Handset giant launches mobile rewards solution
Service can function as an extension of existing loyalty card schemes or as the platform for new digital ones.
Mobile phone maker Motorola says its Mobile Loyalty Solution is a managed service that enables retailers to develop a more personal relationship with their customers and digitise store-branded membership cards on customers’ mobile phones.
The company says the solution aims to answer consumer demand for mobile, flexible customer service options inside and outside of the store and to provide customers with a more convenient shopping experience, including access to offers and discounts on products that interest them.
Retailers can proactively send offers and incentives to the customer’s mobile phone, without the need for membership cards and paper coupons.
Participating merchants can use the service to build a database of shopper product interests, purchase habits and preferences. The solution is compatible with most US mobile phones and allows retailers to target consumers with the best offers and discounts on products that interest them.
“Consumer use of the mobile phone is evolving and its importance during the shopping experience is increasing significantly,” said Dana Warszona, global leader for the m-commerce portfolio at Motorola’s Enterprise Mobility Solutions. “With a growing number of smart phone users and the enhanced capability of their operating platforms, an era where a constant digital connection via a mobile phone enhances the consumer’s shopping experience has begun. From enabling consumers to easily search for product information to completing transactions, the mobile phone has become a business critical tool that retailers must incorporate into their strategy to meet the needs of customers, now and in the future.”
Motorola says its new approach gives the retail supply chain a tool to improve sales, increase rewards redemption and improve customer satisfaction levels by eliminating the traditional approach of rewarding customers as they leave the store. This also increases the opportunity for retailers and their manufacturing trading partners to collaborate more effectively on real-time offers.
The Mobile Loyalty Solution is the first in a planned series of mobile commerce offerings to help retailers create a better shopping experience for their customers.
Customers can opt in to the programme online or in the store by text messaging a code to indicate interest in receiving offers on their mobile phone. They then receive a mobile application with a bar code on their phone that acts as the shopper’s identifier or mobile loyalty card, which can be scanned at the point of sale.
Motorola has so far not named the retailers that are taking part in the scheme.
Increasing mobile usage
An increasing number of consumers globally are using their mobile phones to help them shop early in the holiday season with usage particularly high among young adults seeking coupons, according to a survey by e-Rewards and TNS.
The poll of 4,500 people in 11 countries sponsored showed consumers used their phones to comparison shop, take photos of items they were considering buying or simply to access online coupons, among other activities.
e-Rewards and TNS questioned people in the United States, Canada, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, India and China.