Geofencing is pretty much what it sounds like: a virtual perimeter for a real- world geographic area. So let’s say you set a boundary via mobile communications that encompasses a six-square-block area. That would be your geofence, and anyone who enters that area whose contact information you have can receive a text message or email via smartphone or tablet. And when the bullseye of the geofenced turf is a retail outlet, things get mighty interesting.

Media industry analyst Gordan Borrell Associates cites a San Francisco company called Placecast, which ran a promotion with a Lands’ End store in that city. A bulletin went out via mobile, and the results make Borrell laugh in admiration, “Eighty percent of the people who saw the message went in the store. And 60 percent of those people bought merchandise,” he says. “Direct mail campaigns have a 1 percent to 2 percent response. It was amazing.”

Lou Carlozo, Deal News. 8 retail innovations you’ll see soon. Retrieved from MSN Money.