Gap use real reindeer in Christmas promotion

There’s no Donner, no Blitzen and no Rudolph in Gap’s latest social media promotion, but there’s plenty of offers.

The clothing retailer, working with digital agency AKQA, has unleashed an admittedly odd campaign that tracks eight real reindeer (not the flying kind) in a pasture in Lake Crystal, Minn.

The reindeer, which are equipped with GPS, compete in various “contests” including tests for who moves the farthest, fastest, slowest or closest to the North Pole on a particular day. Each one is connected to a different deal. Emma, for instance, will get you 40% off your whole purchase. Chloe will get you all accessories in store for $5 each.

Fans are encouraged to give their preferred reindeer a boost with supported tweets.

JCPenney Sets Up Shop on Facebook

JCPenney has set up shop on Facebook, allowing consumers to buy the company’s clothes and tell their friends about it.

The retailer worked with Usablenet on the site, which also lets users “like,” share and review products.

JCPenney currently has 1.3 million fans on Facebook. The company moved closer to Facebook integration in October when it began running Facebook “like” buttons in its banner ads.

JCPenney’s not the first retailer to sell its wares on the world’s largest social networking site. 1-800-Flowers started offering Facebook-based transactions last year and in August, Delta Airlines began letting users book tickets from its Page. Procter & Gamble also runs an e-commerce site on the network.

Check out the site:
http://www.facebook.com/jcpenney?v=app_174296685928910#!/jcpenney?v=app_174296685928910

Todd Wasserman for Mashable

Visa's Local Deals on the iPhone

Visa has announced that its official iPhone application is available for free in the iTunes App Store. It’s completely in step with other popular consumer apps, as it’s heavy on deals and location-based technology.

Each user automatically receives customized offers, which are stored in the app and can be redeemed online or in brick-and-mortar stores. The app gives its users a handy map and directions for locating retail outlets where they can redeem their offers, and it will also help Visa cardholders find nearby ATMs.

At launch, Visa is working with about 50 hand-picked retailers to bring special deals to Visa account holders via the Visa iPhone app. Participating merchants currently include 24 Hour Fitness, Meineke, New York & Company, Holiday Inn, Hard Rock Café and Zales.

As far as customization goes, users will be able to select from a handful of categories to tailor the offers they get; verticals include purchases such as clothing, jewelry, travel, dining, entertainment and other retail goods.

And account holders with Visa Signature cards will get extra special offers in addition to the offers available to all Visa account holders.

While we were expecting something a bit less trendy and a bit more techie from the credit card company — something like what Visa did for New York City subway riders, perhaps — Visa’s first official iPhone app is a decent starting point.

Jolie O'Dell for Mashable

144 days of Christmas

by Helen Cowley

Is it me or does Christmas descend upon us earlier every year? By mid October, I’d seen Santa Claus fighting for shelf space with the grim reaper, hampers disguising themselves as cauldrons and fairy floss being attacked by fairy lights. By the time Halloween actually came around, kitsch glittery trees were already adorning the stores and shopping centers.

In the UK, Selfridges opened their Christmas shop on August 2nd, the earliest ever in their history. In mid-summer (well, if you can call it that, you know, those 2 hours of sunshine that hit in early August?), they were selling everything from pine trees, crackers, paint-your-own baubles and jingle bells to a £500 life-size donkey. Naturally, no home would be complete without one!

And here, Telstra launched its 55 days of Christmas campaign online on November 1st offering customers a free (and somewhat random) gift each day by opening a window on the calendar - at the same time cross-promoting one of their products.
So are people really in the mindset to be planning Christmas so early? Well the truth is no, but ‘Christmas theatre’ does a great job of injecting much needed retail experience into stores a lot earlier, whether we like our ghouls and gold in the manger or not.


This year more than ever, that theatre will be paramount to pull people in off the streets and away from ‘the global store’. As the Aussie dollar flutters around parity with the US dollar, more and more purchases are being made online. In fact johnlewis.co.uk took more money online last year (£327M) than its largest flagship store on Oxford Street London (£320M). Now, with David Jones offering e-commerce in time for Christmas, it will be interesting to see how the impact of the Internet affects their revenue split post January.

It’s not hard to see why online Christmas shopping is becoming so popular, not only are people becoming excessively time poor but many retailers are also offering incredibly attractive shipping deals. In fact, it was the 2 words ‘FREE SHIPPING” that helped save Christmas in the US last year.

I read an article recently stating that for every US cent increase in the Aussie dollar, there is roughly an additional one percent volume paid through Paypal. Which means that Australian retailers will be fighting harder than ever this year for a share of the Christmas pudding.

And of course all of this is great for consumers. Suddenly the array of gift ideas for her has flourished into a world of Victoria’s Secrets undies, Louboutin heels and Beckham bags. Better still, we’re able to expand our casual repertoire of socks and jocks for dad into Abercrombie and Fitch t-shirts, FCUK pants and Best Buy gadgets. Even if he doesn’t appreciate any of it, at least you’ll be paying a fraction of the price you might pay for brands on our own shores.

Undoubtedly this is going to have a huge impact on Australian retail. With both Westfield and the high street stores enticing us into buying our Christmas gifts from them, it’s going to take more than plastic trees and Cliff Richard’s rendition of ‘Ding Dong Merrily On High’ to make us part with our hard earned cash. In fact, this year more than ever, stores are really going to have to step it up a notch and provide more excitement, more innovative displays and better deals.

I guess that kind of thing happening at any time of the year is a good thing, so perhaps I’ll just have to accept that bats, cats and witches’ hats are going to be forming part of the nativity scene from hereon in.

FaceBook Deals takes over Times Square

American Eagle Outfitters became the first retailer to make use of Facebook's Places on such a grand scale. This Thanksgiving weekend they took over Times Square to show off their special Facebook Deals. From now until December 14th AEO are offering $10 off AE Jeans by checking into any American Eagle store on Facebook Places!

A number of other retailers also jumped on the bandwagon for the festive period with smaller deals including:

Southwest Airlines donating $1 per check in towards air travel to the Make-a-Wish Foundation when you check in on Facebook Places.

The Hard Rock Café are donating $1 to WhyHunger to fight childhood hunger and poverty worldwide.

JC Penney are offering $10.00 off $50.00 purchases towards an assortment of merchandise and services when you Check in.

H&M are offering the first 2000 check-ins 20% off any item of choice.

Starbucks are donating $1.00 per check-in to Conservation International to help protect 5,000 acres of forest.

24 Hour Fitness are donating $1.00 to KaBOOM! for every person who checks in using Facebook Places.

The North Face are donate $1.00 to the National Park Foundation for every individual who checks-in at one of America's nearly 400 national parks or visits a The North Face retail location.

REI are supporting local conservation efforts, each time you check in at an REI store, REI will donate $1 to a local nonprofit.

The Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas are offering to extend your stay for one extra night at no cost when you check-in. If you can't stay the extra night, receive a room upgrade.

TAO and LAVO, Las Vegas are offering complimentary admission for you and one guest on your next visit.

Harrah's are ffering a number of Deals at its various properties for people who check in at each location including:

• Bally's: buy one Jubilee! ticket and get one free.
• Paris Las Vegas: buy one Eiffel Tower Ride pass and get one free.
• Rio: get free admission to the VooDoo Lounge.
• The Flamingo Las Vegas: buy one Paradise Garden Buffet and get one free.
• O'Sheas Las Vegas: buy one drink at the Dublin Up Bar and get one free.
• Harrah's Las Vegas: buy one Flavors Buffet and get one free.
• The Imperial Palace: buy one Emperor's Buffet and get one free.
• Caesars Palace: buy one Lago Buffet and get one free.
• Planet Hollywood: buy one Spice Market Buffet and get one free.

What's interesting is that many of these retailers are opting to donate to charities with their offer. This notion of giving, especially at this time of year is very poignant to their brand values and one that customers connect with in an ongoing relationship rather than simply, have 10% off your next purchase.

It's only a matter of time until Facebook Deals starts up in Australia and then we can have some fun...

In store Multi-Media mirrors

Fashion retailer White Stuff has become the first in the world to install multimedia mirrors into its changing rooms to allow customers to shop virtually with their friends, bringing together social networking, web and m-commerce in a way that can have a direct impact on consumers’ buying decisions.

Shoppers using the Edinburgh store’s changing rooms will pose in front of the mirror, which then takes a high quality photo of them in their potential purchases. They then have the option to post pictures directly to Facebook or email them to friends. And after the introduction of Facebook Places earlier this year, there may also be an opportunity to share location information.

Magic Mirror claims that for every mirror installed more than 4,000 Facebook users will be exposed to the brand, and the products, each day.

There is also an optional feature of barcode scanning when the mirror is linked to an EPoS or ecommerce system.

Joanne Ellul - Retail Week

Beauty Spa's - The must-have accessory for department stores

It seems that to have a beauty spa in your department store is quite the fashion accessory du jour.

John Lewis in the UK have recently cashed in on the same trend that has been taking over department stores worldwide for the last 2 years.

Following in the footsteps of JC Penny in the states, Nordstrom's 'Spa Nordstrom', Harvey Nichols 'Beyond MediSpa' and KaDeWe's 'Nail and Foot Spa' in Berlin, John Lewis is set to open a series of beauty spas and hairdressers to its larger stores from next year seeking to create more retail theatre for its customers.







Retail Expertise managing director Michael Poynor said: “Improving in-store experience is essential for a department store. It has got to be a good experience, otherwise you’re just going to sit at home on your laptop.”

Never have truer words been spoken. In an age where everything from washing machines to hairclips is available online and delivered for FREE, retailers are having to find more interesting ways to engage customers to shop their bricks-and-morter stores.

Verdict analyst Maureen Hinton said: “Retailers are increasingly looking to add value to the store experience - not only to create difference from online, it helps drive footfall and keeps customers in the stores for longer.”

In fact it won't be long before a trip to the mall will soon be as visual and sensory as a trip to Disney World!

Still if it means I can get a cheap pedi, a fancy new hair do, a free skin diagnosis and interact with a coupon wall, I might just draw myself away from Firefox!

Black Friday Sales Figures Soar for Online Retailers

Initial numbers for Black Friday sales are in, and things are looking pretty rosy for Internet retailers.

Americans typically think of Black Friday as the biggest day of the year for brick-and-mortar stores, but another segment of the retail industry is seeing phenomenal year-over-year growth, even as the recession lingers on.

Online retailers saw an overall 15.9% sales growth between Black Friday 2009 and Black Friday 2010. The price of the average order also rose 12.1% from around $170 per order to $190.80.

This data, which comes from Coremetrics, also shows that consumers, though they’re spending more online, are spending smarter. When we make a purchase, we’re viewing fewer items per site, looking at fewer pages and doing fewer on-site searches, suggesting that we’ve done our research ahead of time and know what we want when we decide to make a purchase.

With that in mind, it’s likely that a greater online spend might translate to a lower overall spend this holiday season, as bargain hunters glean the best deals from the web and forgo traditional, in-store shopping.

Retailers are also seeing more mobile shoppers logging in from their phones. Around 5.6% of Black Friday 2010 traffic came from mobile devices — a 26.7 year-over-year increase.

These results don’t surprise us much. Online shopping has long been on the rise; in fact, in a poll we’re running right now, the majority of respondents are already saying they’ll do all or most of their holiday shopping online.

Jolie O'Dell for Mashable

Yelp's Check-in Offers

Foursquare may have pioneered the idea of rewards and specials associated with checkins, but everyone from Facebook to SCVNGR has followed suit. Today, Yelp joins the fray, giving business owners the ability to add “Check-in Offers” to their venues.

With Yelp Check-in Offers, business owners can incentivize repeat checkins and reward patrons with three different offer types: percent off, free or fixed price offers.

Businesses are able to offer one check-in special at a time, and patrons can redeem earned rewards by presenting a special mobile certificate showing they’ve unlocked a particular offer.

Yelpbusiness owners can navigate to the “Offers” portion of their business dashboard to specify offer type and checkin terms — a 25% off discount for three checkins, for instance. Patrons can work to achieve an offer with each venue checkin via the just updated Yelp iPhone (awaiting approval) and Android apps. After redemption, users can start earning the offer again. The approach is not dissimilar to SCVNGR’s system for unlocking rewards.

Offers are certainly nothing new in today’s location-based mobile app landscape, but Eric Singley, Yelp’s director of mobile and consumer products, believes the company has a unique opportunity to marry the venue search intentions of application users with offers that influence behavior.

“Thirty percent of all Yelp search traffic is happening on our mobile apps, which means people are using the Yelp apps to search for businesses around them … [the apps] are an opportunity for businesses to get in front of users, and checkin offers can help influence their decisions,” he says.

For the full story visit: http://mashable.com/2010/11/23/yelp-checkin-offers/

eBay's new barcode scanning iPhone App

eBay has released version 2.0 of its primary Phone app, eBay Mobile, the company announced Monday.

Version 2.0 [iTunes link], which appeared in the App Store Friday, allows users to buy and sell on eBay’s flagship auction site, as well as scan product barcodes for comparison shopping. Previously, the latter two capabilities were available only in independent apps, eBay selling [iTunes link] and RedLaser [iTunes link], the latter of which was acquired in June.



Now users can do everything on their iPhones that they could previously do on eBay.com — and then some. The integration of RedLaser’s barcode scanning technology is particularly useful, allowing users to quickly compare eBay’s prices to retail, and to pre-populate information about the items they’re selling.

New iPhone App locates products in store aisles.

aisle411 is today launching its iPhone application for locating products in specific aisles and sections at retails stores. The application works at more than 600 stores in the U.S. and is meant to serve as a faster, more convenient way for shoppers to search and find items at stores.

Application users can type in product search queries or use the voice recognition technology, powered by Nuance, to search at participating stores. For each supported store, aisle411 also includes a comprehensive store map and store info, and UPC barcode scanning to pull up user-generated product reviews.

Generic product searches — double sided tape, for instance — will return search results that specify available types and brands. App users can then glance the section and aisle number for each result, select to map a product for navigational assistance or choose to add it to a shopping list.

Participating stores may also opt to include coupons and offers. The application surfaces Coupons.com offers available at stores, and highlights them in the offers portion of the app.

The service even includes a now ubiquitous checkin feature, so users can check in to stores, share their location with friends via Twitter and Facebook and earn badges and titles for their behaviors — think becoming the “Captain” of a particular store. These features seem a bit tired and unnecessary; if there’s a voice search or barcode scan, then there should be sufficient information for the service to automatically recognize that you’re at a particular venue.



aisle411 currently works at locations such as Home Depot, Schnucks Market drug stores and at Shop’n Save’s grocery chain. Obviously, the application is limited by the fact that its application only works at participating retailers.

For full story visit: http://mashable.com/2010/11/22/aisle411/

Coke's mall rewards

Coca-Cola is kicking off a nationwide location-based rewards initiative targeted at young teens with SCVNGR as its platform of choice. The soda maker has seeded Simon Malls across the U.S. with challenges that players can complete to earn special Coke rewards.

The campaign is called Coke Secret Formula and is set to go live at 10 malls beginning November 26 — otherwise known to holiday shoppers as Black Friday. The idea is to encourage application users to look for hidden shopping experiences in the form of Coke challenges and unlock rewards in the process.

SCVNGR players who complete the Coke mall challenges can accumulate enough points to redeem instant rewards including American Express gift cards and Coke-branded merchandise. In total, Coke will be giving away $100,000 in gift card rewards. The challenges are typical SCVNGR fare — checkins and photos — themed to fit the Coke Secret Formula purpose.

For full story visit: http://mashable.com/2010/11/19/scvngr-coke-rewards/

Borders innovation

As of today, shoppers will be able to use Google’s Local Availability feature to locate books and other products at their local Borders, as well as look up how many items are in stock, prices and store directions — a feature no other book retailer offers yet.

Borders has also announced a partnership with Meetup to promote its book signings and other store events.

The announcements follow several other recent updates to the book retailer’s digital strategy, including a new version of its website that features, most notably, customer reviews on each product page.

The company also recently unveiled its version of Amazon Prime by offering free two-day shipping and returns on all online orders for an annual price of $79. Free, 30-day trials are available at borders.com/shoprunner.

While the new developments aren’t “game-changing” by any means, they do make the brick-and-mortar bookseller slightly more competitive with its chief rivals, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Foursquare collaboration witht Grocery Store Loyalty Program

Safeway and PepsiCo are teaming up with Foursquare to reinvent the way grocery store shoppers think about location-based rewards and checkins. As part of the deal, Safeway has integrated Foursquare into its VonsClub loyalty program for a three-month pilot program that kicks off today.

The crux of the program is that VonsClub members can now link their Foursquare (foursquare) accounts to unlock PepsiCo rewards every time they shop.

Shoppers who link their accounts will earn instant Foursquare rewards on PepsiCo products — in the form of coupons printed at the register — at the time of sale. Rewards are also personalized to the user and tied to the types of badges a Foursquare user has already unlocked.

The program is being tested at roughly 300 Vons grocery stores in southern California, as first reported by Fast Company.

Foursquare and VonsClub members can optionally select to have the system automatically check them in at the time of purchase, via VonsClub card swipe, and send out a shout on Foursquare when they unlock a reward.



The whole program is deeply integrated into Safeway’s point-of-sale system and existing loyalty program. It’s modeled around Tasti D-Lite’s avant garde loyalty program introduced earlier this year, we hear.

For Foursquare, this partnership is not about the kind of deals you can find from competing services such as Facebook Places, but instead is focused around actual customer loyalty.

for full story go to: http://mashable.com/2010/11/19/foursquare-pepsi-safeway/

Buying through Paypal on your remote control...

Paypal is working on a television commerce (T-commerce) solution that will let consumers buy goods they see on Internet-connected TVs via their remote controls.

The new PayPal project was revealed in a blog post by Osama Bedler, the company’s VP of platform for mobile and new ventures.

“Today, I’m happy to say we’re one step closer to equipping every living room in America with T-commerce powered by PayPal,” writes Bedler. “Imagine this: lounging on your couch and channel surfing, then finding that perfect birthday present. A few clicks of your remote, and you’ve purchased the gift via your PayPal account.”

Essentially, PayPal hopes to transform its payment platform into a digital wallet, accessible anywhere there’s Internet (Internet) connectivity. To this end, the company has already announced Mobile Express Checkout, a mobile payment solution currently being used by Starbucks.

PayPal has teamed up with Canoe Ventures, Catalina Marketing, Delivery Agent, FouthWall Media and icueTV on its T-commerce initiative. No specific timing has been announced.

by Jennifer Van Grove for Mashable

Google launches it's online 'shopping mall'

With Youtube getting on the shopping band wagon and Facebook launching 'deals' it was only a matter of time before Google also took part in the conversation.

On Wednesday, Google launched Boutiques.com, it's very own online shopping centre. The website is designed to give users a personalised shopping experience allowing you to browse through designers, follow them and be followed. It includes bloggers recommendation pages, celebrity style pages and popular trend pages. Perfect for those who need inspiration to build their wardrobe.

Googles Product Management Director, Munjal Shah wrote:

"It lets you find and discover fashion goods by creating your own curated boutique or through a collection of boutiques curated by taste-makers -- celebrities, stylists, designers and fashion bloggers. These days, bloggers, stylists and everyday fashionistas are expressing their sense of style online. We invited them to create boutiques so people could shop their diverse styles. But you have a unique and independent style too, so Boutiques also lets you build your own personalized boutique and get recommendations of products that match your taste."

The site is set up to let users filter their searches by size, silhouette, patterns and colors. Google also is offering what it's calling "inspirational photos." If a user searches for brown boots, photos will pop up on the right showing brown boots with matching outfits.

However, Boutiques.com is currently only available in the U.S. and only for women's fashion. Google has said that it intends to expand but has yet to state when.

Apple Declared “Marketer of the Decade”

Ad Age has unveiled its very first Marketer of the Decade award recipient: Apple. Although the famous fruit has only won Marketer of the Year once in the past decade (but has been a contender or runner-up nearly every year), the Ad Age staff decided to pull the company out of the running for the 2010 Market of the Year Award and just give it the crown for the whole decade.

As Ad Age notes, the aughts were a pretty magical decade for Apple, starting with the launch of the iPod in October 2001, segueing into the iPhone (iPhone) in 2007 and ending the decade with the successful launch of the iPad.

For all the criticism — deserved and not — that Apple as a company gets, it would be hard to argue that marketing is an area it lacks. We can count at least three iconic ad campaigns from the past 10 years:

* iPod silhouette print and television ads (circa 2004)
* “Get a Mac” campaign with John Hodgeman and Justin Long (circa 2006)
* “There’s an app for that” (circa 2008)

And that’s without even mentioning the 2002 “Switch” campaign featuring proto-meme Ellen Feiss.

Lee Clow

Apple’s longtime advertising agency, TBWA has been a crucial part of Apple’s advertising success. An intrinsic part of TBWA is Lee Clow. Clow, the chairman and global director of TBWA\Worldwide and the former Chief Creative Officer at TBWA\Media Arts Lab — a division created first and foremost to serve Apple — is the man behind the iconic “1984″ Macintosh ad, the “Think Different” campaign and the “Get a Mac” ads.

In a recent interview with MAD (Media Arts and Disruption), Clow discusses some of the core elements of Apple’s marketing strategy.

“There isn’t a single thing Apple does that isn’t a message that confirms or reinforces how you feel about the company. I often tell people that the best ad we ever did was the Apple Store (Apple Store). We do great TV commercials, we do wonderful billboards, but you walk into an Apple store and you’re now immersed in a brand that’s going to change your life.”

He continues:

“The reality of the new media world is that if your brand does not have a belief, if it does not have a soul and does not correctly architect its messages everywhere it touches consumers, it can become irrelevant. It can be ignored, or even become a focal point for online contempt.”

Frankly, we cannot think of any company that has a more meticulous vision for its branding strategy than Apple. It’s also hard to argue that this strategy hasn’t been overwhelmingly successful.

Apple surpassed Microsoft in market valuation back in May and crossed the $300 a share mark last week. The company will release its fall quarterly earnings report later this afternoon.

As a company, Apple is certainly more than just branding and marketing, but the branding and marketing reinforces, as Clow states, every other aspect of the company.

Christina Warren for Mashable

Target used hash promotions in it's Christmas advertising

A week and a half before retail’s biggest day of the year, Target has bought the Twitter hashtag #BlackFriday.

The retail giant is using this promoted trend as a way to publicize a daily gift card sweepstakes between now and Saturday, November 27. This Wildfire-powered giveaway has users tweeting about the sweepstakes — tweets that, of course, include the #BlackFriday hashtag. Publicity that publicizes itself is so meta.

Target’s link from Twitter sends users to a promotional page focused on its two-day Black Friday sale. Target is also giving web shoppers special daily deals from this page.

While the hashtag, like any, carries its share of spam, a large number of real users are weighing in on Black Friday shopping plans (or working woes, for those who labor in retail). Target’s ad is a timely and appropriate entry into the ongoing conversation; at the same time, it amplifies the conversation as users jump on the trending topic bandwagon to discuss Black Friday and their holiday wishlists.

Twitter’s promoted trends are the kind of ad inventory that Ev Williams was talking about today at Web 2.0 Summit when he said that brands are demanding more ads than Twitter has available to sell them. In fact, the former Twitter CEO said the supply-demand ratio for ads had become the company’s biggest challenge.



Target itself is no stranger to smart inclusion of social media into its marketing and sales mix. Just yesterday, Target announced a partnership with location startup Shopkick to offer rewards for user checkins; at the end of the summer, the retailer worked with Gilt Groupe, a private-sale network, to promote its designer lines. And earlier this fall, the retailer began selling Facebook credits in stores.

Mashable

Tesco's fashion brand

Tesco has confirmed it will open a standalone store for its F&F clothing brand in Prague in October.

The first ever standalone F&F shop will be in the Palladium shopping centre. The 5,920 sq ft-store will stock F&F’s autumn collection when it opens.

If successful, the format could be rolled out across the Czech Republic and neighbouring countries such as Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The store’s fascia will be F&F and there will be no Tesco branding.

Products sold in the store will include a clothing offer for men and women, footwear, lingerie, jewellery and accessories.

The move comes as Tesco is also searching for a site for an F&F shop in central London. F&F clothing international chief executive Jason Tarry said: “In central Europe, F&F is seen as a fashion brand in its own right. Clear marketing and point of sale have established a brand awareness of 71% across central Europe. Creating a standalone F&F store is a logical next step for this growing brand.”

He added that if it proved successful “we may roll out the concept worldwide”.

At present, F&F is available only in hypermarkets and department stores in the region. It entered the region in 2008 and is the market leader in Czech Republic and one of the top three fashion retailers in central Europe. Worldwide, F&F is available in 11 countries.

In addition Tesco launched a F&F Limited Edition online recently with about 300 products. It comprises smart and casual womenswear, ranging from £10 to £65.

New lines will be added each week with more than 500 pieces expected to be available before Christmas.

Tesco buying director for online Jon Bennett said the initiative was “about offering a greater breadth of fashionwear for our customers”. He added: “We want shoppers to keep coming back and check out what is new on the site.”

He said he also expected the range - which includes an aviator jacket, monochrome polka dot shirt dress and a belted khaki coat - to build brand awareness.

Google to launch online fashion store

Online giant Google is moving into fashion with the launch of a website and virtual designer boutiques on Wednesday, according to reports.

The site, which is thought to be called Boutiques.com, will let users create and share their own personalised online store by showcasing their style preferences and favourite brands and allowing visitors to click through to a brand’s online store or a retailer who sells the product. Visitors will not be able to make a transaction on the online boutiques themselves.

Google has reportedly tapped up Sex And The City actress and Halston chief creative officer Sarah Jessica Parker to create her own online shop and has also invited designers Oscar de la Renta, Tory Burch and Marchesa to set up their own store.

Etail giant Asos is set to launch Marketplace this month. Marketplace will become a global marketplace where shoppers and independent retailers will be able to buy and sell clothing online. Fashion designers will be able to open ‘boutiques’ in the Marketplace.

RetailWeek

Airwalk's Invisible Pop up Store.

Young & Rubicam launched the world's first invisible pop up store for legendary shoe brand Airwalk. The iconic 1994 JIM is a casual, comfortable lifestyle sneaker. It's made to be worn when you hang out with friends. That's why Airwalk wanted to launch the limited edition replica not in shops, but in typical hangout spots like parks, boulevards and beaches. Using the augmented application, GoldRun, users could reserve one of the 300 limited edition pairs by going to one of the two Invisible Pop Up Store locations (in New York and Venice Beach, CA), and snapping a picture of the augmented reality shoe. People were only able to buy the sneaker if their GPS-enabled smartphone confirmed that they were within the confines of the invisible store.

Bestads

Gap Want to give this Christmas

Not long after Gap began advertising in Foursquare with a 25% discounts for checkins, Foursquare co-founders Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai have found another way to work with the marketing team at Gap: by modeling in its latest ad campaign.

The campaign, which is running in TV, print and online, features a number of relatively high-profile figures, including former First Niece Lauren Bush, Aussie actor Ryan Kwanten from True Blood and style blogger Susie Bubble. It asks the question: “If you could give anything in the world, what would it be?”

Crowley and Selvadurai chose to benefit Camp Interactive, which combines nature and technology to benefit inner-city youth.

You can view one of the commercials from the campaign below. For each “Like” one of the videos receives on Facebook, $1 will be donated to the charity featured in the video, on top of a base $150,000 donation from Gap. (Customers will also receive a 30% discount on one regularly priced item from Gap when they mention the words Viral 30 in store).



A really nice, feel good campaign that is less about what can we flog to you and more about what can we give. A great strategy that is sure to get GAP many online hits and positive exposure during such a noisy retail period.

Walmart Launches Crowd Saver Deals via Facebook

US giant Walmart has recently launched 'Crowd Saver' promotions through its Facebook page, allowing deals to become active when enough fans “like” a proposed item. The special prices are only available through Walmart.com, and each customer may only buy one item at the discount. It features electronics, toys, and home items.

It's a simple supply and demand model really, so if Walmart gain enough traction from a particular product they can buy it at a better price. It's much like the way IKEA have been able to launch it's massive 'new lower price' campaign this year. They have been able to offer better prices on the products that sell the most as they negotiate stronger deals with their suppliers. Well, that coupled with the buying power of the Australian dollar of course.

Teb Baker London encourages styling via twitter

At 2 p.m. ET on Friday, Ted Baker London will open the first live, Twitter-operated styling studio.

Over a two-hour period, a rotating selection of seven U.S. fashion bloggers will use a live video stream and Twitter (Twitter) to direct hair stylists, makeup artists, runners and models to create a number of different looks from 450 pieces of Ted Baker’s Autumn/Winter 2010 collection. Spectators can follow the styling session, which takes place at Ted Baker’s headquarters in London, live on takeonted.com and on Twitter by following @ted_baker.

Viewers are also encouraged to tweet in their own styling suggestions with the hashtag #takeonted. The best ideas, the company promises, will have a chance of winning a prize.

We think this is a clever promotion to raise awareness of Ted Baker’s clothing line among fashion bloggers and their readers, and is sure to boost the follower count of Ted Baker’s Twitter account, which currently sports a little less than 600 followers, as well. This marks the first big social media promotion we’ve seen from the company.

Lauren Indvik - mashable

Use Your Phone Number to Make Online Purchases with Paymo.

Online shopping once required a credit card. Boku makes it possible to make purchases online using a mobile phone number instead. Rather than keying in your credit card number, address and security code, all you need to make a purchase using Boku’s payment option, Paymo, is your phone number.

Because the cell phone carriers charge merchants fees as high as 35% for this kind of transaction, Boku started out by exclusively targeting virtual goods. The production cost for such goods is minimal, and therefore their retailers can typically afford the high carrier fees. The company has since expanded to providing its payment option for online services like dating sites and for digital goods like music downloads.

Co-founder Ron Hirson says that the company next aims to expand as a payment method for pay-walled content. Eventually, as carrier rates come down, it aims to be an easy checkout option on ecommerce sites and for frequently purchased physical goods like fast food, coffee and transit.

Boku launched in 2008 when Hirson, Mark Britto and Erich Ringewald — all of whom had founded and sold other companies at this point — acquired mobile payment companies Paymo and Mobillcash. Since then, they’ve raised more than $40 million in three rounds of funding and have partnered with carriers in 64 countries, most recently Brazil and Israel.

While Boku faces competition from companies like Zong, onebip and Fortumo they claim to have the largest reach. Their partnerships with more than 200 carriers gives them access to about 2 billion potential customers. How successful Boku will be at making their payment method an option on more of these 2 billion people’s purchases will depend largely on carrier fees. The high fees that carriers currently charge merchants will unlikely outweigh the convenience that Boku provides its customers.

Partnerships with Vodafone in the UK and AT&T in the U.S. have inched Boku closer to becoming a plausible option for a wider variety of goods by creating higher price points, which allow consumers to make larger purchases and lower carrier fees.

With the company already making about one transaction every second, we’re not making an astounding prediction by betting on its success. Boku was smart to target the global market from the start. There are about 5 billion mobile phones worldwide, and — especially outside of the United States — not all of their owners have credit cards. Enabling these people to make online purchases increases merchants’ potential customer pools.

Boku also takes advantage of three things the world is becoming increasingly obsessed with: online shopping, convenience and secure payments (eBay CEO John Donahoe recently pronounced mobile the safest way to pay online). Although Boku declined to comment on rumors that both Apple and Google (Google) want to acquire it, we understand why they’d be interested.

Sarah Kessler - Mashable

Fashion using Microsoft Tags

The garment tag has been given a modern, interactive twist, thanks to New York-based fashion designer Rachel Roy. The designer has printed Microsoft Tags, Microsoft’s version of the QR code, on the tags attached to the pieces in her latest capsule collection for Macy’s.

Shoppers can use the Microsoft Tag Reader app (available for iPhone, Android (Android), BlackBerry, Symbian, Windows Mobile and J2ME phones) to scan the codes to pull up a short video, in which model Jessica Stam — who collaborated with Roy on the collection — discusses why she likes the piece and offers suggestions for styling it. A different video is attached to each item; there are four videos in all.

Roy, who cites video overlay and mobile commerce as the two trends in fashion and technology she is most excited about, says that she decided to use Microsoft Tag over other barcode products, like QR Codes and Stickybits, because it offers more ease and flexibility than its peers. “You can print them onto anything, even fabric, which is very exciting,” she says. “I [also] like how, unlike other 2D codes that are associated with a permanent URL, Microsoft Tags can be updated and reused with different content. Plus, since the Microsoft Tag works on all major phone platforms, many people are able to read the tag and see the video content,” she adds.

The fashion industry has taken kindly to 2D barcodes as of late. W and several other Conde Nast fashion titles have incorporated Microsoft Tags into their editorial and advertising pages. Allure gave away $725,000 worth of beauty products via 39 embedded Microsoft Tags in its August issue, a campaign that netted 444,579 scans in sum. Most famously, Calvin Klein replaced three of its iconic billboards — two in downtown New York and one on Sunset Boulevard in L.A. — not with another racy montage of scantily clad models, but with a bright red QR code under the words “Get It Uncensored” this summer.

2D barcodes enable marketers to offer functionality beyond that of a typical display ad — whether that’s a print ad in a magazine, a banner ad on a website, or a billboard on a freeway — and to measure the reach of those ads more effectively.

Lauren Indvik, Mashable

Facebook retail 'deals'

Facebook has a new offer for users willing to share their locations in status updates: deals from nearby merchants or big-brand marketers such as Starbucks, Gap or McDonald's. Facebook is launching the Deals service with 22 big brand partners -- Starbucks, McDonald's, H&M, and Gap -- and 20,000 small-to-medium-sized businesses can start creating Deals on their Places page inside of Facebook.

The social network announced "Deals," an extension of its Places mobile feature, which allows users to check in at locations such as bars, coffee shops or malls. Users will be able to claim those deals by walking into a merchant and checking in on their phones or other mobile devices, giving marketers the ability to reach consumers and potentially attracting them into a given store.

The new service combines two of the hotter trends in local marketing: location-based check-in services such as Foursquare, and local group deals services such as Groupon or LivingSocial. "There are many changes in mobile, and there's a revolution in the social space," said Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, which has 200 million mobile users. "Mobile is as big as that -- when you combine mobile and social, industries can get disrupted."

But like everything Facebook does, it has the potential of taking a niche phenomenon now exploited by a coterie of small startups and turning it into a mass phenomenon. "While businesses have been able to use other geolocation services to incentivize customers to some extent, Facebook Deals allows global brands to do so at massive scale," said Michael Lazerow, CEO of social marketing firm Buddy Media.

Facebook announced the Deals Platform and another feature called "Single Sign On," which allows users to log into any app on their iPhones and Android phones, eliminating the need for remembering passwords and typing on tiny mobile keypads. There are 550,000 games and applications available on Facebook, and developers can now build the single sign-on into any of them or build new apps with the feature.

Facebook is launching the Deals service with 22 big brand partners -- Starbucks, McDonald's, H&M and Gap -- and 20,000 small- to medium-sized businesses can start creating Deals on their Places page inside of Facebook. Merchants create a Facebook page where there is an option for choosing the kind of deal they would like to offer: individual, loyalty, friends or charity. Individual and loyalty offers are digital
versions of the traditional coupon and loyalty cards, where a customer gets a punch hole for every coffee or sandwich purchased. The friends offer is a strictly Facebook style deal, where if a user checks in his or her friends, they get a discount. The charity deal is where the merchant will donate $1 for each check to a charity.

"The Deals concept solves the long term," said Facebook's director of local, Emily White. "For a long time, merchants have been told to get online. This solves that problem for them and turns the fans into real dollars."

Gap decided to immediately participate in Deals, offering 10,000 pairs of jeans for free to all users who check into one of the 900 Gap stores nationwide. "It's important for us to connect with our customers where they are," said Olivia Doyne, a Gap spokeswoman on hand at the event at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto. "This can be used in so many ways. If a store has too much inventory, we can use Deals for that. We can tailor the deals to our customers' locations."

Facebook does not earn money in the Deals promotions, and Ms. White said this project is very much in a beta state. But inadvertently, by having more businesses create pages on Places and having more people checking into those businesses, there will be a natural increase in Facebook traffic.

Marketers have long seen mobile phones as a powerful means of reaching consumers while they're out shopping or physically close to a given store. "This is continuing Facebook's empowering of small businesses," said Dave Marsey, senior VP of Digitas digital media. "We're gonna see the biggest response with small local businesses that can more directly and electronically manage attracting new customers and rewarding loyal customers."

Mr. Zuckerberg said that, as always, Facebook's focus is to make things better for users. "Whether the deals platform turns into something more commercial, or we choose to monetize something else -- though we have no plans of doing that any time soon -- that works for us too."

Starbucks Digital Network

Beginning Wednesday, Starbucks customers who use the free Wi-Fi at more than 6,800 U.S. company-operated stores will be greeted with the Starbucks Digital Network (SDN) — an exclusive content network curated by the company and designed to enhance the customer’s in-store experience.

Starbucks has been teasing SDN for months, but now that the network is about to go live we have a much clearer idea about the type of content provided and the purpose behind the digital endeavor.

Starbucks’s Vice President of Digital Ventures Adam Brotman:

“The vision,” he says, “is for Starbucks Digital Network to be a digital version of the community cork board that’s in all of our stores.”

Here’s a comprehensive breakdown of each channel:

News: This section of SDN is comprised of Starbucks media partners offering premium or exclusive content to customers. The New York Times has opened up access to its Reader 2.0 subscription-based service for free, all content from the The Wall Street Journal is available minus the paywall and the exact replica of the USA Today newspaper is accessible to users on the network. Newly signed content partner GOOD is providing early access to its infographics, so Starbucks customers can view them before anyone else.

Entertainment: Starbucks has populated the entertainment portion of its network with music, apps and books from Apple’s iTunes, full access to a selection of books picked by Starbucks and provided by the Bookish Reading Club (via an HTML5 reader), business e-books courtesy of New Word City, a kid-rich experience powered by Nick Jr. Boost and handpicked documentary films provided by SnagFilms.

Wellness: Health and fitness publisher Rodale is the primary content provider for this SDN channel. Customers have access to specialized content — not available to anyone other than Starbucks customers — from Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Runner’s World, Bicycling, Prevention, Organic Gardening and Eat This, Not That!, along with a custom built “Map my Ride, Map my Run” application.

Business and Careers: Professional social networking site LinkedIn (LinkedIn) is making exclusive video and blog content available to Wi-Fi users in this channel. The network also provides LinkedIn job search and suggestions, and offers users a 30-day free trial for the premium account.

My Neighborhood: Starbucks is adamant about creating a localized experience to connect customers with the community around the store. The company delivers on this objective by serving up content to users based on the exact whereabouts of the store where the user is accessing the free Wi-Fi. Community fare includes local news from Patch and a look at nearby DonorsChoose.org classroom projects that could benefit from small contributions. Foursquare (Foursquare) users can check in via the web from Starbucks stores, and Zagat makes available full ratings for restaurants in the surrounding area for free.

Starbucks: This channel provides a personalized customer experience for Starbucks account/card management and also amasses all of Starbucks social (Twitter (Twitter)/Facebook (Facebook)/MyStarbucksIdea) and digital properties under one umbrella.




SDN certainly packs in a variety of content that makes for interesting material to explore on a laptop, but the network was also designed with the mobile user in mind.

Users accessing the network via mobile devices and tablets will benefit from the HTML5 smartphone-optimized network. SDN for mobile is also touchscreen-friendly, offering a hands-on, swipe-able experience.

More than 50% of users logging on to the free Wi-Fi are doing so from mobile devices, so the company was motivated by usage behaviors to build a mobile web experience just as good, if not better than, the standard web experience. Content was also designed to be “snackable,” so the mobile user can get value even while waiting in line, says Brotman.

Mashable

Old Navy’s “Booty Reader”

From the sophomoric cauldrons of humor at Crispin, Porter + Bogusky, the same agency that brought Burger King’s Shower Babe and the Whopper Sacrifice campaign to the Internet, comes Old Navy’s “Booty Reader” web application, which asks women to upload a shot of their derrières to find the most suitable pair of Old Navy jeans.

Visitors to the microsite are prompted to choose three scenarios in which they would wear the jeans they’re looking for (on a date, lounging at home, to the office on a Casual Friday, etc.), and then to use a web cam or photo so that the app can gauge their body shape. Women who are too uncomfortable (or lazy) to use a photo can choose diagrams to inform the app about their proportions.

Although hundreds upon hundreds of branded apps and magazine articles have taken consumers through the same jeans-fitting process, Old Navy’s app was named in such a way that it is guaranteed to attract press without generating controversy, unlike American Apparel’s Best Bottom campaign [Warning: Explicit]; according to Adweek, the Booty Reader was designed by a team of female creative directors for female shoppers.

Nevertheless, we question whether the app is really “on brand” — both the company’s brick-and-mortar and online stores emphasize its offerings for plus-size and pregnant women, as well as men, infants and children. How many Old Navy shoppers do you know use the word “booty” — or want to engage with a web application with that word in its name?

Lauren Indvik for Mashable

Buy gum With PayPal, Your Phone and Twitter

A proof-of-concept vending machine shows how we can dispense with cash for everyday purchases, skipping credit and debit cards altogether and going straight to electronic transfer.

The vending machine uses QR codes, PayPal, a smartphone camera and Twitter. And, to complete the geek-buzzword bingo checklist, the hardware is based in part on Arduino, an open source hardware platform.

“We’re experimenting with ways of taking PayPal payments beyond the web,” PayPal Labs’ Ray Tanaka said. At the PayPal X Innovate 2010 developers’ conference, he showed off a gumball machine that lets people use their smartphone to scan a barcode instead of fishing for change.

Tanaka and his team put together their gumball machine using an ordinary mechanical vending machine, an Arduino processor, a WiShield and a few other smartly chosen basic parts.

Scanning the QR barcode sets the gumball machine in motion. Then the customer gets a Twitter notification that their PayPal payment has gone through and how much they’ve been charged. On the merchant side, Tanaka showed off an instant payment-notification system using an LCD display.

Candy is cute and “gives good demo” (as Steve Jobs puts it), but I can easily imagine 101 even better uses for a simple electronic payment system like this where cash is short and speed is essential. Here’s a short list to get you started:

* parking garages
* public transit
* toll booths
* grocery checkout
* gas stations

In short, anywhere you need to be on the move and would rather not whip out your wallet.

From: Wired

Gap's model search through iphone app

If you’ve ever looked into the windows of a babyGap or GapKids storefront and thought to yourself: “Wow, my child is way prettier than all of these kids photographed in the window front, it’s too bad I’m too lazy to take a quality portrait on my digital camera, and upload it to Gap’s website for its annual babyGap and Gap Kids Casting Call contest,” today is your lucky day — if you own an iPhone, that is.

For the fifth year of its Casting Call campaign, Gap has developed a special iPhone app [iTunes link] to make it easier for parents to enter their 0 to 10-year-olds into the contest, the four winners of which will be featured in the company’s babyGap or GapKids store window advertisements, and other promotional materials. Gap judges will select and fly 20 finalists to San Francisco for a professional photo shoot in mid-November. Fans will be able to vote on the final winners from December 6-20.

Parents can enter their 0-10-year-olds using the mobile app. After registering, you’ll be asked to fill out a short entry form including your child’s name, sex and date of birth, as well as your contact information. You’ll then be prompted to take a photo of your child using your iPhone or to pick one from your existing library, which cannot be more than three months old.

After you’ve entered it’s time to beg your friends to download the app and start voting for your kid; the one with the most votes will receive a $1,000 Gap gift card for receiving the most votes, though s/he will not be flown out to do a photo shoot, unless s/he is also a favorite of the judges. You can then keep track of how many Fan votes your children have garnered under “My Entries,” as well as keep track of how many votes the competition has received in the Gallery section.

In all seriousness, the app is a smart idea that should substantially increase the number of submissions, which numbered more than 1 million last year. Gap has pursued an aggressive digital and mobile marketing strategy as of late, having offered discounts via Foursquare (Foursquare), Loopt, and Groupon all within the last six months.

From: Mashable

Clarks. Shoes you can live in.

You've heard the kids story of the little old woman who lived in a shoe. Well Clarks Shoes have literally brought that to life in their latest ad promo.


Appearing today in Westfield Parramatta were 2 giant sized shoes which formed the home for 2 human inhabitants for a week.

Well that's one way to bring their tag line to life.

Debenhams Interactive TV

Debenhams has launched an interactive TV channel today (Monday) to attract new customers by offering fashion and beauty advice, alongside the opportunity to buy.

Debenhams TV, which is available on Debenhams.com, Youtube and Debenhams’ iPhone app, includes interviews with top designers such as Ben de Lisi, Henry Holland and Matthew Williamson and expert fashion advice. There is also a ‘how-to’ focus with online fashion workshops and beauty lessons.

The station is expected to generate 1.5 million views in its first week. Customers can purchase products using a click-to-buy feature as they watch.

Menswear shows on the channel will feature exclusive footage from the launch of Debenhams latest brand, FFP, and other behind-the-scenes footage and interviews from photo shoots, fashion shows and launches.

Debenhams said it hopes to “attract the attention” of shoppers who might not already be using Debenhams.com.

Debenhams online trading director Simon Forster said: “Our online TV channel is a brilliant way for our customers to get style and beauty advice, see the latest fashions and just be entertained. You can see it on our website, through our iPhone app, on Youtube and coming soon – in our stores.”

Retail Week

River Island now available on ASOS!

Fashion retailer River Island is to sell its product on etail fashion giant Asos.

It is the first time River Island has partnered with another retailer, and the agreement will make its offer available in more than 170 countries.

It will launch selected product on Asos, starting with its autumn 10 range next month.

Asos product and trading director Rob Bready said River Island offers a “strong point of difference”, and added: “We look forward to our customer’s response to the proposition.”

River Island said: “We are excited to be able to offer River Island to customers around the world.”

Retail Week

D’Espresso - New York

The new D’Espresso on Madison Avenue (at 42nd) in New York has received more media attention than is generally awarded to a tiny coffee shop in this world of millions of new coffee shops.

The reason for the attention is the fun design by the Manhattan-based nemaworkshop, a team of designers and architects that has created numerous cool retail and hospitality concepts. Founder Anurag Nema took the idea of a coffee shop that looks like a library – giving a nod to the nearby New York Public Library’s Bryant park branch – and turned it on its side. The walls are not lined with books but the floors and ceiling are. Except that it is all an illusion, a life-size image of books printed on custom tiles. Pendant lighting does not hang from the ceiling; it sticks out from the walls.

The tiny coffee bar of 420 square feet (39 square meters) is the second for owner Eugene Kagansky (the first one is on the Lower East Side) who plans to create an entire empire of coffee shops. Apparently, the next one will be completely upside down. - Tuija Seipell

Finger in the nose

What a great name for a kids’ brand. Well, this French brand is the epitome of style (regardless of the size of their audience!) From its ‘Sartorialist-snap-worthy’ mini models with just the right amount of attitude to its authentic rock n roll aesthetic, this brand offers quality kids’ wear for the emerging fashionista.

This label is not just about cutting a stylish figure on the streets; integral to its DNA is the long-term quality of the pieces, offering superior comfort and wearability. They use 9-11 ounce real European denim with raw, stone, bleach, snow and leather-look washes, and real feather down for their jackets and Geelong merino angora for their knitwear. Their 100% cotton tees feature wild animals and mythology-style graphic prints. The only negative? Your kids could quite likely steal the spotlight from your own sartorial efforts. Consider yourself warned! – Kate Vandermeer

EBay's Fashion Outlet

EBay is soon to launch a new service that allows users of it's new fashion outlet store to create their own preferences. No longer will you have to trawl through different pages of designers or sizes. You simply select the size, brand and format you frequently search for and you'll receive customized search results. The service will search through all the clothing, shoes and accessories available on eBay, from the smaller boutique outlet stores to the 20 major retailers that use eBay as their outlet source.

This new feature is part of eBay's 'User Labs' which takes feedback from users and adapts that into their product. Yes, some retailers do listen!

Real-Time interactive wall

The Canadian Tourism Commission and DDB Vancouver have developed a great interactive campaign to drive awareness of Canada as a tourist destination to a number of Cities in the US. The campaign integrates interactive digital screes installed in ‘screen-scapes’ with supporting print media. The screens display real time feeds from social media such as Twitter, Youtube and Facebook, providing live feeds of people’s experiences as they travel around Canada. Passers by can choose to glance at the feeds or interact with them and ‘dive’ deeper into the feeds.

This is a great demonstration of integrating social media and digital signage to drive advertising campaigns outside of the traditional channels.

Mind the Gap

Gap has dropped plans to change its logo after being ridiculed by bloggers and tweeters for a new design unveiled last week.

The new look (pictured, above) was meant to give Gap a more contemporary look but was criticised for its uninspiring design. Gap consumers also objected to the change being introduced without any warning. Gap North America president Marka Hansen admitted that the US casualwear giant had not approached the launch of the new logo in the right way, adding:

“We’ve learned a lot in this process. And we are clear that we did not go about this in the right way. We recognize that we missed the opportunity to engage with the online community. This wasn’t the right project at the right time for crowd sourcing.”

She added that the logo may be changed in the future but that “when that time comes, we’ll handle it in a different way“.

The retailer said that it would revert to its traditional logo on www.gap.com and would turn it red for the US holiday season.

Exerts from Retail Week

3 to use Augmented Reality instore

Store staff for mobile phone retailer Three are to use an augmented reality app in stores to improve customers’ perception of its network coverage.

Smartphones using the app will allow store staff to point the phone camera in any direction and show the masts that 3 own to potential customers. Augmented reality involves superimposing images onto live pictures captured using the phone’s camera.

One or two handsets with the app installed will start to go into Three’s 307 stores in the coming months.

A spokesman for Three said that it is in the pipeline expand the app’s capabilities to display where stores are located.

The current app allows selection of a mast to show where it is exactly and how far away it is from where the user are standing. The app will not be available directly to consumers.

The masts will be categorized by different colours to show which ones have been added since Three’s has completed its three-year long network upgrade yesterday through sharing mast sites with T-mobile.

Post: retailweek

Shopping Hauls

Yep, online spruking is the future.

I guess it just taps into that innate female inquisitiveness of what other chicks have bought and what they paid for them. After all, a recommendation from a like minded person is far more compelling that the retailers stamping out what they think I should buy. In that sense it's the fashion world's version of Tripadvisor.

Currently millions of viewers are voyeuristically soaking up every minute of the 150,000 haul videos on YouTube about mundane purchases, from a bargain bag of apples to a mascara wand.

Have a look at these shoppers' hauls: xoFemmeBeauty | eyedollbeautytv | snorkleyy

"It really is exactly like show and tell," hauler Holly Go-Lightly said. "This is essentially what haul videos are, showcasing all the pretty things you found on your shopping trip, but to a larger audience in the comfort of your own home."

It's video blogging or 'vlogging' and it's got tweens, teens and adults around the world taking note. And like blogging it's already being tapped into by PR and Marketing departments alike to flog, sorry vlog their goods.

FCUK's Youtique

Clothing retailer FCUK tapped 'Poke London' to create Youtique, a direct sales channel on Youtube featuring stylist Louise Roe. Roe doles out fashion tips in annotated videos that allow consumers to directly purchase the featured items through contextual links to the frenchconnection.com website, providing for a streamlined user experience.

http://www.youtube.com/user/frenchconnection

Awesome. Shopping just keeps getting more and more convenient.

Smiggle

Australian stationers 'Smiggle' has today run away with the prize of Australian Retailer of the year 2010 at the ARA Australian Retail Awards.

Smiggle was born in 2003 when its founder noticed a gap in the market for colourful, fun, fashion-forward stationery. The first store opened in South Yarra, Melbourne and it fast becoming the hottest retailer for bright pens, notebooks and gadgets.

Smiggle then joined Just Group's strong portfolio of brands in August 2007 and has not looked back since! In December 2008 Smiggle jumped the seas and opened its first international store in New Zealand. It's all part of the plan to be the world's most famous stationery brand.