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Last updated: Thursday, November 26, 2009

U.S. consumers are shopping via cell phone more than ever before. According to Deloitte’s 24th Annual Holiday Survey of retail spending and trends, published in October 2009, one in five shoppers plan on using a mobile phone to assist with holiday purchases, from researching prices and other product information to actually buying presents. Along with mass-market types like Target and Wal-Mart Stores, specialty retailers such as Tommy Hilfiger have developed mobile shopping apps just in time for the holiday season. Retails Systems Research managing partner Paula Rosenblum, whose expertise is in technology as its applied to retail, explains why the new shopping channel is here to stay. Six months ago, it felt like shopping via phone was a far-flung idea, at least here in the U.S. What changed? For one thing, retailers are more excited about the opportunity. Smartphones are getting smarter, and applications are getting easier to use. Today, you not only have the iPhone, but the Pre, myTouch, and the Droid. I think it goes back to being time-starved. If you’re out and about and you have five minutes of idle time and remember that you forgot to buy that water filter or whatever, why not order it in 60 seconds via Amazon? Why are these applications suddenly so much easier to use? Developers are making them more Web-friendly. That’s no mean trick because each phone has a different set-up. You create different applications for each phone. How can retailers take advantage of yet another point-of-sale? The good ones will start distributing coupons via their apps. They’ve got this pool of money that used to be dedicated to mass marketing. They should be using it to engage the consumer in new ways. What kind of retailers will this platform really work well for? For something like eBay, it’s a natural. You can now follow auctions no…

Read more from the original source:
Mobile Shopping’s First Christmas

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