Inbound Marketing and Technology Blog

Year after year people vow to start their Christmas shopping early in order to avoid the chaos at the malls and more importantly, to avoid over spending on expensive, last minute gifts. To those that have already finished their shopping, congratulations! However, to all those that are still shopping, I have great news for you: you no longer have to let procrastination get the best of you.

Hundreds of businesses now offer discounts to consumers just for checking in on location-based services like Foursquare…and the deals have gotten hotter for the holidays. What do businesses get from it? Well, the idea is that users’ friends see that they’re checking in, giving the stores some exposure. That’s social promotion and advertising that you can’t buy!

If you are still unfamiliar with Foursquare, check out this intro from aboutfoursquare.com. Just make sure you don’t spend too much time reading because Christmas is right around the corner and there is plenty of shopping to do!

Everyone knows Walmart has been a powerful force in the retail industry. They were one of the first to adopt the UPC code, ultimately sparking global adoption. Today, you’d be surprised if you found something without a barcode of some sort. I am sure it is because of this clout that Walmart has been invited to lead several other initiatives including replacing UPCs with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and going organic.