Gift cards going mobile

A survey conducted in September at the annual Shop.org Retail Summit in Boston showed that that almost half of all retailers surveyed planned to offer eGifting this holiday season, and 44% were looking at location-based deals as a key element of their mobile marketing strategy. 

The survey, sponsored by CashStar, found a growing number of concerns among retailers about the lack of personalization of gift cards. 

“As consumers increasingly turn to their smartphones, retailers need to adapt and look at how gift cards and location-based deals can complement each other," said David Stone, CEO of CashStar.

Of those retailers surveyed, 72% planned to increase their mobile marketing spend this year, with 6% planning to increase it significantly. Only 2% of survey respondents planned to decrease their mobile marketing spend. When it comes to mobile marketing, mobile coupons were the most popular offering (64%) followed by location-based deals (44%). 

Retailers are planning to promote to the last minute -- 42% of those surveyed plan to stop holiday promotions on the last day consumers can ship an item and have it arrive in time for Christmas, but 32% plan to continue their promotions to Christmas Eve.