Sephora has just added the latest part of its mobile marketing strategy by introducing a social media marketing element that could make it quite the powerful means of boosting the effectiveness of its loyalty program. The initiative has been labeled Beauty Board. It is a social media marketing element within the iPhone app for the retailer. This allows the mobile application to leverage mobile marketing through photo sharing in order to be able to allow loyalty program members to connect with each other. This initiative is meant to be an expansion of the My Beauty Bag effort that was rolled …

Groupon had once been one of the fastest growing companies in the world, but this growth has slowed to a crawl over the past two years. The company had once boasted of $2 billion in annual revenue, but recent problems have caused a significant change in leadership and Groupon's business plan. In order to become more engaging to a new generation of consumers, Groupon has set its sights on the mobile sector. While Groupon had been working to establish a mobile presence in the past, it is now looking to become a dominant force in mobile commerce. Adopting a stronger …

Imagine all the people sitting at their computers buying stuff. Amazon purchases of garbage bags and Canon 5Ds, felted animals on Etsy, Ikea rugs, trampolines from Walmart.com, diapers from Diapers.com, stamps from Stamps.com, etc. That's e-commerce, and it was a roughly $638 billion business last year. M-commerce is different: It's the stuff you buy on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. And we all know it is growing fast. Walmart's head of digital innovation told me that, last year, more than 50 percent of the visits to their website were coming on mobile devices. Last night, newly minted investor Om …

A Moosejaw executive at eTail West 2014 said that since rolling out mobile point-of-sale 18 months ago, the outdoor gear retailer is now seeing mobile hit 40 percent of the company's revenue. Executives from Moosejaw, Shoe Carnival, Destination XL Group and RetailMeNot spoke about mobile's role in the in-store experience during the "The Integration of Digital and In-Store to Create Effective Omnichannel Experiences" panel. Moosejaw has 11 bricks-and-mortar locations as well as online and mobile sites, and the company uses mobile to integrate these two experiences together across all mediums. "We rolled out mobile in-store about 18 months ago, and …

Carrefour is among the 240 worldwide brands adopting the new PowaTag app from Powa Technologies for mobile commerce and Bluetooth geolocation.The technology at the heart of the PowaTag concept is claimed to turn impulse into purchase, allowing consumers to walk up to an item, billboard, screen advert or retail display and purchase the promoted product with a touch of their smartphone screen. But the technology isn't limited to visual media, it also works by utilising the visual, audio and other sensors now shipped as standard on smartphones so users can also buy straight from television and radio adverts, or PA …

Isis, the mobile commerce joint venture created by AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA, Inc. and Verizon Wireless, today announced an exclusive offer for American Express Card Members: now through June 1, 2014, American Express Card Members who tap to pay with a registered Card for a ride in a qualifying NYC Yellow Medallion Taxicab can get 50% back in statement credits.* The promotion is available to American Express' U.S. Consumer, OPEN Small Business and Serve Card Members with a registered Card in the Isis Mobile Wallet. The promotion is good for up to $100 in statement credits per eligible Card and …

MasterCard is preparing to increase its mobile commerce efforts in the United Arab Emirates. The country has become a very prominent mobile market, with smartphone penetration rising rapidly. As mobile devices begin to play a more significant role in the lives of consumers throughout the country, they are looking for services that allow them to shop online directly from these devices. MasterCard is set to launch a new mobile wallet that may be able to accommodate the needs of mobile-centric consumers. Mobile wallets are becoming very popular platforms for those that regularly participate in mobile commerce. These platforms are, typically, …

The speed with which mobile payments services are growing and are becoming accepted have now made it clear to most large banks that if they want to be able to remain relevant into the future, they will need to be able to offer their customers the ability to pay for goods and services through the use of smartphones. Even retailers are starting to come up with their own opportunities to hop onto the mobile payments bandwagon and are coming up with their own unique strategies. As the shift toward smartphones as a platform continues, a growing number of companies from …

Although panelists at eTail West 2014 remained split on the investments and benefits needed to pour into responsive design, some brands such as Travelocity are seeing success with the Web development technique in moving mobile transactions from iOS to Android for the first time. Responsive design was a recurring topic in several sessions yesterday, but executives from Vistaprint, Travelocity and Motorcycle Superstore dived into the issue during the "Is Responsive The Wave of The Future?" session. Travelocity originally began rolling out a responsive strategy last year as a way to deal with the more than 1,500 different screen sizes that …

Mobile is a key part of the feature set and marketing behind the new American Express EveryDay Credit Card, which is targeted at on-the-go moms who depend on their smartphones to help manage their busy lifestyles. The new card is integrated with the Amex mobile application, enabling EveryDay members to view how far along they are towards making 20 purchases in a month, which is when additional bonus points kick in. Users can also receive notifications about when they can apply rewards and redeem points via their mobile phone.