For those marketers and advertisers still not sold on the power of mobile marketing and the need to engage their customers and prospects via a mobile website, a report issued by IBM showed that sales via a mobile phone/smartphone/tablet on Cyber Monday 2011 increased an incredible 192% over last year. And you can expect that number to only go higher next year. 

The IBM report also showed that the number of people using their mobile phone/smartphone/tablet to just visit a retailer’s website increased 177% from last year to this year on Cyber Monday. Clearly boys and girls we are living in a mobile world, but you already knew that, right?

So riddle me, this Batman and Batgirl, why are so many retailers NOT engaging their customers and prospects via a mobile ready website?

According to a survey conducted by Brand Anywhere and Luth Research:

• 51% of consumers more likely to purchase from retailers that have mobile-specific websites
• 4.8% of U.S. retailers have mobile-specific websites
• 22.8% of the top retail websites (ranked by Alexa®) have mobile-specific websites
• Web retailers could increase consumer engagement by 85% with a mobile-specific website

Take out the word “Web” in that last bullet for EVERY retailer – whether they also have bricks-and-mortar locations in addition to their “regular” website, should have… operative words “should have” an optimized mobile website.

Among all Interactive Marketing platforms, Mobile Marketing is expected to grow 38% over the next five years with an estimated $8.2 billion being allocated to it by the year 2016.

That was the opening line of another post I wrote on mobile marketing, Mobile Marketing Spending To Have The Biggest Increase Over Next Five Years.

So let me see if I got this straight… Most marketers and advertisers see the need to spend money via mobile marketing, mobile advertising, etc., yet many – only 4.8% according to at least one study, do not see the need to engage consumers via a mobile website, even though the evidence is clear that more and more consumers are going online via their mobile phone/smartphone/tablet?

The Social Media Factor…

One of the other key findings I wanted to share from the IBM report is this:

“Discussions on social media sites leading up to Cyber Monday increased in volume by 115 percent compared to 2010. Top areas of discussion focused on consumers sharing tips about using price comparison websites while avoiding cyber scams.”

Again, another opportunity for brand managers, product managers, marketers and advertisers of all shapes and sizes to engage their customers and prospects… that is if these same brand managers, product managers, marketers and advertisers of all shapes and sizes were monitoring what was being said on the social media sites then capitalizing where they could to converse and actively engage folks.

Sources: IBM Benchmark Cyber Monday Report 2011

The term "Cyber Monday" hasn't been around for too long but it may already be ousted by another - Mobile Monday - after consumers turned to their mobile devices to research and purchase gifts.

Coined just 6 years ago, the term "Cyber Monday" describes the Monday after Thanksgiving on which day online shopping activity rises significantly.

According to comScore, the $1.25 billion spent this year makes it the heaviest online commerce day ever and represents a 22% rise from last year's Cyber Monday which itself generated a record $1.03 billion in online purchases.

However, Cyber Monday could end up being renamed Mobile Monday as figures show shopping using a mobile device has seen a huge rise in popularity.

According to data released by eBay consumers spent two and a half times more this year via the site's mobile channel than they did on Cyber Monday last year

Likewise IBM reported a 10.8% rise in mobile visitors to ecommerce websites, up from 3.9% in 2010, with a corresponding rise in sales to 6.6% from last year's 2.3%.

PayPal Mobile has also reported a massive 552% YoY increase in mobile payments worldwide for Cyber Monday along with a 397% increase in mobile customers.

"There is a convenience factor, whether it be iPhone, iPad or Android," said John Squire, chief strategy officer at Coremetrics. "And retailers have really invested in their sites to give mobile users a more compelling experience."

Source: http://www.bizreport.com/2011/11/could-cyber-monday-become-mobile-monday.html

To lure customers and boost sales, stores are deploying cool smartphone apps. Will consumers buy into the latest shopping fad?

By Caitlin Keating, reporter

FORTUNE -- Scott Thompson, president and CEO of eBay's PayPal unit (EBAY), says that he is one of those people who drives to Starbucks, sees the long line, and keeps on driving. "I'm on the go. I wish I could have stopped, but I don't have time," Thompson quips over a glass of wine. "No one does."

Not surprisingly, Thompson and his competitors in the fast-growing mobile payments business have a solution for impatient consumers and harried retailers alike: software that lets consumers pre-order and pre-pay for their coffee (or sweaters, or TVs) with a few taps on their mobile phones.

"We all just don't have time to shop," says Thompson, who hosted a recent soiree in New York to unveil PayPal Wallet, smartphone software coming next year that promises to replace both the consumer's wallet (all your credit card information is stored in it) and the retailer's cash register.

But retailers aren't waiting for PayPal Wallet. Many are already going mobile, either offering mobile apps to supplement e-commerce sites, or finding new ways to let potential shoppers get information in stores using their mobile phones.

Sears, for example, has tricked out O'Hare Airport and other high-traffic areas with so-called shopping walls that feature its top-selling products. See something you like? Whip out a camera-enabled phone, scan the Quick Response (QR) code, and you'll be sent to an e-commerce site that lets you purchase the item. By the time you board your plane, the item is already in the process of being shipped.

Tom Aiello, a division vice president at Sears's parent company, Sears Holdings (SHLD), said in regards to this holiday season, "Customers are going to spend more, but shop less. We have seen people use mobile phones when electricity was out to order generators in an ice storm, or an air conditioner during a heat wave in New York City. We've also seen surprising items like lawn tractors purchased on mobile phones and tablets."

The National Retail Federation estimates more than a third of retailers say they have significantly invested in QR codes in offline advertising, such as magazines and billboards. About half of online retailers say they have significantly invested in mobile-optimized websites, and 20% have invested in tablet device apps.

Greg Ahearn, chief marketing officer of Toys "R" Us, has started accepting mobile payments in some of its stores via Google Wallet (GOOG), the search giant's mobile commerce platform. Consumers who have phones enabled with special wireless technology can "bump" their gadgets against compatible cash registers at some 200 of the toy retailer's 870 worldwide locations and complete the sale that way. "It's all about convenience," Ahearn says. "The easier you make it for someone to find the exact toy you're looking for and get it to them the way they want it is the way retail is headed."

But sometimes people can't find that exact toy, or book, or necklace. That's where gift cards come in, and no surprise, gift certificates have gone mobile, too. David Stone, co-founder and CEO of digital gift card purveyor CashStar estimates that Americans purchase some $100 billion in these cash substitutes every year. Cohen's company is trying to shift the business from plastic cards to digital chits. "This is the post-plastic card era, because we are living on our iPhones, iPads, and computers."

Stone's dream scenario: "You're walking up to your friend's kid's birthday party, and you see people bringing gifts, and you think: 'Oh my god, I forgot to get a gift.' So you take out your smartphone and instantly buy the gift, walk into the house, and you say, 'Susan or Debby, I just sent you a gift! Check your phone, and there it is.'"

Convenient, yes, but we're not sure if Miss Manners would approve.

A shorter version of this article appeared in the December 12, 2011 issue of Fortune.

Ubiquitous beverage giant Coca Cola is belatedly dipping its toes into the QR code water with the launch of a polystyrene mug campaign branded with the firm’s iconic polar bear mascot.

The fizzy juice group is partnering with the World Wildlife Fund in the US for the venture in an effort to help preserve the animal’s endangered arctic habitat.

It will see the familiar static patterns adorn the bottom of drinks cups distributed from 7-Eleven stores which takes smartphone users direct to a downloadable snowball game created by the drinks firm.

This Facebvook enabled app offers 80 high scoring players an iPad as prize with two lucky drinkes earning themselves a trip to the polar region to see the bears at first hand.

It is the first time that Coca Cola has run a QR campaign on its home turf in America.