Siteminis' Marci Troutman with panel at Mobile Shopping

Mobile Shopping Fall took place in New York City last week and we’re happy to report it was a hit!

Following opening remarks from Chairperson Marci Troutman, CEO of Siteminis; Kelly Shoenfelt, Manager of Online Customer Experience for Southwest Airlines and Larry Glenn, Senior Director of Application Development at Saks 5th Avenue sat on the first panel of the day. After weighing in on best practices for acquisition, retention and engagement, speakers shared their thoughts on creating a strategic mobile roadmap that aligns with overarching company goals. This sparked a series of interesting questions from the audience, specifically around when and how to test certain facets of a mobile offering.

Next up was one of Day One’s highlight presentations – a case study from PayPal. Comparing the mobile marketer to a detective tasked with discovering the true identity of the mobile shopper, the entertaining address dug deeply into the behavioral patterns of end-users, then touched on best practices for using this data to grow mCommerce. It concluded by noting what differentiates PayPal from its chief competitors.

The rest of the day featured expertise from panelists representing Barnes & Noble, Express, Coca-Cola, Dell, Subaru, GE and other leading brands, and finally wrapped up with an incredibly detailed address from Papa John’s Jim McDonnell on finding your edge in an increasingly competitive mobile environment. Jim closed by noting a number of brands excelling in mobile right now, including Gilt Groupe, Target, and Walgreens.

On Tuesday, we recognized the brands setting the beat to the march in mobile with the announcement of the First Annual Mobile Shopping Best-In-Class Awards. The three awards were for 2011’s Best Mobile Site, Best Mobile App and Best Social/Mobile Crossover Campaign. The winners, as announced last week, were as follows:

Best Mobile Site: 1800.FLOWERS
other nominees: HSN, Gap

Best Mobile App: Rue La La
other nominees: Gilt Groupe, Pacific Sunwear

Best Social/Mobile Crossover Campaign: Banana Republic
other nominees: ASOS, Aeropostale

The winners presented their case studies at the Mobile Shopping Fall conference on the morning of October 19, 2011.

“We introduced the Best-In-Class Awards to recognize advances that retailers are making in the mCommerce space,” said Ian Grody, Mobile Shopping Fall conference director. “Right now, mCommerce executives are focused on managing ‘what’s next’ while remaining focused on today’s brand experience. The award winners are leaders in demonstrating their expertise in driving real business results through their mobile channels.”

The Advisory Board of judges included executives from companies like Pizza Hut, Urban Outfitters, Choice Hotels, Jewelry Television, and Mobile Marketer. They judged each entry based on program goals, program execution and results.

Congratulations to all the winners and thank you for attending and supporting the Mobile Shopping conference.