This is big: coming soon to an iPhone near you – in your pocket or purse, actually – is the ability to buy products on the go. Just choose a product, check out, and you’re done.

Our mobile team has been hard at work for the last couple of weeks to bring you this. Think about it: you’re on the move, walking on the sidewalk or commuting, and suddenly you remember that power drill/dress/ console game you just have to buy. No computer around, no time to go to the store.

No problem. Grab your mobile, open the App, find a store near you – mobile means local, right? – and buy the item. You can choose to ship it home, or pick it up in the store.

That’s not all: expect a smoother and better Shopin experience including the ability to add friends when you Shopin somewhere, bug fixes and lots more.

The Plot Thickens

Remember we wrote about that amazing stuff we’re busy with? And how we can’t tell you about it? Well we still can’t. Yes, we are going to keep teasing a little while longer. But trust us – in the very near future, the whole shop your way experience will change, dramatically.

So what’s new, you ask? How come we’re keeping a little quiet lately?

Well first of all there is news. Our mobile team has been hard at work improving our lovely iPhone app.

If you’ll kindly take a look, you’ll see that the Shopin experience has gotten a lot smoother and better looking. Want to shopin at a store and let your friends know you’re there? It’s a lot more fun from now on.

You can also post messages on your favorite brand pages, and are less likely to encounter annoying bugs along the way – our mobile team did a thorough job of squashing them.

So what else? How about some more news and features? Well actually we can’t tell you right now. We’ve been very very busy on some pretty amazing stuff which we can’t reveal just yet – but soon, we promise.

Stay tuned. You’re going to see some pretty amazing stuff real soon.

Really amazing…

It’s page frenzy over here: we keep rolling out new page types and connecting them all together.

What’s up this week? Well, we’ve got new special pages for places – that hotel you just stayed in for example, or your favorite Kmart store.

We’ve also got topic pages, created automatically from stories in our site. Say we just published a story about redecorating houses. Want to learn more or discuss with fellow shoppers? Go to the newly created redecorating topic page. Great, isn’t it?

Not only that, but we’ll help you discover specific pages that we know you’ll like. You’ll get recommendations to follow pages according to your tastes and interests in the suggested activity box on the right rail. You’ll also see related pages in your favorite brand or clique page. It’s one smooth seamless experience

Games, Fun and Mobile

We didn’t mention sweepstakes for a while, but rest assured they’re still here and going strong. Check out the new ones we just uploaded – it’s fun!

Also, on mobile: you can now post stuff on your friends’ wall. You can also delete a status message you published with an elegant swipe of your finger. Almost makes you want to delete stuff for the heck of it. Enjoy!

Continuing last week’s momentum, we rolled out some more features enhancing the abilities of page admins across the site. We’re giving away super-powers here, people.

This week is about inter-relations, and how things work together. Here we go: brand owners will now be able to post on other pages under the brand identity. Example: if you’re managing the Craftsman brand, and see a discussion on the Handymen clique page you can post a relevant status as the brand. Easy and practical.

Users get a say too: they can now tag catalogs, which will in turn appear under a special tab in the brand page. Say you created a catalog of your favorite EA video games and tagged it with the EA brand. Lo and behold: it will appear in the brand page, under the community catalogs tab.

That’s not all. You’ll start seeing recommendations for pages based on your actions on the site in the right rail. You’ll also start seeing links to related pages on your favorite brand page – all a part of our effort to make your life easier and more interesting.

Scan This

New on the mobile front: you can now use our app to scan QR codes – you know, those black and white rectangles that you scan with your smartphone to get all kind of nifty offers, videos etc directly to your phone. Start looking for those in Sears and Kmart stores.

Harmony: This week is about things fitting together, working in sync, and living peacefully together. We’re Zen like that.

Brand pages have been getting a lot of attention here lately, and rightly so. They’re cool, interesting, and at the very core of the site. That is why they got a nice upgrade: a lot more content. Our goal is to have every relevant piece of content interact and appear on the right brand page.

From now on, every story about a product will also be published in the appropriate brand page. A user wrote a review about a Kenmore freezer? It will automatically be published in the Kenmore brand page. A friend “liked” a new Adidas running shoe? You’ll be notified on the Adidas page.

And that’s not all. Brand page admins just got a lot more control over their pages: Admins can now control which stories get published on their pages, which in turn will enable them to make those pages so much more interesting.

Another very cool thing that admins can do is create brand catalogs. You’ll see product catalogs for various brands under a special tab in the brand page, all part of our ongoing initiative to turn these pages into the definitive hub for all things Kenmore, or Nike, or Craftsman.

We’re only scratching the surface here. Think about the possibilities of letting users interact with these catalogs… exciting stuff indeed. Stay tuned.

We’re giving the power over to the masses – or, actually, just letting people start managing brand, topic, clique and other pages.

Up until now you could ask for admin rights to brand pages only. Now, you can be the admin of your favorite clique, or of a topic that interest you. What are the requirements you ask? You have to be a dedicated user with a passion for the tag you’re managing, and a will to contribute to the community.

That’s it. Just click on the “submit a request” link on the tag page and cross your fingers.

Look Mom, No Hands

You didn’t really expect us not to mention sweepstakes right? Sweepstakes are hot. This week we’re talking about something we like to call “seamless registration”. Basically that is a fancy name for something that saves you time and a little effort.

Whenever you’ll click on a sweep, your details – full name, email and SHOP YOUR WAY REWARDS membership number will be filled in automatically. All you have to do is review them and enter the sweep for a chance to win some cool prizes.

Another new feature is the sorting ability. You can now view sweeps by expiration or start date, name, and most shared. That way you can check out the newest sweeps, enter one that is about to expire, or see which one is most popular amongst your fellow shoppers.

And on Mobile..

In the spirit of power to the people, you will now have better control over the settings in our awesome app. New settings will give you better control of exactly what kind of notifications you receive. And speaking of notifications – we redesigned them, and they look great. Check it out.

This week is about numbers, about more of the good stuff. If you like something, why not have more of it, right?

So we added more sweepstakes to the site – all in all about 80 new ones will be available by the end of March, and a lot more will be ready after that. Soon you’ll be able to enter dozens, even hundreds, of sweepstakes and increase your chances to win.

Then we went and added the new partners page. Because that’s what we’re like, always looking for more ways to make you guys happy. The new page offers great deals and benefits from our good friends and partners, just for you. Check it out!

 Give Us A Smile

One of the main things about ShopYourWay is the human connection. We want you to be able to get recommendations and advice from fellow shoppers with similar taste and interests. And for that to happen people need to know who they’re communicating with.

In order to make you all feel at home, we added a little tool that enables you to easily upload a profile picture, giving you a face and a true identity. Simply click on the “Add profile picture” teaser and follow the instructions. You’ll be surprised how much better it feels when everyone has a face to smile at.

Keep coming back for more cool features and surprises.

This week we decided to be even better hosts than usual. As we’ve told you, sweepstakes are big. People love them, and why shouldn’t they? They’re simple and fun.

So starting now, you don’t have to enter the site to take a look at them. We’ve created a page that lets you window shop before you decide to dive in. Take a look, check out the different sweeps awaiting you, and decide which one catches your eye. You’ll still need to sign in as a SHOP YOUR WAY REWARDS member – free of charge and with great benefits, we should mention – but you can take a look before you leap.

Other than that you’ll notice things are moving a little faster and better. We made some improvements to our recommendation engines, and you’ll notice that the suggested products you’re seeing are even more on the spot than before. We aim to please, you know.

We also made some improvements to the SHOP YOUR WAY REWARDS registration, Smoothing the edges and adding friendlier error messages. Lands’ end fans will be happy to know you can now register to the new ShopYourWay from the Lands’ end site.

Expect more cool features and news soon!

No need to adjust your glasses folks – as part of the site’s re branding we replaced the blue with bright, pretty orange, making the site look nicer, and a better fit for our SHOP YOUR WAY REWARDS loyalty program.

That’s not the only change we made this week, naturally. Take a look at your interests page: there’s a new tab there, recommending cliques and tags we think you’ll find interesting. This is part of our ongoing effort to personalize the site for you (yes, you). Give it a try.

We also took a leap forward in the shopping department. Product pages are cooler now – because users can add images to a product page. It is also easier to find items or categories, since we aligned ourselves with Sears.com: you will now see the exact same product categories on both sites.

And last but not least: the sweepstakes, which are gaining popularity every week, now have a new social capability. Look at a sweepstake and you’ll see which one of your friends shared it. No doubt an interesting bit of information: why not go for that sweepstake your good buddy just signed in to?

There’s also stuff happening behind the scenes: bug fixes and improvements in the mobile app, smoothing out the registration process – like tuning the car’s engine. You can’t see anything, but it just runs smoother.

Enjoy the ride.

Sweepstakes are hot – we just launched them, and users are already flocking to them. And why not? They’re simple and fun, and the prizes are cool.

This week they even got a little better. All of our sweepstakes are tagged, to easily distinguish between them according to what they’re all about. So it only makes sense to have a clear connection between various tag pages – cliques and brands, for example – and sweepstakes.

So: when you visit your favorite brand page, you’ll notice a link for Contests & Sweepstakes on the left nav. clicking on it will show you all sweeps relevant to this particular brand. Easy and elegant. Hover your mouse over a sweepstake and you’ll see all relevant tags on the nice looking quickview.

Which One Should I Get?

Browsing a product and trying to decide whether to buy it or not? We’re here to lend a helping hand. Our new comparison tool will provide similar products to compare to before going for your wallet. Shopping just got smarter!

Follow the Mobile

Our magnificent iPhone app has a new version packed with new stuff. SHOP YOUR WAY REWARDS users can now activate an offline account, and if you’re not a member yet – well you can use your shiny mobile to join.

The app will also show you who wants to follow you and let you approve him (or not). What else? Tag pages – cliques and brands – are supported, and clicking on a relevant story will take you to right page. add some menu improvements to the mix, and you’ve got an exciting week on the mobile front.