Retail giant Best Buy is placing an iPhone application at the center of its national Buy Back campaign that is intended to convince consumers to upgrade to latest and greatest consumer electronics products.

NEW YORK – An NRG exec said his company tapped SAP AG to enhance its customer relationship management platform by adding mobile and social elements to its direct-to-consumer and business-to-business initiatives.

Retailers Crate and Barrel and ProFlowers are offering discounts on specific Valentine’s Day-related products to drive sales via the shopkick location-based shopping application.

Budgets for mobile advertising have skyrocketed over the past year from $1.2 billion in 2009 to around $2.4 billion in 2010, and those ads are influencing holiday shoppers, according to a Liz Claiborne study.

Almost one year ago we reviewed some of the top retailers’ mobile applications. Now with holiday season here once more, it is time for a second look at those brands, along with a few others.

Brands such as Philips, Hamilton Beach, Elmer’s, Murphy USA and Seagate are offering prizes to consumers who check-in to Walmart, Target and Best Buy via Whrrl.

Target, Best Buy and Macy’s are among the retailers participating in shopkick’s The 12 Days of Kickmas campaign, rewarding mobile shoppers for simply visiting their stores.

Best Buy is running ads within TheFind application, giving consumers discounts to products for which they are looking and shopping.

Best Buy has taken third place in the 2010 Mobile Retailer of the Year awards due to its all-round excellence in mobile marketing and commerce, offering a strategy that is worthy of emulation.

While many retailers have plenty of room for improvement, Aveda, Best Buy, Crate & Barrel, Dockers and REI are all best-in-class mobile merchants, according to the e-tailing group’s Mobile Commerce Mystery Shopping study.