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Although most retailers understand the importance of mobile and have started investigating ways to engage their customers, many have not used the medium to its full potential.

The basic theory of advertising is that brands seek to be placed in front of their audiences, whilst maintaining as positive an ROI as possible.

Smart retailers are finding that it is becoming less about replacing the in-store shopping with mobile commerce, and more about bringing together all channels to create one great customer experience.

Because mobile shopping is expected to be especially crucial this holiday shopping season, the need to embrace mobile commerce is unmistakable.

The rapid adoption of smartphones and tablets offers a new opportunity for retailers, banks and insurance providers to take advantage of a feature that is unique to mobile devices and tablets: the camera.

The third screen is here to stay and can no longer be viewed merely as an advertising experiment or side project. But what does the future hold for mobile advertising?

Twitter has been coined the “SMS of the Internet” with more than 500 million active users. Facebook itself claims 1 billion, and then there are the millions of users on LinkedIn, Digg, Pinterest, YouTube and Google+.

When a brand cannot or no longer wishes to respect the constraints of the chosen business model, whether for reasons external to the company or internal reasons, it is time to consider leaving luxury before it is too late.

It is time to think differently about how retail works as lines become blurry.

There is no doubt that luxury retailers are no longer dipping their toes in social marketing. They are driving unique programs that tie together their brand promise and the unique marketing capabilities of social media.

Thanks to competitive pricing, the convenience and tempting offers such as free shipping, the Internet has become the place to shop – and consumers rely on retailers to secure the data used to make their online purchases.

As everyone in the print media business knows, this is the peak time of year for Requests for Proposals (RFPs) with publishers and ad agencies scrambling on short turnarounds with late nights and lots of stress.

Something interesting is happening as we enter the holiday season’s second half: the merging of online and offline worlds back into the bricks-and-mortar experience.

While mobile devices are playing a major role this holiday shopping season, I predict that within the next five to seven years, their use for purchases will actually be greater than purchases made in-store or online.

With all of the talk on mobile payments and mobile commerce, NFC and the new Apple Passbook, it is interesting that no one is talking about mobile commerce fraud.

Good content can help drive higher brand recall, favorability and purchase intent, and because of this, savvy advertisers prioritize quality content when picking their advertising partners.

Like or loathe it, advertising plays an important role in our social fabric. It helps to initiate trends, propel cultural identities and keep us informed about latest products and services.

Few technologies have as much growth potential right now as machine-to-machine communication, or M2M. It could take mobile marketing to the next stage in its evolution.

Content curation is a descriptive term. It denotes the act of organizing material or information to be displayed or broadcast with the goal to tell a story.

In addition to their growing numbers, mobile shoppers are spending more and creating larger shopping carts through mobile channels such as the tablet. As a result, the mobile shopper is clearly this season’s most coveted consumer for luxury brands.

Charging on a per-engagement basis cuts to the chase and puts the focus on attention, not impressions.