Mobile Marketer is inviting article submissions for its Classic Guide to Mobile Commerce, a definitive how-to guide on enabling shopping and buying over the mobile channel.

The guide will be modeled after the recently released Mobile Marketer's Classic Guide to Mobile Advertising. Authored by industry experts, the guide will offer a mix of how-to pieces, tips, best practices, case studies, research and features on mobile commerce.

Mobile commerce is the next frontier for retailers and marketers. Consumers are not only getting more comfortable browsing and shopping on mobile, but handsets are increasingly more capable of delivering those experiences.

Another enabler of mobile commerce is the steady growth in launches of mobile shopping sites, both from pure-plays as well as multichannel retailers.

Add to that development increased efforts from marketers and retailers leveraging their various channels -- stores, online, catalog, television, print, radio, mobile -- to drive traffic to each other.

However, mobile commerce does have its issues: consumer security concerns over mobile payments; the availability of payment mechanisms; sites not suited for mobile handsets or transactions; and inadequate search functions.

In addition, retailers face carrier issues, including on-deck and off-deck choices; slow mobile Internet speeds; and not enough Web-enabled mobile phones to create a critical mass like the traditional Internet.

That said, there is no doubt that consumer behavior is shifting in favor of buying over the Internet. And mobile offers yet another channel to access the Internet.

So, mobile shopping and buying are on their way to becoming acceptable behavior, particularly with impulse purchases. Just as consumers expect the same experiences online as they do in-store -- inventory, branding, pricing, product availability, customer service -- so will they soon expect the same from mobile.

Mobile Marketer's Classic Guide to Mobile Commerce will help marketers and retailers navigate these waters.

The guide will cover several areas, including mobile purchases, mobile banking and payments and the ability to use mobile in enabling in-store, catalog or other multichannel retail transactions.

Possible topics are:
 The current state of mobile commerce
 Where are consumers shopping and why the need for mobile?
 Building a mobile Web site for retail purposes
 What makes a mobile commerce site?
 Will simply repurposing the traditional ecommerce site do?
 Choosing a mobile commerce site developer
 Integrating mobile into the sales process
 The role of SMS in driving store traffic
 Extending the loyalty program to mobile
 Building a mobile database
 Search and the mobile commerce site
 Analyzing site traffic and consumer behavior
 Optimizing mobile commerce sites for different platforms and handsets
 Making the site accessible to Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines
 Marketing and promoting the mobile commerce site
 Generating interest in sweepstakes
 Legal issues around mobile commerce
 One-click shopping possible -- or will Amazon call?
 Mobile widgets: Another tool for mobile commerce?
 Downloadable applications and their role in capturing share of screen
 Which industry sectors lend themselves to mobile commerce?
 Concert venues and the mobile commerce opportunities
 Sports and mobile commerce
 The need for mobile shopping comparison sites
 Will mobile shopping malls gain popularity?
 Handset as the wallet?
 Selling via the carrier's on-deck portal
 Negotiating with the ecosystem - carriers, payments franchises, text specialists ...
 Messaging for mobile commerce sites
 Crafting an email for mobile commerce
 Crafting the right messages for SMS offers
 Creating landing pages for mobile commerce sites
 Multivariate testing
 Copywriting on mobile commerce sites
 Opt-in requirements for consumer engagement
 Managing SKUs and inventory on mobile sites
 Top 100 items or throwing the kitchen sink and all �
 Who runs the mobile commerce site?
 Staffing a mobile commerce operation
 How much to invest initially in mobile commerce?
 Mobile coupons and their vital role in retail
 Mobile alerts and their enabling role in driving offline and online traffic
 The role of call centers in mobile commerce
 Is click-to-call the future of mobile commerce?
 Mobile banking and its place in the ecosystem
 Are the payments franchises -- Visa, MasterCard, Discover, Diners Club, American Express, PayPal -- on board with mobile commerce?
 Near field communications and its role in enabling mobile commerce
 Free shipping -- just like ecommerce?
 Crafting mobile offers for the holidays

Readers are invited to pitch other topics as well. But the gist of the guide is simple: to enable marketers and retailers take that information and consider opening a mobile store or improve their current mobile site. Or even warn them off of such an adventure should their product not lend itself to mobile commerce.

Specs
Each article should be a maximum 500 words in length. Copy should be tightly edited, detailed and not self-promotional. Short sentences and short paragraphs are highly recommended. The article should be submitted in a Word document attachment.

At least three images, including the author's headshot, should be submitted for each article -- all high res color jpegs that preferably are 200dpi and 1MB in size.

Articles should end with these credits listed at the bottom: author's name, title, company, city, state and email address.

All articles will be edited for space, clarity, style and to remove self-promotional references. Please do not refer to m-commerce or mcommerce. Mobile commerce should be referred to as mobile commerce or mobile retail.

Deadlines
The deadline for submitting article ideas is Friday, Sept. 19. A two-paragraph summary will work. Please submit ideas to Mickey Alam Khan at . Do mention "Commerce guide" in the subject headline.

Once approved, the article and images should be submitted together by Wednesday, Oct. 1.

For advertising queries, please contact Jodie Solomon, director of advertising sales, at or 212-334-6366. Ad copy deadline is Monday, Sept. 29.

Mobile Marketer's Classic Guide to Mobile Commerce will be published in October as a PDF document and distributed to all readers via email and also posted on the site at http://www.mobilemarketer.com.

This guide will showcase expert commentary on making mobile commerce a viable, complementary retail channel. Its goal is to make experts of those who read it as well.

Please click here to download Mobile Marketer's Classic Guide to Mobile Advertising.