January has seen Spanish clothing brand Desigual promoting its winter sale with a rather unusual discount proposition:  across a range of branches  -  including those in New York, Barcelona, Lyon, Madrid, Seville and San Francisco  -  Desigual has offered two free clothing items to the first 100 people to arrive at the store on a predesignated day. The catch? Customers only received the freebies if dressed in nothing but their underwear. As the brand said, customers could “enter half-naked and leave fully dressed”.

As it becomes harder for discount actions to stand out – and as bricks and mortar locations seek new ways to engage shoppers and lure them away from online alternatives – we can expect more and more discount schemes to place an emphasis on the fun and experience they offer to customers.

The Digital Revolution is a constantly evolving trend, a world of information and science-fiction fantasies brought to life.  A steady flow of technological developments are re-shaping elements of our everyday existence  -  especially in reference to the capabilities of mobile technologies  -  from how we consume the news, to how we keep in contact with our friends and particularly, to how we make our purchases. Our ability to now be in constant connection with a world wide web of knowledge via our mobile phones and tablet devices is opening up new possibilities in the way we choose to shop, both online and in-store.

Due to numerous price comparison and e-bidding websites, shopping online has long (in the digital sense) been established as the prime way to compare prices and save money on the goods and services we buy.  But now, thanks to advancements in mobile internet access and the apps which attend to our every need, our ability to maximise our money, secure the best deals and get what we really want is available to those browsing bricks and mortar stores.

One such example, Snap Fashion, is a search engine and mobile app which invites its users to take pictures of garments they see in store (or perhaps worn by a celebrity) and then find affordable equivalents within the company’s database  -  allowing them to replicate the style they desire in a quick, easy and cost-effective manner.  And, going beyond the call of duty, Snap Fashion also dispenses fashion advice  -  based on information about an individual’s body type and facial features (e.g.  whether certain types or styles of dress are likely to suit a person’s body shape).

This app and others similar to it are likely to become the budget-conscious fashionista’s (or certainly, fashionisto’s) trusted companion in the shopping world.  And broadly,  as our ability to access information, accomplish tasks and interact with friends via mobile technologies continues to mature, mobile devices will become the remote control of our lives. They will keep us in-line, not just with our diaries, but inform us of : what we should buy, when we should by it (or, perhaps, when we should save instead), which trains/roads to take to avoid traffic and to whom to say happy birthday – in addition to continuing to catalogue every moment of our day with photos and updates to our social networks.  And so, as the mobile revolution continues, the consumer will become ever-more social and ever-more savvy.