Retail Marketing - Shopping Center Marketing

Hate trying to find that parking spot and finding the correct amount of change for the meter? Well, there is hope. San Francisco-based Streeline has developed new technology that allows commuters to use their mobile phones to find a parking spot as well as pay for it.

I came across this great augmented reality experience today during my web travels. It is called Fashionista. Basically, it lets users try on their clothing without leaving the front of their computer. It is a tremendous way to engage users on a web site. Check out a preview below:

With the emergence of Apple’s iPad, Amazon has taken another look at their pricing structure for their own device, the Kindle. Amazon was paying $12 to $13 per digital book and selling it at the $9.99 price point. They were obviously looking to capture most of the e-book device market share but we could not [...]

The McDonalds/Starbucks coffee war has taken another step forward. McDonalds has announced that they will soon be offering free Wi-Fi access at most of their U.S. locations. Many are seeing this as a direct challenge to Starbucks, who currently offers paid Wi-Fi access at most locations.
Read more at MSNBC.com »

Social media is making a large impact this holiday shopping season. According to a recent comScore poll, 28% of online shoppers said that social media, like Twitter and Facebook, influenced their purchases.
Social media really appears to be emerging as an important marketing channel this holiday season. Its emergence is being driven by increased consumer adoption [...]

Well, Black Friday may just be recession proof. Overall spending during this year’s Black Friday is up just slightly at 0.5%. The biggest gainers seem to be online retailers who saw a rise of 35% per order of last year (average purchase in 2008 was $126.04 while in 2009 it was $170.19).
Read more about Black Friday on [...]

With online security and fraud prevention becoming hot topics, mandatory PCI compliance for online transactions is coming soon. If you are not 100% sure what I mean by PCI compliance I came across a great interview with an online shopping cart vendor.
Yeah, it is. It’s a very confusing topic. As vendors we need to make [...]

Here’s a great little article for a blast from the past, Chart of the Week: Online Holiday Shopping 1999-2009. It details that back in 1999, the dial-up internet age, about 0.64% of all holiday retail sales were made online. Now, analysts are predicting that this year it will be up at 3.7% (or up 8% from [...]

Ever want to shop your favourite city streets without having deal with traffic? Well, you could always move to London. On December 5, in London’s West End, Oxford Street and Regent Street will be closed to all traffic to make room for Christmas shoppers. Last year’s event, which ran for a whole weekend, allowed retailers [...]

Here’s a great video of brand integration done right. Ford used the Tonight Show to showcase the 2010 Taurus SHO. But here’s the catch, they didn’t just buy advertising space, they thought outside the box and used a segment of the show to create a great advertising experience. Read more at BNET.
Be sure to post links [...]