A Lyst for Social Shoppers

Post contributed by Josef Beal -

Lyst.com is a new social shopping site that allows users to shop like their favorite bloggers and those they follow on Twitter. Users sign up to follow "lysts" of bloggers, stores and tweeters, allowing them to see items featured by these "lysts." The items are linked by Lyst.com to site where users can purchase the items, eliminating the endless search for merchandise from specialty labels not often found outside of major markets. Users can create a curated "lyst" of their own personal favorites, like a Pinterest for apparel. The best part: when you sign up with your twitter or facebook, Lyst automatically signs you to follow the "lysts" of those you follow or have "liked", respectively.
Lyst works on an affiliate model, so it "incentivises them to make the site as engaging as possible for users," according to Mike Butcher of techcrunch.com. The site makes money from its partners only when it generates sales.

Sources -  Lyst comes out of the closet to open up high fashion, Techcrunch
Are you on the "Lyst"?  The Style Confessions blog
www.lyst.com

Google and Apple offer Mobile Wallets

Post contributed by Lauren Loy -

 

When credit cards were introduced to the global economy, people everywhere were enthralled. How could small pieces of plastic operate on such a scale that one could pay for goods with them? Well, it seems a new payment method is in the works that may be much easier than even credit cards. 

  Mobile wallets are new payment systems that consumers can use to pay for goods with their smartphones. These systems are still in their early stages, but Apple has announced that it will be a player in this monetary evolution, most probably claiming market shares from other carriers like Verizon Wireless who offer similar services. These mobile payment programs will not launch until 2012, but ABI says that users will grow to 594 million by 2016. Not only will carriers like Google, Apple, and Microsoft overwhelm the market with mobile wallet-capable smartphones, but merchants will offer deals that will cater to consumers with this mobile wallet service. Google and Apple will cause a drop in carriers' market shares from 75 percent to 63 percent by 2016, due to the strong branding both Google and Apple have created with their customers. 

  Google Wallet lets consumers in San Francisco and New York City buy goods from places like Macy's and Toys R Us by tapping the phones against check-out terminals. Google is also offering its Google Offers daily deals service, which provides more incentive for carriers who do not want to contribute money to develop mobile wallet infrastructure. Apple has not launched a mobile wallet system yet, but rumors in the industry say that they will add this feature to their smartphones in 2012.

Source -  Google, Apple to Challenge Carriers With Mobile Wallets: ABI,  eWeek.com

Wal-Mart now using Facebook to give local deals

Post contributed by Chelsea Taylor (edited):

Wal-Mart has announced a new plan to use its fan page on Facebook to promote localized information about its stores.  The company hopes to target a new generation of customers who use a lot of social media by allowing fans of their current fan page to become fans of their local Wal-mart store.  Customer feedback from fans on their main Facebook site indicated that people wanted to know about things that are more relevant to their location. 

The current fan page has general information about products available at Wal-marts all across the nation.  Creating separate sites for local stores will allow consumers to choose to follow local stores for more focused info on local products and special sales..  They would also be able to offer special deals for fans.

In the future, Wal-Mart plans on continuing to use social media to gather information about what consumer preferences and tastes, and offer highly targeted coupons or sales to help bring customers in.

Currently Wal-mart has over 3500 locations, and almost 9.5 million Facebook fans.

Sources - Walmart Makes Big Facebook Push: Offers 'Rollback' Price Alerts,  PCWorld
Walmart to localize offers for Facebook fans,  Google News 


edited - had to add some content after hitting the publish button by error - BJBates

Mobile, social media changing retailing

Story idea contributed by Richard Graves:

The convergence of social media, e-commerce, and mobile technologies seem to be changing how people shop.  Analysts at CIT Group, a financial services and consulting firm for small and medium-sized retailers, note that stores and friends often use social media to share information about sales and product introductions, and that search and price comparison apps allow shoppers to comparison shop as they walk through stores.  New apps are beginning to allow marketers to geographically target ads and coupons - letting stores reach out to shoppers as they near, or more effectively target their marketing to local neighborhoods.
  Mobile retailing and pricing apps are no longer used just when traveling - but for accessing information for local shopping needs.  As both stores and shoppers gain experience with the technologies' capabilities, look for mobile to have even more impact on shopping habits and retailing.

Source - Social media, technology changing retailing, finance expert says,  FurnitureToday