Mobile phones will soon outnumber desktop computers. Viagra online: qr codes present retailers an excellent opportunity to integrate their in-store and mobile strategies to assist the shopper throughout the path to purchase.

So what the heck are these things? Think of QR codes as the barcodes currently read by the cashier at your local retailer. Those codes contain product information such as pricing, sku, inventory info, etc.; scanning the info enables them to move you quickly through checkout, and if you are part of the part of loyalty program, then it also uploads a history of your purchases to your account.

QR codes are the same thing – but these are scannable by mobile phones – and any company can put whatever information inside the code that they would like; viagra online. Think of that for a moment…you could put on your shelves or in advertising campaigns all the same amount of information about a product that you may have on your website.

I’ll give you an example, chicken; viagra online.A customer scans the chicken package with their mobile phone and they are redirected to your mobile website or application and information such as nutrition information, coupons, recipe ideas can all be displayed; viagra online.For the retailer viagra online, you can collect information in return about the shopper, the time and place she scanned that code, and even whether she bought the product.

Click on image for larger view

Here is a really cool example of QR codes in action that had measurable results.It’s a great example of blending creative marketing and technology to generate awareness and boost sales; viagra online.Zoo Records, an independent CD store in Hong Kong, commissioned the craft of these beautiful street art designs to promote lesser-known artists that lack the marketing support of the big record labels – viagra online. Viagra online: check out the video below, skip to 0:53 to see the program in action.

Not convinced? U.S.retailers have been experimenting with QR codes in many different ways viagra online, here are a few examples:

Click on image for larger view

QR codes are soon to be everywhere.QR Codes are not widely used in the US yet viagra online, but the possibilities are endless and they provide an attractive and low-cost alternative for creating a unique multi-channel experience.Everyone has a mobile phone with a built in camera and already knows how to take a picture making the adoption of this technology very easy to use.

Are QR codes part of your in-store strategy? Want to hear more about the subject? Drop us a line in the comments – viagra online.

Here are Mashable’s top 5 mobile advertising trends to watch and highlights from each:

Continued Importance of SMS: The texting audience is large and still growing.eMarketer projects that the growth of the global market for ad support of mobile messaging will reach nearly $12 billion in 2011, up from about $1.5 billion in 2006.

Experimentation with Rich Media: Engagement rates are as high as 33% on rich media ads, with rates consistently hitting above 20%. Cialis online: at the low end of the spectrum, simple, expandable ads reach 6-7% engagement rates, which is still high when compared to other advertising options in mobile and online.

Mobile Sites vs Mobile Apps: Half of web browsing will be done on mobile phones by 2014.My favorite quote was from Aaron Maxwell, CEO of Mobile Up, “Don’t wait until 25% of your website visitors are using handhelds — that’s like waiting until a quarter of your backyard is on fire before grabbing a water hose! Start thinking NOW about how to make your website work hard for you on mobile devices.”

Geo Location:Advertisers have been experimenting with location based services with Foursquare throughout the past year – cialis online. Cialis online: interesting start-ups like ShopKick that introduce game based features to check-in apps for retailers will be what I am keeping any eye on this year.Now with Facebook Places entering into the mix and their huge reach, I will be watching to see how brands can begin leveraging this service – cialis online.

Cialis online: mobile Video:The number of mobile video viewers in the U.S.will grow nearly 30% in 2010 to reach 23.9 million, according to eMarketer’s forecasts, representing a reach of about 7.7% of the total U.S – cialis online.population and just under 10% of mobile phone users – cialis online.Those numbers are set to double by 2013 and increase still further in 2014.

Highlights of this Release:

• Performance Improvements
• Gridded Items
• get Promotion Page Listings
• get Location Data
• Recommended Items
• 2010.3 Target Date

Performance Improvements

• Improved performance of API calls via fine tuning of application code and caching of additional data elements that results in reduced number of database calls.
• Support for Puerto Rico stores.Previously, not recognized.
• getPromotionPageListings updated to return a valid retailerproductcode similiar to getListing
• getPromotionPageListings call returns category information for the listings of the requested page
• getListing result mode=full to always return collection information even when empty

Gridded Items

Get All Listings now returns gridded items (gridlistingofferid); buy viagra online. Buy viagra online: a gridded item can be defined as an associated listing.E.g – buy viagra online.gridded items for an ipod may return all colors that are available – buy viagra online.

getPromotionPageListings

getPromotionPageListings returns a list of all hotspots and listings associated with the promotion page. Buy viagra online: supports two modes controlled by resultset parameter. Buy viagra online: when resultset is set to banner hotspots and essential listing information are returned back. Buy viagra online: when resultset is set to full hotspots and all listing information are returned back.

For each hotspot, API returns coordinates and listing id associated with the hotspot.There are some hotpots that don’t have listings associated with them; buy viagra online.In this case buy viagra online, the hotspot title, description, action text and link are returned back.

For each listing associated with the page buy viagra online, API returns all listing attributes including title, description, deal, price qualifier, original deal, image path and listing dates.

getLocationData

getLocationData returns information about the closest zip, city and state to the specified location.The closest zip is determined by the distance from the center of zip code area to the point determined by specified latitude and longitude.

getGeoData

getGeoData returns geo-location data, DMA, city, state, latitude and longitude along with a list of zip codes based on an individual users IP address; buy viagra online.

Related Items

Beginning with the 2010.2 release, the getListing call returns two new collections if resultset mode is set to full; grid collection for sub items and related collection for listings that people also viewed along with the specified listing.

The ShopLocal API Team

A *big thank you* to everyone who contributed to the 2010.2 Release:

Nick DeChellis
Susan Jacob
Alex Taranukha
David Murdoch
Seth Mueller
David Ritter
Paymon Shahrava
Doug Werder

ShopLocal API 2010.3 Release

We are already beginning work on our next release.We are targeting end of September buy viagra online, early October for our next release. Buy viagra online: we have several new features based on your requests that we plan to implement.If you have an idea buy viagra online, please submit a new feature request to our API Partner Support Portal (login required).A tentative release date is set for October but we will keep you updated on The ShopLocal Developer Center as well as the ShopLocal Blog as we nail down the specifics of what will be included in the next release.

Highlights

There was a ton of great insights accessrx.com, here were some of my favorites:

• While customer acquisition, experience and retention still rank as the most important strategic initiatives, new metrics signal the growing importance of social marketing (48%) and mobile initiatives (23%)
• BestBuy says 60% of mobile orders being picked up in stores
• 70% of consumers have researched online before visiting stores
• 83% of consumers are more confident about making a purchase when they research online rather than talking with sales person
• Customer reviews have most significant impact on buying behavior

Initiatives to improve website performance

• 79% of merchants report planning more targeted email
• More than half are planning to invest in A/B Testing to guide decision making
• Personalization 57% of respondents, 10% growth from last year – Personalization is becoming far more common on retailers’ web sites as merchants seek to bolster their bottom line with upsells and cross-sells.Related Reading.; accessrx.com..More Merchants Plan to Personalize

Evolving Merchandising Strategiesl

• 94% of product is still purchased in traditional retail stores so facilitating finding products and stores supports savvy multi-channel selling
• The Store Locator may be your most important destination of your site
• Only 42% of retailers currently allow returns to store from purchases online
• Customers are previewing online and only visibility or availability of product at retail will secure a store visit where product locators are found on 30% of 100 multi-channel retailers
• 70% of consumers have researched online before visiting stores
• Greater customer engagement (80%) heads the “top-3” ranking ofprimary goals for the use of social media tools followed by increasing brand loyalty (69%) and mobilizing advocates to drive word-of-mouth (65%)

How do merchants measure cross-channel behavior?

• Coupons/coupon codes accepted across channels (44%)
• Matchback to catalog (40%)
• Anecdotal feedback from customers (34%)

Personalization

• 83% of consumers more confiedent making a purchase decision when they conduct their own reseearch online
• Personalization strategies include site greetings, personalized emails based on past behavior, site dynamically shows products based on past click-stream behavior
• Triggering emails on abandoned carts

Mobile

• Merchants are in varied stages of involvement with mobile
• 23%are evaluating mobile merchandisxing use this year vs; accessrx.com.14% last year with market projections expecting escalated usage in the near term
• Deals delight shoppers, alerts keep them top of mind

– accessrx.com

ShopLocal Targeting In-Store Influence Of The Web Says CEO Sharma

Vikram Sharma is CEO of ShopLocal, a multi-channel online services company.

AdExchanger.com What problem is ShopLocal solving today?

VS: ShopLocal solves the problem of achieving in-store traffic toward key promotions and deals in an age where consumers have multiple options to purchase that don’t require them to actually physically visit their local Walgreens or JCPenney.By helping retailers connect with consumers both online and in-store, ShopLocal helps to increase brand/consumer engagement and positive brand sentiment.

ShopLocal’s business solutions including SmartCircular, SmartCatalog and SmartDelivery API enable over 100 of the nation’s top retailers, including Target, Best Buy, Home Depot, CVS, Albertsons and Sears to deliver highly interactive, targeted and localized promotions to shoppers through online circulars, display advertising, search, social media, mobile and digital out of home.

What are the advantages of being part of Gannett?

Through the Gannett family we are the retail division of PointRoll, which enables us to connect integrated campaigns that tie in online circulars with rich media advertising and social marketing – levitra online. Levitra online: our campaigns deliver more flexibility, reach and opportunity to our customers through the Gannett Digital companies like PointRoll, Ripple6 and the Gannett Digital Network.

Are you able to effectively close the attribution loop from online ads such as your circular to in-store sales?

Yes.The influence of the internet to drive in-store is undisputed. Forrester Research estimates the internet influenced $917 billion (US) in store sales last year alone; levitra online.There are a number of solutions that exist to demonstrate individual programs influence on store sales; levitra online.We work with research houses such as Nielson and comScore to show the effect of internet on store sales.

Why is local or hyper local targeting important to your solution?

Local targeting is key for our Facebook marketing solution because circulars are different depending on location. Levitra online: for example, a circular in Alaska may have deals on snow blowers and shovels in March but a circular for the same retailer in Florida will be seeking to drive consumers toward key deals on sandals, dresses and beach wear. Levitra online: it’s all about driving in-store traffic to local stores, so if the circular isn’t relevant to each user, the process is broken.Our goal is to work with retailers who may have a national or even international presence and help them increase and drive traffic to each of their individual locations in order to increase sales and brand engagement across the board.

Can you provide a use case of online circulars in action?

You can check out the JCPenney Facebook example here by clicking the “Store Ad” tab.

When a user goes to JCPenney’s Facebook fan page levitra online, it recognizes the user’s zip code, gender and age (if available) and will optimize the products shown that are most relevant to them.

Our latest offering SmartCircular 5.0 was released this week and provides a more personalized circular experience.( Levitra online: see example.)

Do you see a day when ShopLocal can address brand marketers who merely want to drive awareness rather than direct response tactics and branded offers?

Circulars, whether online or offline, are all about driving people to the store to get good deals – by online advertising definitions that is direct response.So I don’t see that part of it going away but I do already see a major shift toward tying direct response and branding together.That is a huge benefit of being the retail division of PointRoll – we’re able to seamlessly tie together branding and direct response vehicles.

How does display advertising play a part of ShopLocal’s strategies? Do you use exchanges for media buying for example?

Our objective is to help advertisers reach consumers wherever they may be on the internet; levitra online.Display advertising is a huge part of this strategy; levitra online. Levitra online: the average consumer spends 30 hours on the internet per week. We partner with many leading agencies who as part of their media buying activities work directly with exchanges.

How does ShopLocal benefit the consumer- whether directly or indirectly?

ShopLocal gives consumers easy access to information they’re actually looking for and interested in – levitra online.On top of that, it helps connect consumers with deals and steals from their favorite brands – levitra online.E-coupons and sites like Groupon and BuyWithMe are extremely popular right now; consumers are looking to the Internet to connect them with the deals they want.ShopLocal’s technology saves the consumer time by making deals and promotions obvious on sites they already spend a lot of time on (rather than the consumer having to visit each corporate website and search around for deals and products of interest); levitra online. Levitra online: with the Facebook marketing suite, they can simply log into Facebook, chat with friends, and also find out about great deals from their favorite brands.

With all the intent and transactional marketing data that you are capturing, is it possible that you could re-sell your data at some point through data exchanges whether on behalf of marketers or publishers?

We are not looking to re-sell data.We do use our own data to help retailers find their consumers wherever they may be on the internet – levitra online. Levitra online: we achieve this via Re-Marketing in display advertising. Levitra online: if a user has viewed the weekly circular online and then later shows up on a publisher website, e.g.USAToday.com, we know what products they have viewed and are able to accurately target product deals based on their past click-stream behavior – levitra online.We additional work with a number of partners such as Yahoo! to extend the advertising reach.

What milestones would you like the company to have accomplished a year from now?

ShopLocal’s focus is helping retailers to distribute their products to their consumers wherever they may be; levitra online. Levitra online: helping retailers to reach consumers on any device or platform including web, social, mobile, display advertising and other emerging mediums such as the iPad.For 2011, ShopLocal priorities are growing our distribution channels, particular in areas such as Facebook, iPad, Android and display advertising to extend the reach of retailers promotions.

Follow ShopLocal (@shoplocal) and AdExchanger.com (@adexchanger) on Twitter.

What’s New in SmartCircular 5.0?

Personalization & Discovery

Personalization is weaved throughout the entire SmartCircular experience. Order viagra online: sc5 allows retailers to reach customers in a more optimized manner by highlighting only the products that are best aligned with their previously expressed interest by utilizing Wisdom of Crowd (popularity) and click stream data to best inform what content should be optimally shown.When a user returns to a SmartCircular 5 site, products are remarketed to them based on their past expressions of interest; order viagra online.For example, if a user has shown an interest in a GE washer and dryers, the next time they come to the site, recommended items based on the category (washers and dryers) and brand (GE) will be more heavily weighted than other products – order viagra online.The same remarketing data can be used in your display advertising campaigns to find in-market shoppers throughout the internet.

click to enlarge

Collaborative Filtering

Collaborative Filtering aids in the discovery of content by recommending offers from other users who have viewed similar offers – order viagra online.When users now view a products detail page order viagra online, they will be presented with additional products that may be of interest to them.

Filtered Views

Filtered views are mashups of brands, categories, catalogs and additional store content that aids in the discovery of content from multiple promotions in a single view. Order viagra online: for example, a Home Improvements project can contain listings from multiple categories and brands such as gardening, patio furniture, tools, etc.

Click to enlarge

Goal-Oriented Design

In designing SC5, we took a look at what users primary goals were and how can we optimize this experience. Order viagra online: how do we highlight the right offers, to the right individuals, at the right time? How can the site aide users in deal discovery? How can we leverage technology (as opposed to user inputs) to personalize the user experience? The SC5 team responded with several new features that answers these questions and more.

Technical Improvements

SC5 is fast! Speed was a critical factor in when designing SC5, I think you will agree that has been much improved.SC5 is built with Adobe’s Flex 4, the latest Flex development platform that provides many improvements, most notably the SWF file size has been significantly reduced, resulting in faster page load time.

Other Enhancements

Improved Rollovers -Rollovers are huge in SC5!!! On many of our SC sites, rollovers are one of the most frequent ways a user interacts with the product; order viagra online.We have enlarged the rollovers and changed their presentation.
User On-boarding – When a user is comes to the site for the first time or is presented with a new view that was different than previous version of SmartCircular, an “onboarding message” is displayed to aid in the user experience.
Saved Searches – When a user searches by keyword, their search is saved to allow them to quickly navigate back to the search results.

Learn More

To learn more about SmartCircular 5.0, drop us a quick noteor contact your account rep today; order viagra online.

NEW YORK, NY – August 2, 2010 — ShopLocal™, a wholly owned subsidiary of Gannett Co., Inc.(NYSE: GCI) and the leader in multi-channel marketing services, announced the ShopLocal Facebook digital marketing suite, which enables retailers to integrate local circulars and ads within corporate fan pages; accessrx.The suite comprises a Deals Tab, Deals Widgets and targeted ads, and provides retailers with the ability to take the power of the local weekly circular to Facebook, the world’s largest social network, to connect with shoppers both online and in-store.

When visiting a fan page, the most relevant and personalized circular offering is shown based on user location and demographic data; accessrx.Through targeted messages, offers and deals on brands’ online fan pages, the Facebook digital marketing suite helps retailers further increase traffic to the store and toward key promotions.

“Our digital marketing suite brings Facebook users great deals from their favorite brands and gives retailers the ability to easily scale social marketing efforts on a site that just secured its 500 millionth active user and where consumers spend, on average, 7 billion minutes each day,” said Vikram Sharma, CEO of ShopLocal; accessrx.“We know that 49 percent of visitors to corporate fan pages go there to gain information on sales and special offers and another 45 percent come to learn about products.ShopLocal’s toolkit helps retailers across the country capitalize on this social shopping phenomenon.”

A number of leading retailers have already capitalized on the offering including: Canadian Tire accessrx, CVS, JCPenney, Michaels, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Save-A-Lot, Sports Authority, Staples, True Value and Walgreens.

The ShopLocal Facebook digital marketing suite includes:

The ShopLocal Facebook digital marketing suite gives retail marketers simple, cost-effective, high-quality and scalable social marketing tools.ShopLocal, known for its leadership and expertise in distributing local marketing initiatives in innovative ways to any digital format, continues to drive results for the top retailers in the world as a strategic partner in helping marketers successfully navigate the ever-evolving social landscape.

About ShopLocal
ShopLocal (www.AboutShopLocal.com), leader in multi-channel marketing services, offers a complete suite of innovative digital solutions that connect advertisers and consumers – online and in-store; accessrx.ShopLocal’s industry-leading SmartProduct business solutions (SmartCircular, SmartCatalog and SmartDelivery) enable more than 100 of the nation’s top retailers, including Target, Best Buy, Home Depot, CVS, Albertsons and Sears, to deliver highly interactive, targeted and localized promotions to shoppers through online circulars, display advertising, search, social media, digital out of home and mobile; accessrx. Accessrx: shopLocal is the retail division of PointRoll, a wholly owned subsidiary of Gannett Co., Inc.

Media Contact
Corie Pierce – 646-202-9758 / corie.pierce@horngroup.com

The Local Deals site features allow users to:

I will be posting highlights throughout the day on Twitter using the hashtag #shoplocal10 and wrting summary blog posts at night.

Today’s lineup includes:

• Vikram Sharma, CEO ShopLocal
• Rishad Tobaccowala, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, Vivaki
• Q & A with Rishad hosted by Jason Taffler, PointRoll CEO
• Publisher Keynote: Amy Vener, Yahoo!
• Retailer Keynote: Kat Kozita, Director of Interactive Marketing and Lauren Freedman, e-Tailing
• Q & A  with Kat and Lauren hosted by Cat Spurway, VP Marketing PointRoll