The race for NFC-based mobile payments is heating up with projections for 2013 exceeding $13 billion globally, up from just over $7 billion in 2011, according to Gartner research.

Isis, the mobile-payments joint venture backed by AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, has signed up Coca-Cola, Macy’s, Aéropostale, Dillard’s, Foot Locker (and its subsidiary Champs Sports) and Jamba Juice, as well as hundreds of local retailers in Texas and Utah who will start accepting Isis payments by this summer.

Both Isis and competitor Google Wallet use NFC chips that store user’s credit card data or pre-loaded digital cash. Both companies are also working with check-out scanners and retailers including Gap, Office Max, Toys ‘R’ Us and Walgreens. 

Google Wallet is currently available on four Sprint handsets and none from the mobile operators backing Isis. Sprint is the only U.S. carrier backing Google Wallet and to that end just released the LG Optimus Elite for Virgin Mobile.Continue reading...

Absolut Vodka Cut, above, is just the latest in a series of the Swedish brand’s embrace of the LGBT community which dates back to 1981, before it was fashionable.

Starting with ads in The Advocate and After Dark, and extending to charitable and cause-related donations and outdoor advertising, Absolut is marking its three-decade relationship with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community with a yearlong anniversary campaign, “Absolut Outrageous” (“Out” appears in pink), featuring the tagline: “Celebrating 30 years of going out and coming out.”

Now that it’s popular, established marketers like Procter & Gamble, Unilever, General Motors, Macy’s, Campbell Soup, Orbitz, PepsiCo and American Airlines are all on the LGBT bandwagon. But Absolut was the “first big brand to commit to and pursue the market” by being “the first continuously present major brand in gay media,” said Michael Wilke, former executive director of the Commercial Closet Association, now senior U.S. consultant for Out Now Consulting.Continue reading...

As holiday planning approaches, a new Motista study suggests retailers should look beyond traditional sales-drivers such as awareness, holiday emotion and themes and find better ways to engage increasingly savvy consumers. They also find that men and women connect with retailers differently.

Major brands included in the study were Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Best Buy, Gap, Crate & Barrel, Macy’s, Nordstrom and Walmart. Findings highlighted important differences between consumers who are "satisfied and those emotionally connected to brands. Continue reading...

How much is that doggy bed in the window? Shopkick knows.

The mobile application, which melds in-store and mobile retail, rewards consumers for just walking in, with further deals for scanning partner brand products at more than 250,000 stores across the U.S. 

Launching a year ago this month (it officially turns one on August 17th), its users have surpassed 6.5 million product scans as 12 new major brand partners sign on: CoverGirl, Disney, General Mills, Levi’s, Libman, Mead Johnson, Meguiar’s, Mr. Clean, Olay, Revlon, Tilex and Trident.Continue reading...

We've noted Shopkick before, but it bears taking another look now that it's live. Shopkick is a new mobile app that rewards users with “kickbucks” redeemable via gift certificates, music downloads and Facebook games. The smartphone app tracks and offers promotions to customers from the moment they enter a store to the cash register – and even in the fitting room.

Enter the store: gain points. Head to the dressing room at American Eagle to try on something – more points. Try out a tennis racquet at Sports Authority – match points!

It takes 1,250 kickbucks to earn a $5.00 American Eagle giftcard, but already retailers are considering upping the ante. Shopkick takes a small fee for each kickbuck earned, and a percentage of any sale resulting from using the app. In addition to the retailers, Shopkick can offer brands' coupons and promotions to shoppers.Continue reading...

Never heard of a raccoon dog? Well, you may be sitting near one on your next visit to the theater or your favorite posh restaurant. Apparently, some major retail brands used raccoon dog fur in their products and then mislabeled them. Yes, that fake fur just might be real.

The Humane Society has brought a lawsuit against retail stores such as Saks, Lord & Taylor, Macy’s, and Neiman Marcus, who wrongfully labeled raccoon dog fur as faux fur or imitation fur on retail items, trimmings, and jackets. A raccoon dog is a part of the canid species, which belongs to the family that includes foxes, wolves, and dogs. The Humane Society is outraged and has filed a lawsuit against the retail brands.Continue reading...