Department store chain J. C. Penney Co. Inc. is partnering with various mobile social networks to distribute a Christmas-themed promotional offer featuring badges and mobile coupons.

Consumers that visit a JCPenney store before Christmas Eve and share the location with their friends via Brightkite, Foursquare or Facebook Deals/Places will instantly receive a $10-off coupon to spend in the store or online. Each week, the retailer is giving away $25 and $100 gift cards, and one shopper will receive a $1,000 JCPenney shopping spree.

In simpler times, Black Friday existed for retailers to jump-start the holiday shopping season by getting turkey-stuffed shoppers off the couch and into stores on the day after Thanksgiving. But in today’s tough economic climate, we’ve become a nation of bargain hunters, and Black Friday has almost become a holiday in itself.

Given how important the day has become to retailers, it pays to look at how technology is changing the way consumers shop and, in particular, how Black Friday will change in coming years:

After announcing a partnership with Best Buy a few months ago, Shopkickis debuting a new implementation of its geo-coupon system at Target today. Users can now unlock coupons via Shopkick’s app in 242 stores in the Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York City, and San Francisco/Silicon Valley markets.

Information provided by CrunchBase

Mobile Apps: “We Don’t Need No Stinking Badges”

By Doug Stephens

If marketing research has taught us anything at all, it’s that consumers despise being manipulated – at least knowingly manipulated.  As humans we prefer not to be cajoled into working for unclear results or rewards.  So, why then have so many retailers defaulted to employing mobile applications that essentially treat consumers like fun loving Golden Retrievers?

This is an interesting concept: A small square device that plugs into an iPhone, iPad or Android and allows the owner to accept credit card payments. (For a fee, of course.)

LONDON (AdAge.com) -- Consumers are turning to mobile handsets to purchase everything from gift vouchers to flat-screen TVs, and retailers around the world are struggling to keep up with the pace of change.

--> In the U.K., mainstream retailers are ahead of the curve in developing mobile websites and apps in order to harness the potential of m-commerce, which technology analyst Ovum predicts will bring in $41 billion in global revenues by 2014, up from $7.7 billion in 2007.

Scott Seaborn, head of mobile technologies at Ogilvy Group U.K., reports that one unnamed U.K. High Street retailer estimates that it loses 12% of sales from people who purchase via a mobile channel while still in-store. He said, "The boundaries are beginning to blur between using a handset and a laptop. Mobile is becoming so significant in human behavior."

via adage.com