Mobile Design

Amazon.com is aiming to make holiday shopping easy for consumers with the introduction of #AmazonWishList, a hashtag that allows individuals to add products into their Amazon wish list directly from their Twitter accounts. With a significant m-commerce season predicted for the remainder of 2014, more brands and retailers are turning towards wish lists to allow shoppers to save favorite items and send reminders to purchase prior to the holidays. Amazon's partnership with Twitter is making wish list shopping even easier for consumers.

Three retailers have been named "geniuses," and it may not be who you expected (well, at least one of the companies). L2, a business benchmarking service, awarded Nordstrom, Macy's and Sears "genius status," the highest honor of a five-tiered ranking system in its recent Digital IQ Index: Department Stores. Macy's and Nordstrom have been ranked highly in the past, however, I have to admit, I was surprised to see ailing retailer Sears join them at the top of the list. Over the last few months, we've heard reports of Sears closing multiple storefronts as well as management issues. Just this past week it was reported that the company probably won't last past the 2016 fiscal year. So how did Sears earn the title of "genius"?

Despite the flood of online and mobile games in recent years, GameStop remains set on owning the brick-and-mortar gaming space. But the retailer is leveraging mobile commerce with tracking technology like beacons to better understand why shoppers still like the in-store experience and which products they're buying. Jason Allen, vice president of multichannel at GameStop, recently talked to Adweek about how those insights influence traditional media and why the retailer isn't worried about showrooming.

Learn to meet the needs of the always-connected shopper by evolving your marketing strategies, notably making mobile a top priority.

Wellness, beauty and pharmacy retailer CVS continues to drive operational efficiency and execution, as well as further investments in innovation to meet the changing needs of today's customers. With building block strategies in place, including enhancements in the customer experience, digital and mobile initiatives, the retailer plans a strong outlook for 2014 and beyond. The retailer has significantly invested in digital capabilities for a stronger integrated multichannel offering. Going forward, CVS will maintain continuous improvement with investments to improve cost structure and service to customers. 

This year will mark a major milestone for tablets and their influence on Internet retailers. We believe tablets will draw even with smartphones, and account for 50% of the total value of U.S. retail sales made over mobile devices.

Compuware Corporation, a technology performance company, today announced the top three mobile performance trends so far this holiday shopping season. This is based on its analysis of the mobile performance of top U.S. retailers between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. These trends reveal the critical importance of mobile performance during the holiday shopping season and the impact it can have on a business. 

U.S. shoppers made Cyber Monday the biggest online shopping day in history with a 20.6 percent increase in online sales, according to the latest cloud-based analytics findings from IBM. Mobile sales led the way, exceeding 17 percent of total online sales, an increase of 55.4 percent year-over-year. Cyber Monday also capped the highest five-day online sales period on record — from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday — which grew 16.5 percent over the same period in 2012. 

With the employee turnover rate typically high in the retail industry, particularly within brick-and-mortar stores, managing the process of finding and hiring qualified individuals is a challenge for many brands. It often proves time consuming and can be expensive. Such was the dilemma facing VILLA.

With the holidays just around the corner, online retailers must be well-equipped to support and engage the abundance of holiday shoppers. Along with a projected increase in online sales from last year, retailers need to be prepared for an increase in mobile shoppers who are ready to begin their holiday bargain hunting. With this in mind, I've compiled a few tips for companies looking to create a winning mobile engagement strategy this holiday season.