The holiday season is upon us again, but this time it looks like smartphones will be ringing up about 28 percent of holiday shopping sales or, $127 billion of the $447 billion the National Retail Federation (NRF) predicts that U.S. consumers will spend this season. There are lots of Apps, ranging from those that provide direction and maps, to credits and coupons, and others that combine the social networking aspect.
As people are looking for more deals, they'll be using their iPhones, Android and Blackberry devices to not only search for deals online, but to also find deals in their local shopping malls, where comparison shopping can be done on the spot. There are various shopping Apps that will you help you do this, such as the Micello Indoor Map for malls. It does for malls what Google maps does for the world. Micello provides an interactive map that allows you to locate products inside a mall and get walking directions to the store. It's available on Android, iPad, iPhone, but as yet it is only available for about 15 shopping centers. Another App, Shopkick, combines rewards or "kickbucks'' (redeemable credits), the moment you walk past a sensor at the door of one of its partners. You can also earn kickbucks by scanning the product barcode with your iPhone camera at participating retailers. Some of the deals are as high as $75 kicbucks at BestBuy for example.
MyShopanion combines social networking with shopping. You can bring your closest friends with you by snapping a shot of the product or the barcode, broadcast it on Facebook or Twitter, or even email your community of friends. Since two-thirds of the largest purchases in a household are influenced by family and friends, you really are bringing them along with you. This App allows you to push the information right to all your social networks at once.
Check out the iTunes store to get these Apps.
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