Texting for Shoppers
Posted by Universal Ad at Sunday, July 22, 2007 3:15 AM and is filed under Mobile,Retail,Messaging,Shopping,Text Messaging 
Here's a unique angle on the "how to best utilize a new marketing channel" discussion - use it to help David fight Goliath. In this case, in a RetailWire discussion based on a London Times article, it's the small shop against the supermarket chain.
With the latter trying to imitate the personal service advantage of the former through a marketing barrage of tailored offers, the little guys are trying to delay the onslaught with a mobile phone-based loyalty program that is aiming to emulate the success of big chain loyalty programs.
During the marketing campaign, which currently covers about 17,000 local UK grocers, special offers will be sent to mobile phones as bar codes that can be scanned from handset displays. Subsequent purchases will be used to personalize future offers and special real-time offers can also be requested. For example, a shopper texting 'BBQ' could be sent offers, within 30 seconds, for beer, sausages and salads.
Pro - convenience, targeting (for the consumer) and cost / Con - SMS spam, targeting (for the retailer) and cherry-picking --- which side do you think will win for consumers and for retailers?
With the latter trying to imitate the personal service advantage of the former through a marketing barrage of tailored offers, the little guys are trying to delay the onslaught with a mobile phone-based loyalty program that is aiming to emulate the success of big chain loyalty programs.
During the marketing campaign, which currently covers about 17,000 local UK grocers, special offers will be sent to mobile phones as bar codes that can be scanned from handset displays. Subsequent purchases will be used to personalize future offers and special real-time offers can also be requested. For example, a shopper texting 'BBQ' could be sent offers, within 30 seconds, for beer, sausages and salads.
Pro - convenience, targeting (for the consumer) and cost / Con - SMS spam, targeting (for the retailer) and cherry-picking --- which side do you think will win for consumers and for retailers?
This is great but why text it?
Why not just click on the logo, trademark, keyword, barcode, and be sent the information or have the barcode sent to the mobile device for the discount or mobile coupon. Why not enter the sweepstakes the brand desires. Why not click it to get the recipe when I start to cook the product?
Check out Neomedia Technologies, and their mobile application called 'qode'.
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Qode looks like a very cool technology, even if it requires a bit more hassle than just getting an SMS and presenting it at the store. The targeting possibilities are certainly endless. It seems to me that the two are complementary to each other - some consumers like to be more proactive, while some prefer to be in reactive mode.
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