Coupons on cell

Flashing discount coupons on mobile phones, a part of SMS marketing, is recently a new strategy for the retailers. The wide use of mobile phones and low cost are the two pivotal factors that have made this “in thing” a plausible tool for enticing customers. It’s an exciting as well as feasible service, but as long as it doesn’t cross over the line to become a nuisance, causing irritation of a consumer.

 

Today’s retailers have rightfully gauged the potential of a cell phone, the only gadget that gives company to a consumer throughout the day. Mr Rajiv Dingra, Founder and CEO, WATMedia Pvt Ltd explains, “If people stay attached with their mobile phones all day long then obviously communication through this medium would be highly infiltrated and therefore effective.”

 

SMS forms a fantastic mode of communication which does not involve saying anything (in the literal sense), yet silently conveys a message in an effective way. Mr Manoj Rathi, Founder and CEO of Krono iinc says, “There are many ways in which the brand can benefit, a few of them are cost saving, centralised capturing of database and easy manageability of offers on regular basis. Retailers can make this more fruitful by linking the strategy with multiple brands, which will surely excite the buyer to retain the coupon for a longer time.”

 

How to form the content


The content of the mobile coupons can take various flavours, but the most common are discount offers, seasonal sales, and cross-sell or up-sell where consumers are rewarded with a cost-saving offer for extending a purchase to additional products. There could also be trials, free, or highly discounted offers to initiate the first time or a repeat purchase.  The aim could also be to improve attendance at an event.

 

Mr Sohel Kamdar, Vice President, Metro Shoes Limited says, “At Metro Shoes, we offer affordable luxury to customers, and hence avoid discounting the brands. The only discounts offered are the ‘End of Season Sale’ that is communicated via SMS. The content primarily informs the customer of the offer, the validity and the location details.”

 

Coming to the word limit of the SMS, Mr Akbar Khwaja, MD, United Restaurants Ltd says, “Within 20 words we can only make an offer for discount.” Ms Nina Lekhi, Owner, Baggit, comments, “It is one of the cheapest ways to advertise/promote awareness. An SMS on the mobile phone reminds the customer of the brand, creates brand awareness and is cost effective.”

 

Retailers’ pick


The cost of this communication tool is much lesser as compared to the conventional media. Mr Kamdar opines, “The costs of sending SMS is less than 5% of the costs of sending paper leaflets. In addition, it has a better reach and, unlike fliers, has no chance of being thrown into a trash box.” Mr Khwaja shares, “Apart from the discount coupons, we also indulge into SMS campaign for branding.”

 

“It is very easy to use, less time consuming and moreover directly reaching target audience. A customer also feels that he has been given exclusive offer as he is not addressed in mass but in individual,” adds Mr Vishal Manchala, Director and CEO of Vast Technologies Private Limited.

 

The source of the data, however, mainly remains to be the CRM database, bank data base and the walk-ins that happen at the store. However, Mr Sanjay Gupta, Vice President, General Merchandising and Marketing, Spencer’s Retail Ltd. comments, “We solicit services of third parties who own huge databases which can be segmented as per requirement basis - psychographics and demographics.”

 

The SMSes are mostly sent before or at the start of the weekend for the obvious reason of ensuring maximum footfalls.

 

Service formulation


On the lines of retail brands drawing the relevant benefits, Mr Rajiv Hiranandani, Co-Founder & Country Head, Mobile2Win opines, “It’s a targeted promotional activity and involves less wastage as the coupon is on the mobile phone of the consumer and the consumer is forced to read the message. The exercise can be more fruitful with effective data mining.”

Mr Kunal Bahl, CEO, Jasper Infotech says, “We work with dozens of leading retail brands and hundreds of SME retailers to provide them performance marketing solutions using technology.  We see a strong propensity of high margin retailers across dining and personal care services to utilise our services, largely due to the high lifetime value of each customer.”

 

Ensured return


Virtual coupons sent via text messages are making strides and this means is a significant force to be reckoned with for a certain type of target segment like college students and young adults within the age group of 25 - 35 years. “With two major benefits of mobile couponing - the ability to influence purchasers in real time at a point of purchase, and the opportunity to stitch together information from online/mobile usage to offline purchase - the returns would soon overrun the investments done in this field,” informs Mr Gupta.

 

For Spencer’s Retail Ltd, the success rate remains to be 20-25 per cent. Mr Khwaja puts the practice to be good and handy. Mr Kamdar says, “We have always had a better success rate than our other mediums.” Ms Lekhi says, “We have been pursuing it but lately we’re having full fledged involvement into it. The response so far has been good and we are now practicing it regularly, in terms of discount coupons, offers, etc.”

 

Mr Rathi rightly sums up, “Mobile marketing definitely has a great future, the earlier the brands wake up to it, the better. Technology like 3G, better mobile hardware and user-friendly software are set to take mobile marketing to greater highs and make everything more convenient for the user.”

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