With school break almost at an end, retail stores are now busy promoting their products or services for consumers. Stores are now using various ways to promote their deals.

Back-to-school shoppers can now use their smart phones when taking advantage of the deals of some stores. Retail giants like J.C. Penney and Target are using the growing popularity and the growing number of consumers that use digital technology when shopping.

Target is now giving away mobile coupons for its back-to-school deals. Consumers who are interested in these mobile coupons can text the word ‘COUPONS’ to 827438 (TARGET) to be sent mobile coupons bi-weekly. Shoppers at Target can also use their phone cameras to scan barcodes. This will then provide the user with the product’s specifications and reviews. Target shoppers can also use their smart phones in checking out by signing in to their Target.com accounts.

Best Buy is currently making use of a new smart phone application to process deals with its consumers. To use Best Buy’s mobile coupons, consumers have to upload the Shopkick app. Once uploaded to the smart phone, when the user goes into a Best Buy store, Shopkick automatically pops up and the user will get rewards in the form of discounts, from 10% to 15% off. The discounts can be used when buying products at the store.

Users shopping at Best Buy with Shopkick on their phones can also surf the web just to make sure if competitors are offering better prices for the same products. If indeed there is a better deal, users can then show it to Best Buy’s store management and ask for a better deal.