Cyber Monday 2011 exceeded all expectations with PayPal data showing a 552% increase in global payment volume compared to 2010.  In addition, PayPal also claims that there is a 397% increase in the number of consumers shopping via PayPal.  This increase gives social shopping a lot of hope in where it can go and grow in the coming years.  There are several sites that have the opportunity to shine this holiday season.

• Fab.com, OpenSky, and Gilt Groupe are growing websites due to their unique products.  These sites allow you to invite friends to sales, as well as share socially.   Fab.com is a six-month old company which already has 900,000 users and a revenue run rate of $50 million.
• Pinterest, Ployvore and Svpply are online virtual wish lists which allow users to share products they love.  These sites produce the perfect opportunity for retailers like Nordstrom and Bergdorf Goodman to create collages of their products to drive online traffic.  These sites are still relatively new and they home content, not commerce, so measuring their effectiveness is not available at this time.
• OpenSky is a new female-friendly online shopping site, which is search-box free.  The site allows women to discover new products by choosing and connecting with pros, experts and celebrities who will recommend their favorite products for you based on your interests.

For more information about social shopping, check out: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/can-social-shopping-finally-take-136611

Rumors are swirling that Facebook and HTC are teaming up to develop a smartphone.  This partnership could be a game changer in the social network arena, threatening Google, Apple and Amazon.  Facebook currently has over 350 million active mobile users, who have made FB’s mobile applications extremely popular.  This Facebook-HTC phone isn’t going to enter the mobile arena overnight, but rumblings state that the phone is code named “Buffy” and will run on a modified version of Android and will support HTML5.

If Facebook enters the mobile arena, they have the opportunity to be the fourth major app store, which is the main focus.  The company has watched how Amazon has become a central platform and provider of apps with the Fire, and feels like the HTC deal could help them become a major mobile apps player, not just the “Facebook app” that is one of many on users phones.  This integration would be deep and Facebook would play a major role in the consumer’s mobile experience.

Interestingly enough, this partnership rumor is gaining traction, just as HTC was named one of the top smartphones in the market: http://adage.com/article/special-report-americas-hottest-brands/america-s-hottest-brands-htc/231204/

For more information about the Facebook-HTC smartphone, go to: http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/software-technology/11561.html

The holiday season is finally upon us.  With Friday being one of the biggest shopping days of the year, we wanted to provide you with some apps that might make your excursions more productive.

• Black Flyday is an Android app that is free until Black Friday.  It teams you up with your Facebook friends in your bargain hunts. The app shows all the best deals within a certain radius and  shoppers can contribute to a real-time bulletin board. 
• CamelCamelCamel is a website that provides users with pricing data and charts from Amazon and 3rd-party vendors.  It also keeps track of items you want and once you input how much you are willing to pay for an item, the site will email or tweet you if that item reaches your price threshold.
• Savvy is an app that helps you get price adjustments for items that miraculously drop in price right after you buy them.  Instead of driving, waiting in line and dealing with all the hassle, all you need to do is take a picture of the receipt and send it to the retailer.  This app is currently only available in Apple iOS but is building Android.
• ComplainApp is an app and customer-service website that allows you to voice your greivences so they hopefully are resolved in a timely fashion.  The app has Twitter integration which has really aided in getting issues resolved.  This app is free on Android and Apple iOS.
• Parking in Motion is an iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch app that shows nearby parking structures, with their entrance location, occupancy, rates and hours.

We hope you all have a fabulous Thanksgiving holiday and Happy Black Friday shopping!

Shopkick and Visa have partnered up to create a mobile rewards program that adds an incentive to shoppers immediately.  Shopkick’s expertise in the instant mobile rewards arena will definitely add a new layer to holiday season shopping.  Once users have downloaded the Shopkick’s app (on iPhone or Android) they then need to link it to their Visa account, which will then allow the “Buy and Collect” offers to hit your phone when you enter participating stores.  The first retailers using this program include, Toys “R” Us, American Eagle Outfitters, Old Navy, Wet Seal and Simon Malls.

Consumers earn different “kicks” depending on the Visa purchase amount and the stores.  For example, “825 kicks are good for a $25 meal at a restaurant (via Restaurant.com) and Toys “R” Us is offering 520 kicks with an $85 purchase.”  Additionally, Shopkick’s app (separate from the Visa partnership) will still reward kicks from various vendors just for walking through their stores.

For more information on how the Buy & Collect system works on Shopkick, watch the video here: http://youtu.be/IUDLSoJ4OlU

Google Music has finally moved out of beta and as of today, it is now live and has a store in the Android Market on the web.  Google Music is the company’s answer to iTunes.  Though they have had issues in the past month securing partnerships with the four major record labels, they are up and running and ready for users.  Similar to iTunes Match and Amazon Cloud Player, Google Music will allow users to store their purchases and upload files to the cloud via their music store in the Android Market.

One of Google’s main goals of this project was to create an interface that allowed users to spend more time listening to their music collection, and less time managing it.  This includes the ability to sync your entire music library across all your devices without cables, file transfers and memory sticks.

One really cool/noteworthy feature is that Google Music will take cues from Facebook’s Spotify and will include a “listen”-like tool which will allow your Google + friends to listen along with a song you’ve shared once for free.  Want more freebies? Well Google Music has exclusive rights to a variety of music you won’t be able to find anywhere else, including hits from The Rolling Stones (1973), Coldplay, Busta Rhymes, Pearl Jam and Dave Matthews Band.

Finally, this is going to be the Go-To place for aspiring artists with Google Music’s Artist Hub. Any artist who has the right to distribute his or her own music, can do so via Google’s provided platform, which includes the ability to build an artist page, upload original tracks, set prices and sell content directly to fans.

Start building your music library now at: https://music.google.com/music/listen or for more information, check out Google’s official blog: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/google-music-is-open-for-business.html

Ford is using the extreme popularity of the online game, Words With Friends, to reveal its new car.  Ford has partnered with social game developer Zynga, to get fans to participate in the world’s largest game of Words With Friends, via their Facebook, iPhones or Android devices.  Tonight (November 15th) from 11pm to midnight (EST), Ford’s US fans can collectively play the game versus celebrity Jenny McCarthy at an event in Los Angeles.  While playing the game, Ford will reveal a full photo of the new 2013 Ford Escape on giant television screens, the night before it debuts at the LA Auto Show.

Ford’s use of this online gaming platform and social media hit is new for them (and it’s competitors).  The company believes that revealing the car this way expands Ford’s reach beyond traditional social channels and engages a broader audience, hence the reason for bringing in actress, model, and former Playmate of the Year, McCarthy.

This reveal is part of the Escape’s larger social gaming campaign, Escape Routes, which will also launch today.  Escape Routes is an online interactive reality series which features six teams of two that travel around the country competing in virtual and real-life challenges.

For more information, go to: http://mashable.com/2011/11/15/ford-words-with-friends/

Never eat lunch alone again.  A new application called LunchMeet, works with LinkedIn to find professional contacts in your network and area who are available and wanting to meet up for lunch, dinner or drinks.  This free app aims at helping business professionals strengthen and expand their professional network by optimizing their free time.

“The new application, available for iPhone devices, is easy to use”:

1. Log in to the app using your LinkedInTM account
2. Enter the timeslots and location of your availability
3. Search for other professionals who are also available in the same area during the same timeslot
4. Call them or use the in-app messaging to arrange a LunchMeet

Several additional features of this app include, posting your meeting availability on your LinkedIn status and automatically adding meeting details to your iPhone calendar.

The app takes privacy very seriously, which is why only your contacts will be able to see and access your personal information, all other searching contacts will only be able to see your name and title.

For more information about this unique and savvy application, go to: http://mashable.com/2011/11/08/lunchmeet/

Macy’s annual Believe campaign, which benefits the Make-A-Wish foundation is adding a new layer this year, augmented reality.  In addition to allowing customers to mail letters to Santa at in-store “Believe Stations,” people will also be able to take pictures with the campaign’s animated stars Virginia, Ollie and friends via an augmented reality app, Believe-o-Magic.

Once customers download the app, and are in-store, they can step into the photo frame where they will see the animated character.  This photo can be uploaded into a holiday card template or shared with family and friends via email or Facebook.  If users want to use this app from home, they can print out a “marker” and point the app camera at the marker.  People will then see an animated Virginia ice skating.

Additionally, this campaign will be supported by a Facebook contest.  Users who “like” the Macy’s FB page, can upload their Believe-o-Magic image to the FB wall, then each week other consumers will vote via “likes” on their favorite fan photo.  The winner will be featured as Macy’s profile picture for the week.

For more information on this campaign, go to: http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/software-technology/11417.html