Today in MediaPost's Mobile Insider, Steve Smith observes:
"Mobile marketing does not seem especially, um, mobilized for this Friday's annual consumer orgy. In fact, apart from one or two columns here and there by start-up execs pitching their wares, I have seen little chatter in the industry about the role of mobile in the shopping experience on Black Friday.
"It seems a no-brainer. Asking 'can I get this cheaper online' or 'what are the reviews like' have become retail reflexes for most of us. Arguably, this is the first year where mobile Web use (between 36 million and 43 million of us) has reached a critical enough mass to matter for most retailers. There will be millions of us in-store this Friday, armed with a mobile Internet device and cognizant of its power to run price comparisons, pull in relevant product content, and even serve as a competing, alternative retail channel.
According to Smith, shoppers with mobile info needs often encounter sluggish, mobile-unfriendly, hard-to-navigate sites and other obstacles.
This just makes me think: News organizations already have advertising relationships with local retailers. Maybe, instead of just running bulking print ads, news orgs could provide a mobile-friendly online interface to sales and special deals for specific products? This might help shoppers year-round, not just on Black Friday. Thoughts?
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