CHICAGO-In the past few years, as iPhones, Droids and “App Stores” have increased in nationwide popularity as more consumers purchased smartphones, retailers have been forced to add a new phrase to their shopper attracting lingo: mobile commerce. As Jones Lang LaSalle puts it in their new report, “Get Mobile: How to Navigate the Digital Playing Field,” those retailers who ignore or wait to seek out mobile shoppers will get left behind.

Shoppers today now demand that, along with offering a bricks-and-mortar store AND a Web site, a retailer must be able to provide deals directly to their phones, says Keisha McDonnough, retail research analyst with JLL. To work effectively, these deals, offered by companies such as Groupon or LivingSocial or sent directly through email, must be specifically geared to that particular consumer’s needs and also pinpointed to within a few miles of the consumer.

To many in the retail world, especially those who have been around awhile, this technological shift by consumers can come as a shock. However, as retailers such as Blockbuster and Borders have learned the hard way, technology changes today by the quarter, and savvy retailers have learned that it pays to keep up.