'Mobile Tuesday' Revived: Will Consumers Want to Phone It In?
If you're worried there won't be enough time to get your discount shopping in, never fear: Mobile Tuesday is here.
Or rather, it's back, as the New York Business Journal reports. But will consumers answer the call to shop via smartphone?
Yes, in addition to Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, now Mobile Tuesday is trying to reel in tech-savvy shoppers. The idea is to create deals that are only available to consumers who make purchases on their smartphones or mobile devices, according to Forbes.
This smartphone "shopping holiday" was first proposed in 2008, as AdAge reported. It never really caught on. But this year a company called, appropriately, Mobile Tuesday is trying to change that.
The company's goal is to create a space to pull together all shopping deals available for smartphones and mobile devices, and make it available Nov. 27. But the purpose behind Mobile Tuesday in the company's press release raises some potential legal concerns.
One of the motives for creating Mobile Tuesday is that employers are getting wise to Cyber Monday and enforce policies that bar non-work-related Internet use. By using a smartphone to shop, employees can "sidestep this roadblock," the press release states. But that seems to ignore the bigger issue.
While restrictive Internet policies provide a means for employers to stop employees from using company computers and WiFi to shop, there is generally still a rule or overarching policy that forbids shopping while on the clock.
By explicitly encouraging employees to violate corporate policies to get online deals, Mobile Tuesday may be opening itself up to some employment issues down the line.
Of course, that presumes businesses will offer sales this upcoming Mobile Tuesday, and customers with mobile devices will be interested in buying on their smartphones rather than on a computer or at a brick-and-mortar store. Whether that rings true remains to be seen.
Related Resources:
- IAB Mobile Shoppers 2012 (Interactive Advertising Bureau)
- Is One-Stop Shopping A Reality On The Internet? (FindLaw's Technologist)
- Be Thankful for Technology This Thanksgiving (FindLaw's Technologist)