The meteoric rise of daily deal sites like Groupon was almost as captivating to follow in the press as their precipitous fall. But according to the latest industry stats and projections, daily deal companies can’t be written off just yet. In fact, their comeback is underway according to industry experts and analysts like Boyan Josic.

“We all watched the historic rise of daily deals several years ago, which was quickly followed by a jarring correction in the industry,” says Josic, the founder of Daily Deal Media. “Now we are seeing a slight surge in both merchant demand and the performance of Groupon and other deal sites that have made it through some testing times.”

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In what amounts to yet another compelling case study highlighting effective mobile marketing, National Wholesale Liquidators has deployed a comprehensive mobile marketing strategy to drive interest, traffic, and sales at the company’s discount retail chain of 12 stores.

Having emerged from bankruptcy just four years ago, the company says mobile marketing is playing a key role in the retailer’s impressive comeback.

In fact, the recent mobile marketing efforts have brought more mobile-connected shoppers into its stores, Drew Bickel, the company’s director of planning, allocation, distribution and special projects tells Internet Retailer.

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“Technology has gone to the top of restaurant-owner action lists for 2013,” says Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of research at the National Restaurant Association. Why? It’s what the industry’s key demographic (18- to 34-year-olds) wants most.

We’ve known for a long time, however, that an inextricable bond between mobile and food now exists. In fact, according to the latest statistics from the IAB and Viggle, 69 percent of consumers order food online using a mobile device.

The study found that people use their mobile devices to find restaurant locations, check out menus, and see other users’ reviews. Equally as impressive is the fact that online and mobile orders at Domino’s and Papa John’s pizza chains are now 30 percent of each chain’s overall business.

Consequently, it makes sense why so many restaurant owners are turning to SMS marketing to boost sales and drive more foot traffic into their establishments.

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Another day, another big development for PayAnywhere, one of the fastest growing mobile payments solutions in the industry.

On Tuesday, PayAnywhere was busy touting the newest version of its popular mobile point of sale (mPOS) app for iOS.

Available for download today from the Apple App Store the newest version of the award-winning PayAnywhere app works with the PayAnywhere mobile credit card reader, which plugs into the audio jack of an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch device, giving merchants of all sizes a safe and easy way to accept credit and debit card payments directly from their phone or tablet.

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Burger King is leading the charge for mobile advertising in the Middle East today with its latest campaign

The fast food giant is counting on QR codes printed on food packaging to inspire patrons to play a soccer-themed game on their mobile devices.

Players are actually competing for real prizes, including a trip to a soccer game in Barcelona.

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A venerable brand in the retail toy space is turning to mobile marketing for its newest campaign.

Delivering coupons directly to mobile devices, Toys “R” Us is heavily pushing scannable bar codes to help shoppers save at the point-of-sale.

According to a report from Mobile Commerce Daily, the company is running the mobile campaign within Us Magazine’s mobile site.

“These new mobile ads are part of the overall marketing campaign for Toys “R” Us and they complement our desktop display ads,” explains Meghan Kennedy, a spokeswoman for Toys “R” Us.

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Mobile marketing has always been synonymous with youth. Fittingly, it makes perfect sense for college bookstore operator Follett Higher Education Group to invest in the mobile channel to drive business.

With SMS marketing at the core of this effort to increase sales during the “slow season,” it appears that mobile will be a fruitful marketing resource for Follett, which operates book stores and e-commerce sites for more than 900 colleges and universities today.

According to published reports this week, the company will continue to actively test mobile marketing as a means to drive more foot traffic into its stores.

Leeann Fecho, manager of emerging media and loyalty marketing at the company, confirmed this initiative while speaking at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition 2013 in Chicago.

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