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"It's the next frontier," said Kathy Grannis, a spokeswoman for the National Retail Foundation.
Locally based retailers are pushing the technology bounds in their own ways this holiday. A week ago, Conway Main Street started texting special events and information about sales in the historic district; Coastal Grand mall will launch its own app next month, just in time for the holidays; and The Market Common created a mobile website and loyalty card program a few months ago.
There are also more retailers turning to what are now old standbys, Facebook and Twitter.
Delivering deals and news to cell phones is a no-brainer considering how much consumers use the gadget for everything else these days, said Steve McGhee, general manager of Coastal Grand mall.
"It's a way to get a message to a potential customer," he said. "It's just convenient, very fast. I use my iPhone more and more every day. I've got just about every imaginable app on it. These electronic phones ... are just changing the way people do things."
Retailers are banking on the latest cell phone technology helping boost holiday sales. Nationally, sales during November and December are expected to increase 2.3 percent over last year to hit $447.1 billion, according to the National Retail Federation.
Local retailers also are expecting a solid season, aiming to continue the strong sales they enjoyed this summer.
Consumers, as they did last year, will be hunting for deals, but have loosened up their purse strings just a bit, experts said. Area retailers aim to lure them with smart phone messages and events such as carriage rides, ice rinks and band performances to mix a little holiday cheer in with the shopping.
"People have been afraid to spend money," McGhee said. "I think they are tired of living under all this negative publicity about the economy. They are spending more money."
Deals in their pockets
More than a quarter of American consumers who have smart phones will use them to research gifts or buy gifts this holiday, according to the National Retail Federation, which said that growing trend has retailers offering more robust apps and mobile websites, as well as new features.
Conway Main Street, a nonprofit that promotes the city's downtown, is marching into that territory with regular text messages, such as "It's snowing in Conway."
That's one of the text messages Conway followers are likely to get in the coming week - a way to let them know about the snowball drop - where 1,000 discount-filled ping pong balls will drop to shoppers on Nov. 4.
"We try to do things to catch people's attention," Howard said.
A week into the texting business, Howard is embracing the medium as a way to notify consumers in one swoop about special events downtown and promotions. About 75 people signed up to receive the texts during the first week.
"That's pretty good for week No. 1," Howard said. "We expect it to expand, to just explode. ... We as an organization are entering into the texting world."
Target was one of the first retailers out of the gate with mobile coupons when it sent out its first batch in March. It's been such a hit, Target has expanded it. The company declined to say how many people are getting the mobile coupons and how that number compares to projections.
"Target has recently doubled the number of mobile offers our guests receive each month," spokeswoman Jill Hornbacher said in an e-mail. "We know that our guests are relying more and more on mobile devices, so we're providing convenient, on-the-go mobile solutions for our guests."
Mobile coupons are next on the list for Conway Main Street, and The Market Common in Myrtle Beach also is considering them.
"We as a downtown are kind of on the edge of it. We are right on the verge," Howard said.
The Market Common recently launched a rewards card shoppers can sign up for and check the shopping center's cell-phone-friendly website daily for deals, spokeswoman Hatton Gravely said. Shoppers show the card to the retailer to get the special promotion. Retailers can log in and change their specials as often as they like, she said.
"[Shoppers] can just access it on their mobile phone," Gravely said. "This was a way to get the coupons into shoppers' hands. It's much better for the consumer because they don't have to carry a bunch of coupons."
Coastal Grand will launch a MallMerlin app in the coming week that will allow shoppers to check store locations and sales, McGhee said.
Inlet Square mall also is aiming to tap the latest social media strategies, general manager Suzanne Oden said.
"That's what's happening now, and we definitely want to be on board with that," she said.
For downtown Conway, the texting program will help the historic district reach new followers - 20- to 34-year-olds, Howard said. Nationally, about 45 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds who have smart phones will use them to research or make holiday purchases this year, according to the National Retail Federation.
"We are trying to reach out to a new audience," Howard said. "That's just the type of market that will respond to it."
Not Coastal Carolina University student Sydney Lawson, who pays no attention to retailers' texting techniques.
"Personally, I think it is a waste of time to send because I don't care," she said.
Discounts via text sounded great for coupon-conscious shoppers MeLissa and Annie Ezernack, who routinely go through newspaper advertising and retailers' websites looking for deals.
"Coupons - that's a big thing we look for," MeLissa Ezernack said. "[With text coupons] I could keep them all in one place."
Within minutes of hearing about text coupons, Annie Ezernack, MeLissa's mom, had come up with another way those could save her a few bucks and the hassle of printing coupons off retailers' websites.
"That's fantastic. We run out of printer ink like that," she said, snapping her fingers.
Brighter hopes this year
Consumers are more likely to act on the offers they get via smart phone or any other way this holiday than last year, experts said.
While the economy is still wobbly, shoppers are feeling a bit better about spending this holiday than last year and in 2008 - the only year holiday sales have dropped since the National Retail Federation started tracking them in 1992, the group said.
"Consumers are still a little bit nervous about the economy, but nowhere near how they were last year," Grannis said. "The overall fear has subsided a little bit."
Myrtle Beach Mall expects a solid season, in part because retailers have adjusted to what spokesman Matt Morris calls the "new kind of consumer."
"They are looking for value," he said. "It's not that impulse buying."
Shoppers want deals, and that will drive their spending this season, said Britt Beemer, founder and chief executive of Charleston-based America's Research Group. His early survey shows that a record high 43 percent of American shoppers plan to spend less this year than last.
"Deals, deals, deals. People don't have any money," Beemer said, adding that this was the most pessimism he's seen from Americans about Christmas shopping in the 31 years he's researched consumer trends. "This year it was just depressing."
Beyond the deals, shopping centers are trying to lure shoppers with special entertainment or events beyond the usual visit to sit on Santa's lap. Myrtle Beach Mall will showcase performances by local school bands and choruses, The Market Common will have a synthetic ice skating rink and "snow" at the Christmas tree, and downtown Conway will have carriage rides and carolers.
"All of these things just build good memories for people," Gravely said.
And help lure the dollars for retailers, who are much merrier this season than last.
"We are on that slow ride back up," Morris said.
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