Direct Mail with Mobile Features Is Changing Holiday Shopping

Today, 34 percent of smartphone users have made a purchase using a mobile phone compared to 19 percent in 2011 (source: DC Financial Insights, 2012). That number will rise as technology continues to evolve.

One technology gaining traction is image recognition (IR), which allows a consumer with a smartphone to scan a picture of a shirt in a catalog and be connected immediately to mobile shopping features. Also on the rise are smartphones enabled with near field communications (NFC), allowing the user to simply tap the device on a printed page to make a purchase—without an app.