Most retailers are already close to wrapping up plans and promotions for the winter holidays. Mobile must make it into their toolset for this year's branding and customer acquisition and retention efforts.

Unique among industries, retail is the one that depends on the period from Thanksgiving weekend to the week after Christmas to make it into the black. Retailers have much to worry this year: a sluggish economy, high gas prices and tightened consumer spending. Which means they need to spend more on marketing and promotions to bring consumers to their side of the fence.

Retailers typically use a mix of television, direct mail, email, incentives and promotions, keyword buys on search engines, inserts, radio, print ads in local newspapers and coupons to drive traffic to their online and offline stores as well as catalogs and toll-free telephone number.

Perhaps this year they should use mobile as a complement to any one of those marketing channels. The easiest way to start is with texting and coupons, complemented by a mobile site with dedicated holiday pages.

Consider catalogs, for example. Retailers should buy vanity short codes and add keywords to each major SKU in the book. They should do the same on their computer Web site.

Encourage the catalog recipient to text the keyword to the short code -- list on every page and cover -- to complete the call to action, whatever that may be -- special offer, free shipping or discounts on bulk purchases.

Of course, the back-end needs to be set up for this kind of operation and that's where mobile service providers come into play.

Either retailers should go looking for the right partner or mobile marketing service providers should be out there prospecting and pitching like crazy at this time of year.

The goal of a texting operation linked to keywords and short code on catalogs and site is to build a database of loyal customers who opt in to receive offers on their mobile phone.

Channel loyalty
The holidays present a wonderful opportunity to leverage one or more retail channels to get mobile into the mix.

Television is another channel that can be put to good use to build a mobile database of opted-in consumers.

Retailers should test to see what kind of response they get to a keyword and short code on a commercial touting a particular high value item -- a car, for instance. Or it could be for merchandise of smaller value but with time sensitivity.

Stores can start collecting mobile numbers from consumers. Offer a $10 discount for the number, make the consumer sign a form of acceptance of opt in and check on the spot to see if that number is real -- the consumer's phone should ring when the number's dialed.

That opted-in consumer should also be given discounts on merchandise that they buy by following up on a call to action sent through text -- either clicking on the link to the retailer's mobile landing page or click to call to a toll-free number.

The consumer shouldn't be bombarded with text messages, so schedule the mobile offers to between two and four texts a month. Make that clear in the opt-in sign-up sheet. And make that sheet simple, with the terms and conditions and privacy and opt-out policies. Give a copy to the consumer.

The best thing to do is to connect the dots: Is that customer also a member of the retailer's loyalty program? Add the mobile number and you've got a 360-degree view of that customer's buying behavior with your brand.

So, loyalty card members can easily be sent direct mail asking them to opt-in with their mobile number for special offers, discounts and free shipping through text messages.

Consumers can either redeem the offers by clicking through to the mobile landing page and making the purchase -- made easier since the customer profile and payment details are already on file and all they have to do is login to be recognized. They can also click to call in case they like that option, or they can walk into a store with the coupon on the mobile phone and redeem at checkout.

Attention to this little loyalty/database marketing detail will help when it's crunch time for consumers still behind on Christmas, Hanukah, Idd or Kwanzaa shopping or for retailers intent on moving merchandise while the mood is still giving.

Top-down tip-top
Equally important to this entire exercise is to make sure that the retailer has a reasonably strong presence on the mobile Web.

The mobile Web screen is suited to a top-down dropdown menu and that's not going to change anytime soon unless the phone screens get larger.

So make it simple for shoppers to scroll and browse on the mobile site. Place a search box after every few scrolls, because in the end, it's the search function that will lead mobile retail and not random browsing. That in-site search function better work well, making optimal use of past behavior, semantics, algorithms, upsells, cross-sells, what have you.

Bear in mind that the majority of mobile phones on the market are not smartphones with large screens or QWERTY keyboards. So that should factor into mobile site design and functionality.

Most mobile retail sites out there aren't really shopper-friendly. But retailers can take their cues from publishers with mobile Web sites. Publishers face the same dilemma as retailers: lots of content to display on the screen, so the user experience and site design are paramount.

The New York Times' mobile site at http://mobile.nytimes.com is a great example of how a major news brand delivers news in a manner that accommodates the constraints of the handset. Department store chains, specialty chains and mass merchandisers can organize merchandise similarly.

Also, ensure that the brand DNA, or look-and-feel, is maintained on mobile as it is online. It's up to the retailer to retain the same Web .com or .net Web address on mobile - optimized for mobile - as it does on the computer Web, or it can opt for a dedicated mobile domain such as .mobi.

Retail detail
Retailers have to overcome a few consumer issues if they want their mobile retail sites to generate returns.

First, try and win the trust of consumers and customers to get them to register their mobile number and opt in for mobile offers through other channels at their disposal, offline and online. Make it clear that it's all permission-based and will not result in spamming or calling.

Next, retailers must ensure that that consumers don't have a hard time filling name and address fields and payment details on mobile. That experience is off-putting, to say the least.

So retailers will have to make sure that once the registration and opt-in is done online or in-store or on telephone, the consumer gets a text confirming that action. He or she must then click on the link to again give consent. That's double opt-in and a best practice.

A major advantage of going through that exercise is that the opted-in consumer is recognized the moment he or she logs in to the mobile site of that retailer.

Then, when that consumer has chosen a gift, all he or she has to do is enter the recipient's name and shipping details and click on a one- or two-step transaction process to complete the purchase. In that sense, Amazon's 1-click technology is ideally suited for mobile retail.

Third, retailers must run an ad campaign offline and online to stress the safety of mobile transactions. There's still a segment of the buying population out there that's suspicious about online retail. So imagine the concerns with mobile commerce. Trust is a huge issue with remote transactions.

Allay those consumer concerns also by partnering with a secure mobile commerce services provider and make sure that the payment franchises -- Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover -- are all on board with the mobile site. Post the link to the security and privacy policies on every page of the mobile site, no excuses.

Also, display seals of approval on the mobile retail site from the appropriate bodies that authenticate legitimate companies -- BBB and Truste, for example.

Finally, retailers must work in concert with wireless carriers, handset manufacturers, mobile advertising agencies, mobile marketing service providers, mobile commerce firms and the search engines.

These partners in mobile retail must be prepared for holiday traffic unlike any other in years past.

Redundancy must be built in, servers must hold up during heavy shopping days -- Black Friday and Cyber Monday, one the day after Thanksgiving and the other on the Monday after. Dec. 12 and Dec. 19-23 typically are high-traffic days online, so expect similar volumes on mobile. It's best to build in extra capacity.

Keep in mind that a bad holiday experience -- mobile sites that don't load quickly, short codes that don't return texts promptly, text links that don't work, images that don't render, click-to-calls that don't connect to call centers, transactions that can't go through, confirmations that aren't sent promptly via return text or mobile sites that simply crash -- will leave a bitter taste in the mouth.

Any one of these instances recurring on a regular basis could result in bad press and push back the progress of mobile commerce and the cause of multichannel retail.

So having said all that, here's what retailers should start doing right away: Work on building a credible database of opted-in mobile consumers. Make sure that the security and privacy policies are visible for all to see. Link that database to the offline and online files and then tailor offers to suit behavior and season.

It's hard to say if mobile retail will bring in incremental dollars or shift consumer budgets from online, catalog or store. But a sale is a sale, regardless of channel.

This holiday season may be mobile retail's chance to prove itself on a small scale. While challenges remain, the advantages are many: more sophisticated phones on the market, better data plans, faster mobile Internet speeds and growing awareness of mobile's many uses.

Bottom line, it's the user experience with mobile retail this holiday season that will be the gift that keeps on giving.