A couple of days ago, I was asked by a shopper marketing magazine to comment on the shaping trends in the retail arena of today. As a matter of fact, I had to look at the global trends and their local implications as well. With smart mobile sales growing annually by double digit figures and more than 4 billion of applications downloaded from Apple’s App Store worldwide it is more than obvious that digital, and especially mobile, is the next big thing for retailers of any kind in almost any country.

For years we used to hear about mobile marketing as of a revolutionary idea. However, although expectations were high, for a long time it was regarded as a niche area of marketing communications, at least when speaking from the European perspective. The main obstacle seemed to be mainly the lack of connectivity required for delivering interactive and emotionally appealing content engaging with consumers through the “mobile Web”.