In 2011, Internet Retailer.com reported than more than 33 million Americans use their phones for shopping, and more than two million people have purchased items on their phones.  Think you’ve got the lowest prices in town? Smartphone users will put your claim to the test, as they can scan bar codes with their phones to compare prices online.

Mobility is taking over—shopping, payments, opinion leaders—people are heavily influenced by what they see on that tiny screen. Consider this: the average American checks their smartphone 125 times a day. There’s a lot of information you can absorb in that time!

Information is traveling faster than ever before. In a single second, 750 tweets are shared on Twitter, while Pinterest drives more referral traffic than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn combined.

The mobile revolution has given restaurants and retailers a whole new medium to consider. Customers can use social media like Facebook, Twitter or blogs to tell about their experiences or purchases in real time, and blast it out to their friends and followers. A celebrity with thousands of Twitter followers may Tweet about an amazing new product and, with a few clicks, cause a purchasing frenzy. Likewise, a negative endorsement of a product or service could unexpectedly wreak havoc on sales forecasts and marketing campaigns.

Previously, retailers could track supply and demand through the point-of-sale system, but the influence of social networks and real time reports can no longer be ignored. Many retailers are tracking demand by monitoring website activity and in-store purchases while others are going a step further and monitoring social media sites for product or company mentions. By incorporating online data as well as in-store figures, retailers are able to learn more about customer preferences, shopping habits, and interests. These numbers will help a business forecast how much inventory should be on hand and assist in the creation of flexible campaigns better suited for such a fickle retail landscape.