Escalate Retail today announced powerful new enhancements to its Buy Anywhere, Fulfill Anywhere Commerce^TM capabilities enabled by their Cross-Channel Suite of solutions at the National Retail Federation’s 98th Annual Convention & Expo. The newly enhanced mobile commerce capabilities are designed to help boost the brand- and revenue-building potential of m-commerce in a wide array of North American retail industry segments, including specialty apparel, sporting goods, shoes, department stores, home furnishings, consumer electronics and appliances, luxury and e-tail. By taking advantage of advancements in mobile technology and the ubiquitous nature of cell phones, the new mobility features will enable consumers to shop anywhere, anytime.

Escalate’s new technology takes advantage of Microsoft Tag, a marketing solution, currently in beta, incorporating multicolored mobile barcodes that enable retailers to add convenient, powerful, and highly cost-effective mobile commerce capabilities to their cross-channel strategies. The new offering addresses a major consumer trend toward using mobile phones for Web browsing and e-mail. It enables many retailers to take the shopper experience to a new level of flexibility and convenience by bringing scanner-based m-commerce technology to cell phones in the U.S. – enabling U.S. retailers to catch up and keep pace with technology advancements in other parts of the world.

“Consumers today expect to be able to shop their favorite brands when, where, and how they choose, and retailers must be able to meet their expectations or risk losing customers,” said Stew Bloom, CEO, Escalate Retail. ”Escalate is uniquely poised to deliver comprehensive ‘m-commerce’ capabilities, giving consumers the flexibility they demand and retailers the tools to follow through on every order. By facilitating m-commerce fueled by Microsoft Tag, we now can deliver true Buy Anywhere, Fulfill Anywhere Commerce^TM capabilities to the shopper.”

Escalate’s Buy Anywhere, Fulfill Anywhere Commerce^TM capabilities deliver three major mobility benefits to the retail industry today by:

Retailers who are successfully able to deliver Buy Anywhere, Fulfill Anywhere Commerce^TM capabilities will be those who are most successful in exceeding shoppers’ expectations for cross-channel flexibility and earning their customers’ loyalty. Retail organizations can leverage these capabilities to champion new ways to market their products and services to their customers using innovative technology offline to drive sales in their online business.

Escalate’s Buy Anywhere, Fulfill Anywhere Commerce^TM capabilities utilize Microsoft Tag to enable the integration of print, mobile and online strategies to build brand awareness and increase revenues. As a result, m-commerce from Escalate Retail combined with Microsoft Tag provides the potential to make print advertising relevant again by increasing the ROI and the immediacy of results from these campaigns.

By placing tags on any printed material, from posters to magazine ad campaigns to CD inserts, retailers can track the effectiveness of each marketing campaign. Previously, retailers could create mobile-compatible versions of their e-commerce sites, but customers were required to painstakingly type in long URLs in order to shop on their phones – negating the convenience. With Microsoft Tag, shoppers can now scan a code and purchase an item from their mobile phones more quickly and easily than ever before.

It’s as easy as—snap, order, pick-up.

For the retailer, once the code is embedded and the links are set up, the rest of the process is taken over by its e-commerce engine. Retailers that use Escalate Retail’s Blue Martini e-Commerce Suite will find that the process is seamlessly integrated with the platform’s robust capabilities and rich cross-channel features – enabling the retailer to achieve Buy Anywhere, Fulfill Anywhere Commerce™ without pain or extensive effort.

The new mobile commerce features, including Microsoft Tag capabilities, are included in Escalate Retail’s Blue Martini e-Commerce Suite at no additional cost for new and existing customers. Stop by Escalate Retail’s booth #2002 at the NRF 98^th Annual Convention and Expo to view an interactive demo.

About Escalate Retail

Escalate Retail is the #1 provider of retail solutions that drive cross-channel excellence and personal, relevant shopping experiences – on the web, in the store and over the phone. Escalate Retail’s Buy Anywhere Fulfill Anywhere™ Commerce is powered by Escalate’s Cross-Channel Suite, which includes Blue Martini e-Commerce, Relationship Marketing, Clienteling and Order Management. More than 500 retailers run their businesses on Escalate software, including 11 of the largest 100 retailers worldwide, over 50 of the Internet Retailer top 500 e-commerce sites and 14 of STORES Magazine’s “Hot 100”. The company maintains headquarters in San Diego, CA with three additional offices located across North America and Europe. For more information, visit www.Escalate.com.

Escalate Retail, the Escalate Retail logo and Buy Anywhere Fulfill Anywhere Commerce are trademarks of Escalate, Inc.