Wal-Mart, Apple, others roll out apps for holiday shoppers

— -- Technophiles rejoice: Retailers are unwrapping an array of digital offerings for the tablet and smartphone-tethered holiday shopper.

Today, Wal-Mart will announce its latest initiatives, including an enhanced iPhone app that allows users to add shopping list items by speaking, typing or scanning bar codes. It also provides the price, local store availability and, in select markets, aisle location of those items.

On Tuesday, Apple unveiled new app features. One lets users buy products through the app and pick them up at any Apple Store.

Toys R Us, Brookstone, Kmart, J.C. Penney and Disney Stores are among the many others that have rolled out their own digital innovations.

The endeavors come as consumers increasingly tap into "turbo-charged technology," says Candace Corlett, president of consultancy WSL Strategic Retail.

Simple e-mails that announce store sales are "passé," she says. Today's shopper wants to compare prices, receive discount offers, buy products and even get in-store maps through handheld devices.

"As far as a retail strategy goes, this has become a high-pressure game," Corlett says.

Half of those who own smartphones will use them during holiday shopping, according to a National Retail Federation/BIGresearch survey. And 71% of tablet owners will use them to tackle holiday tasks.

For many, these devices are "indispensable tools," says Mike Gatti, executive director of the NRF's marketing division. "They allow you to shop wherever and whenever you want."

To better prepare for the tech-savvy holiday shopper, half of retailers significantly invested in mobile-optimized websites, according to the NRF's Shop.org digital unit. One in five spent to create tablet apps.

With many shoppers going digital, retailers have realized that they must step up, says Allen Adamson, author of BrandDigital: Simple Ways Top Brands Succeed in the Digital World.

Consumers say, "If (a store) won't make it easy on me to get information about their products, then I'll shop somewhere else," he says.

Shoppers want tools they can use, caution retail and marketing pros.

"A successful app has a great deal of utility or entertainment or some combination of the two," says Dan Shust, head of innovation at digital marketing agency Resource Interactive.

Anything below par will simply be ignored — or quickly removed. "Adding and deleting an app is so easy," says Kevin Sterneckert, director of retail research at Gartner Group. Any offering needs to "do something extra to gain the attention of the consumer."