By: Erika Stevens

If the online statistics from this year’s Black Friday are any indication, the 2010 Thanksgiving shopping weekend was a success.  ComScore reports that online sales from Thanksgiving and Black Friday totaled 1.1 billion dollars, which is a 15% increase from 2009.

Customers visited stores early on Black Friday armed with coffee, shopping lists and their mobile phones.  Mobile as well as social media marketing has taken off this year as more of the population become smartphone users.  There are numerous ways that customers are using their smartphones to interact while out shopping. 

       Online Purchasing
       Apps specific to a store or event
               For Example: TGI Black Friday or Target
       Viewing mobile web pages
       Participating in location-based applications or scanning
               For example: Checking in on Foursquare or challenges on SCVNGR
       Posting messages on social media
       Price Comparison Scanning
       Mobile Couponing

Even though some of these uses, such as the price comparison scanning, might draw consumers away from your business, the smartphone is an excellent way to enhance your customer communication.  These tools reinforce the fact that retailers need to figure out a way to communicate and retain loyal customers with mobile as well as other loyalty and marketing efforts.  While mobile marketing is one of the newest tools to businesses, it is an invaluable method of capturing even more loyal customers.