Many merchants use social media as a communication channel to interact with shoppers, but a new study suggests it can be just as effective for engaging employees. As Retailing Today reports, leveraging social media as a part of internal communications can have a significant impact on sales.

A number of businesses use email for internal communications, but for a retail sales associate who is supposed to be engaging customers on the floor, it often isn't an efficient use of their time to read long, drawn-out messages. Instead, quick bursts of social media messages gets the point across while having a minimal impact on their time.

"In addition, don’t forget about mobile technology for reaching retail employees during the workday," the news source adds. "Much of the engagement you might hope employees will get at home via computer can just as easily be done at work with a smartphone. Applications for Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn all enable retail employees to check in on company news on their breaks."

More than 850 million people worldwide have Facebook, conveying the reach these channels can provide to merchants.

New retail software will only get brands so far, according to top UK stores. Trust and innovation will be key to winning the future.

Major UK retailers, including John Lewis and Waitrose, are examples of how stores are responding to the financial crisis, globalization and increasing technological change to reach consumers in new ways, Reuters reports.

One way retailers can improve the customer experience, according to store groups, is to understand consumers' desire for change and develop new packaging and design, the source notes.

"Retailers are going to have to face a new reality, there's going to be no help from the government," Peter Marks, chief executive of The Co-operative Group, said at the annual Retail Week conference. "We all have to start focusing on driving costs out of the business and investing those savings into giving the customer a better experience."

Many high street retailers have taken to purchasing more space for their operations, adding second levels or expanding laterally.

While retailers aren't running out to replace traditional point-of-sale solutions with tablets and other mobile devices, these tools are affecting shoppers' perceptions. A new survey from AisleBuyer suggests consumers view retailers using tablets and mobile devices as being more advanced and innovative.

Approximately one-fifth of shoppers – 22 percent – have been to a retail store where associates use mobile devices instead of cash registers. Meanwhile, half of shoppers – 57 percent – think retailers using these tools instead of registers are more innovative than their competitors. Additionally, 64 percent of businesses noted store employees were more helpful when assisting customers if they had tablets.

"Equipped with a tablet, store employees can do much more than just help customers check out. Now, they can share product information, show video demos and suggest related products – making them a more valuable and profitable part of the in-store sale," AisleBuyer founder and CEO Andrew Paradise said.

Moreover, retailers will be able to improve store operations even more as tablet manufacturers continue to add new features to their devices.

Retailers are increasingly being urged to mine customer to data to improve their retail merchandising strategies and better target consumers.

However, Minnesota Public Radio recently warned companies that they need to be wary of not breaching customers' privacy, as Target was accused of doing last month. The Minnesota-based retailer was called out for using customer shopping patterns to identify which consumers are expecting and thus determine the coupons they receive at checkout and the items marketed to them on the website.

Yet, what may have seemed like a solid marketing strategy was revealed to have gaping holes in terms of respect to privacy at the Predictive Analytics World conference, where one attendee called the practice "Orwellian."

"What Target is doing there is unusual, because typically what retailers and other companies do is they predict what will you buy," Eric Siegel, an analytics consultant who has taught at Columbia University, told the source. "Obviously, whether somebody is pregnant is definitely a private concept. That's certainly sensitive information."

For retailers to stay on the right side of consumers' affections, giving them the opportunity to opt-in into data targeting efforts is a good start.

Mobile devices are predicted to become a ubiquitous part of the shopping experience in the future – whether it's consumers making purchases online or researching products in-store – and professionals in charge of retail software need to prepare.

While retailers have been just as excited as they are lost amid the rising number of mobile consumers and applications, it's imperative that they fully understand how their customers are using them prior to engaging in development or marketing surrounding these devices.

With the future upon us, retailers will be able to use this information to create mobile applications that serve as virtual shopping companions, an article for Forbes magazine explains. These applications will be expected to provide consumers with the same level of support and service they would get from a flesh-and-blood employee or a retailer's website.

Retailers will also need to make sure that all product and price information is up-to-date to prevent customer confusion or missed revenue opportunities.

"Mobile sites should also check inventory availability so that an empty shelf doesn’t stop a sale," Forbes explains. "This includes having a rapid 'order now + free expedited shipping' option to provide a compelling reason for customers to order from them and not a third-party retailer."

Merchants using cutting-edge retail software and technology likely tuned into the recent Apple event that saw the debut of the iPad 3. The new tablet device will go on sale next Friday, March 16, and may provide retailers with even more opportunities to use the iPad as a part of their store operations.

The iPad 3 will come with a quad-core A5X processor that will improve power and speed, a high-definition screen, 4G network connectivity, a 5-megapixel camera equipped to record pictures as well as videos and a battery that lasts up to 10 hours.

Many merchants already use tablets for a variety of purposes. Some leverage them as tools for sales associates, helping them look up product information. Others utilize the devices as point-of-sale (POS) terminals.

Of course, retailers aiming to make mobile part of their online shopping experience also need to take note of the new iPad.

"Consumers are transitioning their dependency on desktops to tablets," Pamela J. Goodfellow, consumer insights director at BIGinsight, told Internet Retailer. "Retailers have to constantly work to improve the style and functionality of their sites to keep up with new innovations in the tablet arena."

M-commerce was set to be the next online channel through which ecommerce outlets could attract more attention for their retail merchandising. Yet, new research shows the channel may still be lagging.

Research released by Shoppercentric reveals that despite efforts to improve multichannel store operations, few shoppers are turning to mobile devices to accomplish their shopping needs, suggesting some retailers may need to revisit the drawing board when it comes to synthesizing purchasing avenues.

The study found that in the past month, only 13 percent of consumers have made a purchase via their smartphones and only 7 percent have done so on a tablet. Furthermore, the study suggests that this could be a result of consumers feeling that the channel lacks security – only 29 percent said they felt secure shopping on a mobile device.

"They are feeling pretty comfortable with online now, as they know when they pay for things they will get security questions coming through," Danielle Pinnington, managing director at Shoppercentric, told PCWorld. "But they are not seeing this level of security when shopping on smartphones using mobile applications."

According to one research company, nearly half of all mobile subscribers now own smartphones instead of traditional feature phones.

A recent Nielsen report suggests 48 percent of all mobile subscribers in the United States now have smartphones, such as Apple's iPhone or HTC's Evo. This is even more so the case among young consumers in the 25 to 34 age bracket, with 66 percent of these people owning the devices.

"In the same age group, eight of 10 of those that had gotten a new device in the last three months chose a smartphone. Among those who chose a device in the last three months, more than half of those under 65 had chosen a smartphone," the report notes.

Moreover, smartphone owners are particularly lucrative as they are affluent individuals. Four-fifths of young consumers generating incomes of more than $100,000 annually (80 percent) own smartphones, while 74 percent of people in the same age bracket making between $75,000 and $100,000 have the devices.

If retailers still aren't sold on the value of having a smartphone application, a separate report from Nielsen suggests the devices are "the ultimate shopping companion" for consumers. Approximately 38 percent of shoppers use their phones to compare prices in stores, 38 percent look for products using apps, 32 percent read online reviews of goods, 24 percent search for coupons and 22 percent actually buy items straight from their smartphones.

A significant number of consumers are also interested in using their phones as mobile wallets to make point-of-sale purchases at cash registers.

"Apps, which account for the majority of mobile phone time in the U.S., may be the key to shifting consumers from browsing products on their phone to making purchases on the spot. Although only 9 percent of mobile shoppers have used their phone to pay at the register, the desire to do so is apparent – 71 percent of app downloaders would be interested in an app that allows them to use their phone as a credit card," the Nielsen report added.

Separate data from comScore offers a different view. While the research firm notes there are currently approximately 100 million smartphone owners, that is only 41 percent of the existing mobile subscriber base.

Gift cards are a lucrative way for businesses to accommodate the needs of their consumers while boosting revenue. Now, however, retailers will need to ensure their store operations are equipped to handle the payment option as they will be subject to federal regulations.

The U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced this week that any retailers who sell gift cards and other products known as "pre-paid access products" will be required to follow anti-money laundering regulations.

Gift cards that are valued at or below $2,000 will be exempt from pre-paid access regulations, though. The full set of rules can be found on the agency's website, covering items such as cards used internationally or refilled remotely.

"The rule addresses regulatory gaps that have resulted from the proliferation of prepaid access innovations over the last 12 years and their increasing use as an accepted payment method," said FinCEN director James H. Freis, Jr.

Fortunately, retailers can find help navigating the new rules as well as protecting their customers' private financial information through the use of retail point of sale software.

More than ever successful retailers are finding it necessary to make their store operations multichannel, allowing consumers to access and contact them through a variety of mediums.

However, according to a recent survey from rich media mobile and social merchandising provider Zmags, few retailers are prepared to deal with the growing number of computer tablet users.

In their report "Mobile & Tablet e-Commerce: Is anyone really ready?", Zmags revealed that only one third of internet retailers have optimized their websites for tablet users, with most respondents saying they continue to rely on their PC-based layout for mobile users.

"More than half of retailers have developed smartphone-specific offerings to provide key functionality for the smaller screen," the study reports. "While more than two-thirds of the retailers have developed iPhone apps, only half of that group offers the ability to purchase via the app."

Retailers should ensure that tablets aren't the only mobile devices optimized for m-commerce. Websites should also be accessible and readable on smartphones' much smaller screens.