13 posts categorized "Retail"

Kraft Foods, the world’s No. 2 food company, has launched a new iPhone and iPod touch application that offers consumers access to food and meal-planning ideas.

Called the iFood Assistant, the app can be downloaded from the Apple App Store for installation on any iPhone or iPod touch. The app targets consumers on the go looking for recipes. “Our goal is to help make consumers’ lives easier by helping them find the perfect food idea for any occasion, create quick shopping lists and find the nearest grocery store – all just a finger-tap away,” said Ed Kaczmarek, director of innovation for new services at Kraft.

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Stores like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are using more text-message alerts to spread the news about sales. Online retailers like Buy.com Inc. are sending out daily messages on Twitter, a blogging site that uses short messages, to advertise the latest holiday specials. The Gap Inc., Target Corp., Sears Holdings Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. are pushing new mobile programs this year, too.

Retailers hope these efforts make it easier for customers to shop online, with their cellphones or even at brick-and-mortar stores. And while the prices touted digitally are basically the same as those offered in the store, retailers say customers can get news of sales earlier than with other methods, such as commercials or circulars.

Wal-Mart is sending out more-frequent text-message alerts to its shoppers who signed up for the service, says Melissa O'Brien a spokeswoman for the company. Last year, Wal-Mart sent out three alerts to shoppers' cellphones the entire holiday season. This year, the company is sending out weekly alerts that customers can tailor by category.

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Our friends at Mobile Marketer have the scoop:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, is taking its cost-savings message to another interactive channel with the launch of its Walmart Holiday Mobile Alerts program.

The mobile effort, introduced without fanfare, targets shoppers with the promise to deliver them early news of bargains in-store or online at Walmart. It is also an opportune attempt by Walmart to build a database of mobile consumers for marketing offers and deals.

“It’s your opportunity (to save money) calling,” says the callout on the Walmart Holiday Mobile Alerts page on http://www.walmart.com. “Now there’s a new tool for saving money – your mobile phone,” the copy reads. “Sign up for Walmart Holiday Mobile Alerts and you can be among the first to hear about special savings.”

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