Friday, January 16, 2009

A Marketing Idea UPDATED

I’m not much for coupons. Now and again I run across one and have the need or want for the product. I’ve had a couple from Subway sitting on the counter for a couple of weeks that I always forget to put in the car for the spur of the moment desire for a sub sandwich.

But, now having a Google phone, wouldn’t it revolutionize coupons if you could save them to your phone say with a bar code and show them or have them scanned at the store or restaurant?

I assume stores and restaurants want you to use the coupons they spew upon the world, why not make it easier to use them?

Or is this idea already in practice and I’m just behind the curve? UPDATE: As it turns out, I'm on the crest of the curve. Check this article:

http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/1357202.html

and this site:

http://www.cellfire.com/grocery/help.php#Where%20are%20grocery

6 comments:

Hedy said...

Great idea. A techie friend of mine said if you have a camera phone, try taking a photo of it and using it that way.

Anonymous said...

Dave-
Clark Howard has been talking about this
....and others

the marketing people want to climb up into your shorts -
Technology is all well and fine and we all enjoy the new toys -
{ Chip actually has a hotel clerk bell on his phone now }
....but for me, once THEY get up your shorts it seems more and more difficult to avoid that wonderful opportunity to go to Disneyland....
Thanks, but I will continue to avoid filling out coupons and protect what little privacy I still have - marketers INSIDE my cell phone - Hell No!

Posol'stvo the Medved said...

The challenge with this idea is that, at least for now, these coupons to your cellphone can only be store issued, not manufacturer issued.

If you have a coupon for an item but it is a manufacturer's coupon (for instance, Procter and Gamble gives you $1 off a bottle of shampoo), the store needs that paper couon in order to get that $1 from the manufacturer.

Whereas if a store or a chain of stores offers a deal, that electronic deal can be entered into the store's inventory tracking / point of sale system, and you don't need a paper coupon.

If there were a way for all manufacturers and retail systems to recognize electronic revenues via electronic coupons, this could work. But I'm not sure that can happen because there would be no built in mechanism for ensuring that a certain coupon could not be used more than once. The stores can tie it into your store account. But if it isn't tied to something like that, I could go to Kroger and get my shampoo, and then theroetically turn around and go to Publix and get the same dollar off shampoo there. Technically, I would have managed to take a single dollar and turn it into many dollars. And unless you are a government, I don't know how that works.

Dave said...

I'm a full believer in opt in versus opt out. If someone sends me spam, they never get my business. Yet, I subscribe to some spam. Daily stuff from Britannica online, Office Depot promotions, stuff from the bar (of the law type). And, I signed up for Cellfire figuring it would be fun to see if it worked and find out if I'd use it if it did. No need to go to the second part - it doesn't support my phone.

Anonymous said...

Dave, sorry about the ramped up Winston Smith paranoia -
Since I was formerly in a aspect of marketing; I feel Those Guys are not to be trusted -with anything
....the whole idea of our private phone numbers being abused by Marketers creates some personal rancor
I am a watcher by nature, and subscribe to a Zen like notion- ..."Don't push the river, it flows by itself" -
" Opt in" as you will, but those guys already know too much about me....I'll hang on to my privacy a little longer if I'm able....

Dave said...

Sorry is not necessary. We both get to say what we want to say, as always.