A Very Mobile Holiday Season

Nov 18

A Very Mobile Holiday Season

by Molli Sullivan
Category: Digital Influence

Tis the season of marathon shopping sessions, and even longer mall lines. A trip to the mall can also mean sore feet, less time for family and unappetizing food court offerings. However, with the exponential growth of the smartphone market, brands are creatively leveraging devices to beef up their digital holiday offerings. Translation: holiday gift buying just got more fun, and in some instances, you can skip the mall altogether!

For example, the ultra hip WIRED Store is back this year in New York City’s Times Square - this time, with a a mobile shopping makeover. Aurasma, a tech savvy shopper’s best friend, allows consumers to point, click and purchase some of this year’s hottest tech products, as well as unlock exclusive content on the season’s must-have items, via augmented reality. Aurasma gives WIRED store visitors all the benefits of holiday shopping without the hassle of long lines or heavy shopping bags. Those wishing to purchase the item, simply launch the app, click “Add to Cart” and the product is instantly deposited into the WIRED virtual cart for checkout. **

Another interesting holiday mobile implementation comes from JC Penny’s “Who’s Your Santa” campaign. This year, when JC Penny shoppers make a purchase, they will receive a “Santa Tag” which comes with a customizable QR code. Consumers can scan the code and instantly create a voice message for the recipient to listen to when they open the gift. While you might end up having to visit the mall to make use of this campaign, at least you’ll be adding a tech-forward, fun, personal touch.

Smartphones are the ubiquitous item everyone carries with them and uses to access content multiple times throughout the day. It is refreshing to see brands tapping into our daily mobile behavior and offering us an enhanced shopping experience. What do you think, is the mobile phone turning into a shopper’s best friend?

**Disclosure: Aurasma is an Ogilvy client.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 18th, 2011 at 1:07 pm and is filed under Digital Influence. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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2 Responses to “A Very Mobile Holiday Season”

Jamie Johansen Says:
November 18th, 2011 at 4:52 pm
I love my smartphone. I can’t go anywhere without it. I love shopping. Put them both together and its a win win situation. I believe JC Penny is on the cutting edge of technology with this new marketing tool. QR codes are a hit right now and you see them everywhere you turn. I feel the need to get everyone on my gift list something from JC Penny’s just so I can use the “Who’s Your Santa” tags. What will they come up with next?
Clay Goetz Says:
November 20th, 2011 at 9:53 pm
I love that JC Penny built so much into their mobile site. From picking up holiday messages, to sending thank you’s - it’s all available on a mobile-optimized site without the need to download auxiliary applications or be redirected. (Additionally, the QR code in the video posted is fully functional, for those wanting a sneak peek!)

Starbucks is experimenting with an in-store augmented reality experience this holiday season. Multiple holiday items, from cups to bags of grounds, activate an AR scene on a customer’s mobile phone. (Video here: http://mashable.com/2011/11/08/starbucks-ar-app/)

According to an InMobi survey, “60 million mobile users will shop on Black Friday using their smartphones and 21 million intend to purchase goods directly from their mobile devices. That number is even higher with the more tech-focused Cyber Monday shoppers — the survey found 42 percent of shoppers plan to use their mobile devices to shop for gadgets and electronics.” The same article that published these findings states that Walmart is rolling out a mobile/tablet app for customers to track their local store’s inventory.

Additionally, the familiar bell ringers at the Salvation Army will be stepping into the digital age, equipping their volunteers with Square for easy, secure donations for those who don’t tend to carry cash.

All in all, I love that this article presents some excellent cases of stores and brands tapping into our digital habits, and pulling off spectacular things with them!