Mobile coupons are a booming online marketing category right now. Unfortunately, using them is not a seamless transaction as most consumers still cannot pay for the discounted product using their smartphone.
New tech is starting to come to market, though, that promises to fill in that gap. For the most part applications that integrate the mobile coupon with the payment piece are only available on a limited basis to a small subset of an already small user group.
However as they become mainstream - and mobile commerce is considered a high growth wireless strategy - these platforms will offer an even richer store of data to marketers about their customers' desires and spending habits, as well as allow them to better interact with them at the point of sale.
Blaze Mobile and Tetherball have just introduced an application that lets consumers redeem mobile rewards and coupons, and pay for their purchase using their mobile phone. To redeem an offer, the consumer holds his cell phone, with the Blaze Sticker on the back of the phone, near the POS device. The offer is validated in real-time, and then the shopper uses the cell phone to pay for the purchase.
A Focus on Payment
Most of the development has been focused strictly on the cell phone enabled payment, however. INSIDE Contactless says it is developing several mobile payment solutions based on its MicroPass platform that will allow existing mobile phones to support mobile payments, as well as transit, ID and access control applications.
The applications, many of which are expected to launch next year, are based on mobile handset stickers that turn any personal item - from a mobile phone to an employee ID badge - into a payment device.
Starbucks is piloting a iPhone application in 16 stores in Seattle and Silicon Valley that lets customers can use their devices as they'd use a standard Starbucks-issued gift card. The application lets users pay using a 2-D bar code.
Also in San Francisco, Cheri Mims, owner of the Lilybelle flower cart is beta testing new technology developed by a venture launched by Twitter co-founder and chairman Jack Dorsey. The company, called Square, has developed a tiny device that plugs into a mobile phone's headphone jack and scans swiped credit cards. With the device, a shopper can pay for a product and receive an invoice by email.
Wireless in 2010
Some of these initiatives will require NFC-enabled (near field communications) phones to work - which is not that far off, according to Juniper Research's wireless predictions for 2010. (via MarketingCharts). Juniper believes that by the end of 2010, NFC phones will be available in a number of countries. NFC combines smart card and contactless technology to enable transactions with mobile devices by waving them close to a reader. Applications include lower value retail purchases, travel tickets and coupons, it says.
