Shopping Center Marketing Online Innovation, Part 2

Posted by David Allred

Ecommerce sales were up 5% on Cyber Monday—the first Monday after Thanksgiving—compared with sales on Cyber Monday last year. Savvy shoppers are turning more often to technology in a weak economy for deals and to find the lowest prices on hot items.

Online retailers innovate by using new technology to connect with shoppers and market special offers over the holidays, including Twitter feeds and online coupons passed through social networks.

Mobile apps are also emerging as an important shopping tool. Among mobile users surveyed, 18.5 percent said they used their devices to search the Internet for local products or services (up from 15.6 percent in 2008) according to Clickz. “There are apps that will turn your camera into a barcode scanner,” said Rick Broida of Cheapskate blog on CNET.

ShopSavvy, the comparison-shopping app for the iPhone and Android phones did well on Black Friday Weekend, as more than 1 million users scanned at least one product with the app’s bar code scanner over the three-day shopping weekend. Using the bar code information, ShopSavvy searches the Web for the best prices on the product, displaying the lowest prices online as well as at nearby brick-and-mortar retailers. According to Apple, ShopSavvy is now the most popular barcode scanning application in the iTunes App Store, reports PRMac.

Shopping centers should consider customized iPhone apps, Twitter feeds and text messaging campaigns to reach shoppers real-time in this competitive market before they buy somewhere else. Using social media and mobile technology to reach customers can help to create brand loyalty and increase sales

Shopping Center Online Innovation, Part 1

Check back tomorrow for part 3 in the series.