Author: Julie Campbell

The two companies will also work together to provide a virtual currency service to consumers.

SocialVibe, a digital ad company, and Placecast, a location-based mobile marketing business, have just announced that they will be working together to bring together geolocation and virtual currency that can be amassed by consumers through gaming and online browsing behaviors.

This service will target mobile shoppers who are seeking retail discounts at local shops.

The partnership between these two companies marries the digital marketing platform from SocialVibe with the geofencing technology from Placecast, in order to improve and enhance the consumer experience. In order to take advantage of these geolocation technology benefits, a consumer will need to travel near to the actual physical location of the store. This will trigger the discount opportunities.

The entire geolocation discount experience is based on an opt-in program.

Within it, the consumer can choose the specific brands from which he or she would like to receive geolocation based discount alerts. Every time they opt in for a program, they use virtual currency that is connected to an online activity or social game in which he or she is participating. When that individual travels near to the brick and mortar storefront that is linked to that specific brand program, it triggers a geofence, which then sends the consumer an SMS alert. This could include anything from a reminder of the currency that has been earned to a specific discount offer.

The partnership provides a new way of interacting with consumers (through their online browsing and gaming habits), in order to develop them into a geolocation marketing strategy based on his or her physical position, which then makes offers for in store discounts and other benefits.

It is not yet known which games will be available to the consumers as a result of this new partnership. However, the technology is already being tested, said the director of business development at SocialVibe, Chris LoRusso.

The new partnership will work with geolocation technologies as well as SMS messaging, which means that it is not necessary for the user to have a smartphone provided that he or she simply opts in.

The new site has been created specifically with tablet using “stylists” in mind.

Stella & Dot has just announced the unveiling of their new T-commerce website that has been optimized specifically for tablet users and not simply those who have smartphones.

Approximately 80 to 90 percent of the traffic to the site is from what the retailer calls “stylists”.

The “stylists” who visit the regular site as well as the new t-commerce website are people who hold trunk show parties and who sell the accessories and jewelry from Stella & Dot to their friends and family. The company had discovered over the last several months that a growing number of their stylists were bringing their tablets – primarily iPads – with them when they were holding their parties. They would use the devices to be able to better illustrate the entire selection of different products and be able to take additional orders while on location, instead of having to wait until they had returned home in order to complete the orders on their laptops or desktops.

That said, the t-commerce site can also be used by individual customers, who also make their purchases there.

Approximately 10 to 20 percent of the traffic to the StellaDot.com website comes directly from consumers. While 30 percent of that total amount of consumer traffic is over mobile, t-commerce represents 80 percent of all of the traffic from mobile devices. This makes tablets an exceptionally important part of their mobile business. Among the tablet users, 90 percent are visiting the site over iPads.

Stella & Dot has clearly identified the devices that are being used by their customers and stylists, and are now working with Mobify, a mobile commerce technology vendor, in order to launch a website that has been carefully optimized with the t-commerce visitor in mind.

According to the chief information officer from Stella & Dot, Eduardo Frias, who spoke about the t-commerce updates, “I would not be surprised if tablet traffic doubles between now and next year.” He added that “Our technology roadmap for next year is heavily laden with smartphone-friendly and tablet-friendly initiatives to keep taking advantage of the boom in tablets and smartphones.”