists in the mobile space.

One way for retailers to deal with this fragmentation is to test performance against a selection of devices that represent different versions of popular operating systems as well as varying screen resolutions and other features that may affect how their mobile experience is delivered.

The early numbers indicate that, whether retailers are prepared or not, mobile is going to play a significant role in the holiday shopping experience this year.

“Smart retailers and brands are using mobile to incorporate into their traditional marketing, in-store signing, heavier use of mobile banner ads with clearer calls-to-action on the banner landing page,” Ms. Troutman said. “Another way that they have done it well is by increasing the number of consumers that opt into their texting campaigns, join their social groups for updates, and join companies’ loyalty programs.

“There is more adaption of using mobile coupons at the point-of-sale register, making coupons much more portable and usable by the consumer in store,” she said. “Lastly, companies have gotten better at organizing mobile throughout their organization, as part of their basic consumer touch points.”