Last year while shopping for my first home, I can honestly say that I had little idea what I was doing.  Fortunately, I was able to use the recommendations of friends, family and numerous online tools to help me make my decision.   This was not a quick process however.  I spent the better part of a year developing the right questions to ask realtors, identifying the critical must-have to the nice-to-have features in the home, and simply trying to figure out what town I actually wanted to live in.

The home shopping process reminded me of the request for proposal (RFP) process.  RFPs don’t just get sent out of the blue.  The requesting organizations spend hours creating questions, considering vendors to receive the RFP and organizing a document that will be easy to understand thereby allowing them to compare results across vendors. Basically a ton of work for what they hope will let them gather the right information and make the best vendor decision. (more…)

Over the weekend, I was out running errands with my family. My wife ran into the supermarket to pick up a few things while I sat in the car with my kids, listening to the radio. I looked at the keys dangling from the ignition and wondered if she’d need the loyalty card attached to the key ring. Then I remembered, of course she doesn’t! Her shopping list, associated manufacturer coupons and loyalty information is already stored in her mobile phone. (more…)

The shopping habits and desires of mobile-empowered consumers, or m-commerce, are an emerging group who are narrowly focusing and hunting down what they want from the billions of choices out there.  Anyone who has seen an episode of Extreme Couponing will attest to that.

A recent survey of 1,500 US adults at the 2011 Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition revealed mobile shoppers’ most common purchases broken down by percentage: (more…)