Soon there will be no more Sunday afternoons where your mother is searching the Sunday newspaper for deals, and more specifically cutting out coupons for the upcoming week. It actually never occurred to me what a simple, yet brilliant move it is to send coupons directly to mobile devices until today.
According to BrandWeek; Toys”R”Us today jumped into the digital fray. The retailer, never really known as a digital thinking company, this holiday season is equipping its retail outlets with scanners that can read coupon bar codes on mobile phones and is launching a text messaging program alerting shoppers to deals. Customers can get the coupons by joining the Toys”R”Us and Babies”R”Us mailing lists. When the mobile version of an e-mail is displayed on a smartphone, the retailer can scan it in a store.
After doing a little research I discovered that Starbucks began testing a similar program in late 2009 and Target launched one back in February. “It’s a really powerful program and right in the sweet spot,” said Michael Becker, managing director of the Mobile Marketing Association. Becker said 20-30 percent of U.S. consumers have a smartphone.
This is not a huge deal for Toys-R-Us; however it is a game-changer in the world of smart phone manufacturers, carriers, and any type of retail/grocery store. Companies need to take notice and get moving…
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