FMCG News : Kellogg’s and United Biscuits trial Shopitize’s unique mobile couponing service
by Will Corry on November 13, 2012 in Apps, BIG Data, FaceBook, Google, iPhone, Lead story, LinkedIn, Metrics, Mobile, Mobile Marketing, Pinterest, Retail, Retail News, Small Business, Startups, Twitter
Shopitize today announces that Kellogg’s and United Biscuits have become the first brands to sign up and trial its unique brand-to-consumer cashback mobile couponing service.
An exclusive group of 1,000 plus savvy shoppers in Britain will start to receive great deals from Kellogg’s and United Biscuits on the 14th November when the couponing service goes live.
Kellogg’s and United Biscuits exclusive deals for Shopitize users include some of the nation’s favourite products, specifically McVities Jaffa Cakes, Kellogg’s Special K, Crunchy Nut and Coco Pops breakfast cereals, Pringles and Special K Cereal Bars. By taking advantage of these offers through the Shopitize platform, they’ll save up to 50% from standard retail prices. http://shopitize.com/
TheMarketingblog
According to network giant Cisco, Shopitize is one of Britain’s top 6 innovators. The firm has developed a promotional platform and apps to deliver exclusive deals to registered smartphone users. Once installed, they’ll begin to receive exclusive deals on their phones.
“With a wealth of information at their fingertips, consumers are savvier than ever,” adds Irina Pafomova, Shopitize’s managing director. “They’re also much less likely to be swayed by traditional, in-your-face advertising and commercials.
All users need to do is visit their supermarket and buy the products featured in the Shopitize app. Using the app, they take snaps of their paper shopping receipts, which are then automatically processed and validated by the Shopitize mobile ecosystem. Consumers are rewarded by cashback either by PayPal or cheque.
“Mobile technology is becoming more and more integrated into our everyday lives, and Shopitize is the first mobile couponing system we have seen that operates right across the retail trade,” says Sam Blunt, brand experience and digital controller at Kellogg’s UK.
He adds: “As a leading brand, Kellogg’s aims wherever possible to embrace and support innovation that could enhance the shopper experience and Shopitize has the potential to do just that.”
United Biscuits endorses this vision and is looking to add Shopitize’s digital shopping channel to the mix of its marketing campaigns. According to the manufacturer, the big win the user gets from Shopitize is the fact that the app gets round the challenges associated with redeeming paper coupons in store. With Shopitize, there is no need to scan a mobile barcode at the till, which supermarket tills can struggle to do.
“With a wealth of information at their fingertips, consumers are savvier than ever,” adds Irina Pafomova, Shopitize’s managing director. “They’re also much less likely to be swayed by traditional, in-your-face advertising and commercials.
“Instead, they want to be entertained and engaged by marketers. As more users join and use Shopitize to share their shopping data in privacy, brands will be able to better target the profiles of consumers and offer them highly personal and exclusive offers based on their precise shopping behaviour. This can drastically improve the efficiency of their promotional spends.
Shopitize’s offering to consumers is easy, highly rewarding and a fun way to shop for everyday items. These three things define a positive shopping experience for consumers in today’s market and are set to drive the adoption of the app by users.
Shopitize is dedicated to becoming a leading player in mass personalisation of promotional offers that are individually tailored to shopping behaviour, lifestyle and real-time context of consumers.
In doing so, Shopitize puts the consumer in the centre of the buying circle and gives brands the tools to join each consumer’s circle of trusted brands. In turn, consumers are able to monetise their loyalties, while brands optimise their marketing spend, resulting in savings for both.
Apps
From 14th November, Shopitize’s Android app can be downloaded at:
From 14th November, Shopitize’s iPhone app can be downloaded at:
Tags: cashback mobile couponing service, Coco Pops, couponing service, Crunchy Nut, Irina Pafomova, Kellogg’s, Kellogg’s Special K, McVities Jaffa Cakes, mobile couponing service, monetise their loyalties, Pringles, promotional offers, promotional spends, Sam Blunt, Shopitize, Shopitize platform, Special K Cereal Bars, United Biscuits Print article
Tuesday, 20 November 2012
FMCG News : Kellogg’s and United Biscuits trial Shopitize’s unique mobile couponing service | TheMarketingblog
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2 comments:
Will,
Interesting post. Shopitize is a clever idea. However, IMHO, it has some major obstacles to overcome.
The concept is made possible because technology now makes it easy for a mobile to capture and pass in a till receipt to an OCR engine for automated reading.
However, technology also makes it very easy for anybody with a little computer knowledge to create fake till receipts. In fact, consumers can download free fonts and programs to do exactly that.
This is not an issue when Shopitize has only a few offers. However, SHoptizie could quickly become a victim of its own success if it takes off.
Once there is a meaningful number of offers available, and higher amounts of cash back available, many consumers may be tempted to cheat the system - and consumers will increasingly understand and be incentivised to do so.
The issue is that creating fake receipts is simple to do and difficult to detect. A consumer simply needs to create receipt templates for each of the retailers.
Then the consumer simply has to amend the items to the template, snap the photo and submit to make the claim.
Getting the barcodes for each item is simple because they can be easily found and reused.
As shoptize are only receiving an image and not the physical receipt, it would be impossible to verify whether the receipt that has been submitted is genuine or not without the support of the retailer.
Automated OCR systems would not pick this up - and it would be doubtful that even manual, visual checks would pick this up either because it is a computer image and not a physical item.
So IMHO, fraud could become a major issue - unless there are much more sophisticated anti-fraud and OCR systems in place. I doubt that this is likel y anytime soon based on how I see their current OCR working.
Without these in place, Shopitize may struggle.
One may argue, that consumers will not act in a fraudalent manner - however, evidence to date would not support this. Massive rip offs of coupons via Mis and Mal redemption have occurred once a security flaw as been established and the internet allows these gaps to be exploited and communicated to others very quickly.
In addition, without heavy investment in anti-fraud measures the technology is quite simple and not a big barrier to entry for other competitors.
An interesting one to watch.
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