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A recent report published by Juniper Research on Mobile Marketing and Retail Strategies forecasts that the market for mobile coupons is set to double by 2012 to $4billion whilst the market as a whole for advertising, coupons and smart posters will globally exceed $8billion by 2012. The report found that Retailers were already starting to utilise the additional benefits of the mobile channel to provide advertising on the phone and the provision of money off coupons. The research showed that location aware technologies would play a key part and suggested that companies such as Google and IBM were already seeking to exploit location based knowledge to enable retailers to provide relevant offers to shoppers in-store. Mobilize has been operating the SHOP SCAN SAVE® mobile loyalty scheme since 2004. Stefan Magnusson, CEO, is not surprised. “Consumer interest in mobile coupons has always been strong, as has that of the advertisers. Now that retailers are beginning to align themselves to issue and redeem mobile coupons in-store, I can easily see the market more than doubling over the next two years”. The report stresses the importance of targeting and therefore the relevance of the offers and advertising to the consumer. The mobile phone is seen by the consumer as part of their personal space so any unwanted intrusion will not be welcomed. Failure to use targeting particularly with SMS communications will result in the user treating the advertising as spam. Mobilize are currently in dialogue with most of the UK’s largest retailers regarding the issue and redemption of mobile coupons, and recently appointed loyalty expert Steve Gray as Executive Chairman. Gray has a deep understanding of retailers’ requirements in loyalty and direct marketing, having worked with industry giants including Tesco, Kroger, Carrefour, Boots, Metro, Waitrose and Morrisons in the area of customer retention and loyalty.
Gray, commented “For mobile marketing to be successful the message and its delivery needs to be continually relevant to the consumer. This requires the ability to harvest insight from the transaction and create an ongoing engagement programme that is opt in and permission based. Mobile Loyalty creates significant opportunities particularly for retailers with an existing loyalty scheme as they look to “mobilize” their customers”. Full report can be accessed here
http://www.juniperresearch.com/reports/mobile_marketing_&_retail_strategies
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