I’ve spent the last few weeks agonizing over the perfect gifts for the people on my Christmas shopping lists. Walmart’s new social application Shopycat would have come in very handy, but I bet it will do even better for the people who are waiting for last minute shopping.

Shopycat is a brand-new Facebook application from the retail giant, and it claims to find you great gifts to buy for your friends. And Shopycat isn’t just pawing through your local Wal-Mart’s inventory — there are a number of other retailers on board whose products are on the recommendation list.

While it might seem a bit psychic, Shopycat’s trick is a lot more straightforward. It checks out the interests your friends have listed on their profile and offers related items. In my trial of it, it’s a bit too literal-minded (if I really love a show, I’ve probably seen seasons of it from a few years back and don’t need the DVD set), but it’s a great start. Not every gift it recommended for me or my Facebook compatriots was a winner, but more were good choices than not.

This is the theoretical good side of sharing your information to web services – unprecedented personalization. These services will only get better and more refined with time, and they might just make a fantastic bridge between social platforms and retail.

Want more details? Techcrunch has the scoop.

Shopping center apps have made life much easier for shoppers, but could they go further? Bayshore Shopping Centre hopes so, with the upcoming launch of its E-STYLE campaign.

Part of the campaign is a virtual shopping application designed to make the shopping process much easier. One of its features is just perfect for the holidays – it includes a gift guide that offers a huge selection of gift ideas laid out for all ages and preferences. Not only that, the app will seek out the lowest price and nearest store to pick up your item.

“Over the past few years, more and more people have opted to do their Holiday shopping online,” says Angie Russell, Marketing Director for Bayshore. “The face of retail is changing quickly, and Bayshore is tremendously excited to lead the charge in adapting our services for the modern consumer.”

But not all consumers are quite that modern. Bayshore has them covered as well. While the app is going to be available on the web and on smart phones, it’s also going to be set up in the center’s state-of-the-art E-STYLE Lounge. For those looking for a more traditional customer service experience, E-STYLISTS armed with iPads will be on hand to help shoppers choose their gifts and locate them as efficiently and inexpensively as possible.

The app has been developed by Isca Solutions, and helping to build the campaign is high-tech mogul and business magnate, Sir Terry Matthews. Herieth Paul, the current face of Calvin Klein, features in campaign imagery.

Social gaming is a ridiculously big industry. A big chunk of that industry is retail-oriented — games targeted at young women that are all about shopping, clothes, and consumption. Some of these games bring in a lot of money, usually from the purchase of virtual currency.

But here’s a new one: Fantasy Shopper, a brand new game developed by a UK startup, ties itself closely to the real life retail industry. Players use their in-game paydays to buy virtual representations of real clothes. The outfits they create are ranked by their friends, and at any point they (or their friends) can purchase the real thing from online retailers.

While it’s not getting shoppers into the mall, we’d certainly rather see that money going to fashion purchases over virtual currency. And it’s only a matter of time before brick-and-mortar gets in on this sort of gamification.

TechCrunch has more here, excerpted below:

“On Fantasy Shopper, users spend Fantasy Money to buy virtual clothing, create outfits and stock out their virtual wardrobe. Launching first in the UK with over 100,000 virtual items from 40 retailers in clothes, accessories and sports goods, the game takes the users from shopping in London to other major world destinations. The game is pretty social as users get to share their purchases and create outfits.”

General Growth shoppers now have an iPhone and Android application to call their own.

The Club Shopping Mall Guide lets shoppers pick their favorite malls, or simply lists malls in their area. The Club is GGP’s loyalty program, but the app isn’t just for Club members. Any shopper can load it up to find their way around the mall.

The app uses Point Inside’s technology, and its features will be familiar to anyone who’s used a mall geolocation app. Maps, directories and basic information are all available. Shoppers can also get a regularly-updated list of sales and events. And finally, they can sign up for the Play-A-Day contest. To enter the contest, they shake their phones to shake the on-screen snowglobe. If it comes up with a $100 gift card or another great, they win. Otherwise, they’re entered to win a $500 gift card in a later draw. The game can be played each day.

CBL & Associates Properties has picked its partner for mobile applications in its shopping centers: mallMerlin.

The app isn’t available until later this year, so we can’t give you a hands-on review yet. But it’s got a few interesting features that might whet your mobile appetite. Of course, mallMerlin will have all the usual suspects on board: in-mall navigation, customized deal delivery, and contact information. You’d be hard-pressed to find a retail app that lacks those basics these days, so we hope you’re keeping them in mind when shopping for your own mobile solution.

Now here’s where it gets interesting. mallMerlin will also give retailers the opportunity to display images of their storefront (vital when trying to navigate a new mall, especially when dealing with spotty GPS), to feature products with high-def images, descriptions and pricing, and to offer high-def video. It also lets retailers enhance and customize their discounts and offers before the customers reach the point of sale if they don’t want to be locked in to a one-size-fits-all discount. And it offers co-promotions, so retailers in a shopping center can work together to support each other’s marketing efforts, or to work with the mall’s marketing plans. Finally, it gives retailers a content management system and analytic so promotions can be updated and tracked with ease.

This could raise the bar for retail apps, if it turns out as good as it sounds.

Past in the Future, a cc licensed flickr photo shared by motionblur

News reached us this week that Simon Property Group has struck up a deal with iPhone development company shopkick. If that name sounds familiar, it might be because they’re responsibility for CauseWorld, an app we covered a while back. Soon, it might just be a household name.

Their upcoming app has a lot of features that you’d find in location-based retail apps like Foursquare. As a customer, you’ll pull out your iPhone (and likely your Blackberry or Android phone, in the near future) and “check in” at your current location. The retail location might give you access to a special discount or promotion for checking in. But then shopkick goes further. You’ll be rewarded with “kickbucks,” which you can save up for special rewards. You’ll also earn those kickbucks just for walking in to shopkick partner retailers.

That’s where the big difference lies. Shopkick won’t be a standalone app – rather, it relies on retailers adopting special beacons that recognize when shopkick users are in the store. So no more will you (or your retailers) need to worry that rewards are being tossed at shoppers who just pass by, or check in to every store from the local food court. Shopkick will reward shoppers who are already engaged, and it will keep them coming back by being more rewarding than Foursquare has ever thought to be.

Whether it will work remains to be seen. It’s an ambitious plan, and it needs retailers to get on board with the hardware if it’s going to reach its full potential. The jury is still out on whether there is enough use of this sort of app to make it worthwhile. But working with Simon is certainly a great start, and with 25 Simon malls launching the program later this month, we should be seeing real world results soon.

Have you put any more thought into your shopping center’s mobile app? We’ve looked at a few different options, from shopping center specific to multi-mall map apps. Here’s another fun one.

Madison Marquette recently put together a great iPhone app for Asbury Park, its high profile retail mixed-use destination along the New Jersey coast. As a mixed-use destination, Asbury Park has its own challenges for app development. Concerts and dining out are as relevant as shop listings, and Madison Marquette did a great job of presenting that.

Positioning Asbury Park as a destination, the developer is using the app to feature the items that might draw in shoppers near and far. The app lists shops, dining spots, nightclubs, concerts and events. News and social media connections are also made. But to get people out to the shore in the first place, the app offers an up-to-date surf and weather report. It’s the perfect app for someone planning a day at the New Jersey coast.

Need someone to do your (not so) dirty work? Here’s a novel way to get local shoppers working for you when you need them.

If you have a need for some in-house market research or demographic surveying, Field Agent might just be the app for you. It’s only available in the US iTunes store for now, but this seems like an app with growth potential. You can sign up with the service, and post a task. Field Agent users in your area can open the app and see the listings in their area, and the payment that’s on offer (payments range between $3 and $8 depending on the task). Agents are ranked for reliability, so you know the person you’re paying will be responding accurately and honestly.

It’s the latest in a series of attempts to crowdsource the mobile market, and it might be a workable one. More Agents are signing up daily, with clients lagging behind, so if you have a quick job that could use the input of the crowd, Field Agent is looking for you. The company is looking to expand the capabilities of the app, so if you have an idea for a task it doesn’t support, let them know.

Want to help shoppers find their way around your mall? Consider checking in to FastMall.

FastMall is an iPhone application that’s focused on getting shoppers where they’re going — fast. Using GPS locations and some nice mapping software, the application can help shoppers find exactly what they’re looking for. Need a bathroom, quickly? Shake the app and it brings up the map location of the nearest toilet. But shoppers can also find food, find stores, find deals, and find their cars. And if they want to be social, they can check in at the shops they’re visiting on FastMall, Facebook or Twitter.

Offering deals is a nice selling point for retailers at your shopping center. Much like competitor Point Inside, who we’ve covered in the past, retailers can list time limited sales and offers in the app. Click on the deal, get a coupon. A number of retailers use the application to push newsletter signups, and you could too. You can find out more at the FastMall website.

This weekend, the Malama Card iPhone app will make a splash at four Hawaiian malls.

Malama Card is the loyalty card program currently in place at commercial properties owned by Kamehameha Schools. It was launched in November of last year, and has seen a lot of popularity to date. To augment that program, the iPhone app has been developed. It’s got many of the hallmarks of the great shopping center apps we’ve seen to date: GPS location and directions with a merchant map, a merchant and promotion list, detailed merchant profiles and social media integration. But where it really shines is with its integration with the loyalty program.

Non-members get the standard app features mentioned above, but members can also use the app as a virtual Malama Card. Any discounts or promotions they have access to as members will be available to them in the app. Rather than carrying the card around, members can flash the iPhone version to redeem the discount or promotion.

Of course, the full benefits of the loyalty program are available to non-iPhone users too. The app just adds an extra level of convenience for the iPhone carrying members — and shoppers who might consider joining the program.