American Eagle is educating consumers on how to use the Google Wallet with in-store demonstrations in New York. Google Wallet is currently being used at American Eagle locations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington and New York.

“American Eagle strives to be an early adopter of technologies that are important to our customers,” said Jani Strand, spokeswoman for American Eagle, Pittsburgh.

“Our goal is always to be where our customers are, whether it’s at home, work, school or at the mall,” she said.

On-the-fly payments
Using Google Wallet, American Eagle consumers can pay for their purchases via their smartphone.

Users with a Nexus S 4G smartphone can download the Google Wallet app to manage their accounts.

Consumers can pay with a Citi MasterCard credit card, a Google Prepaid Card, which can be funded with any existing credit cards or their American Eagle rewards card to the app.

To show consumers how the technology works, American Eagle is demoing the app in its Times Square location through Oct. 31.

Representatives from Google will show American Eagle consumers how to add accounts and pay for purchases on pre-loaded Nexus S 4G phones.

The demo phones are pre-loaded with $10 gift cards that consumers can win after learning about Google Wallet.

Consumers can also unlock other offers around the store.

Additionally, consumers who pay for items with Google Wallet will receive 15 percent off their American Eagle purchases.

Targeting teens
In addition to Google Wallet, American Eagle has made mobile a key part of its marketing strategy.

American Eagle’s demographic is consumers aged 15 to 25, which tends to be tech-savvy age group.

Recently, American Eagle partnered with mobile gift card company Swagg to giveaway $100,000 in gift cards (see story).

Additionally, the retailer has used mobile with email marketing, print and social media.

“Engaging customers with mobile technology is part of being a lifestyle brand,” Ms. Strand said.

“Although it is still relatively early, we consider mobile applications like Google Wallet to be the next frontier for how customers shop and interact with brands,” she said.

“We will experiment with many technologies in our quest to deliver the best possible shopping experience to customers.”

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York