While Facebook Offers has been available to brands nationwide for less than two weeks, marketers are already assessing how the free-to-use deals platform might compete against Groupon.

Scent marketing is becoming as ubiquitous as piped-in Muzak -- one company claims its business is growing 50 percent annually.

A new study from the Interactive Advertising Bureau finds that 73 percent of respondents say they have used their mobile phone in a store, often to check for better prices in other stores.

The rise of connected TV will make it the most influential of five emerging new technologies identified in an eBay-commissioned study carried out by retail experts Conlumino. The others, in order of influence, are augmented reality, in-store technologies, image recognition, and smart devices.

Men 25-34 are most likely to scan a barcode, with men overall outpacing women by a 2-to-1 ratio. The U.S. remained the top country when it came to scanning, followed by Spain, Canada, Denmark and France.

Higher levels of confidence with making purchases online along with increasing levels of good service are driving consumers in the UK to continue spending on premium and luxury goods, despite the country's slide back into recession.

PayPass Wallet Services brings MasterCard’s PayPass in-store contactless payment brand to the Internet for the first time.

Citi is reviewing direct marketing efforts for its retail bank and credit cards in North America. The work in play ranges from creating brochures, posters and ATM messaging at bank branches to producing direct mail, online and direct-response ads for credit cards.

The new program lets customers in a store view an item's online popularity to help them make their decision.