Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, Jun 30, 2006
Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Friday, Jun 30, 2006 |
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Marketing
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Strategy Info-Tech - Telecommunications Discount coupons go the electronic way Our Bureau
Chennai , June 29 Giving out discount coupons to customers as a promotional scheme is nothing new. Hutch has added a twist to the concept by making it electronic. The m-coupons, as they call it, is a system by which the customer does away with those discount books, and gets it directly through the Hutch server right on to the mobile phone. Mr Harith Nagpal, Operations Director, Hutchison Essar - Mumbai, said that customers of the Mumbai circle now have access to the company's tie-ups with 370 retailers directly through the mobile phone. "The idea behind it is to cut down on the lead time," he explained. Earlier, it would take about three months for the company to confirm that a certain retailer would offer a certain scheme, and then print the coupons. "If a retailer approached us with a scheme the day after printing, we would have to wait another quarter before implementing it," he said. As of now, the system allows for that flexibility, and an offer can be made mobile within days. Currently, the company offers its customers `Hutch Tuesdays', a buy-one-get-one-free scheme. The customer can get an extra ticket, or pizza or tee shirt, as the case may be, every Tuesday by sending an SMS, and submitting the 8-digit code that will come in response to the retailer. The offer can also be accessed by calling directly or through `Hutch Planet', the company's wapsite. Mr Nagpal explained that the customer could avail of the offer in four categories — entertainment, restaurant, movies and shopping.
How it works
Elaborating on the logistics behind m-Coupons, he said that it works on an SMS-based application, referred to as RAPOS (redemption at point of sale). The application is loaded on to handsets that are supplied to each of the 370 retailers. Upon receipt of the 8-digit PIN from the customer, the retailer would send it to the central Hutch server and await confirmation. "All of this happens in a matter of minutes," he said. The application was developed in partnership with Activemedia, a company that provides services such as deploying mobile coupons, vouchers, loyalty solutions, tickets and mobile customer relationship management (known as m-CRM) solutions. "M-coupons is convenient for the customers, and it also gives the company the flexibility to add new schemes and partners without wasting too much time," said Mr Nagpal.
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