Changing How America Shops

Nagesh Challa, Ecrio CEO and long-time correspondent, is interviewed in Fast Company: Ecrio's Revolutionary Cell Phone Applications Could Change How America Shops. He describes one of their latest developments:

" ... MoBeam, a program that uses the LEDs on cell phones to create patterns that mimic bar-code sequences. For years, developers have been trying to display scannable bar codes on cell-phone screens -- unsuccessfully; light reflecting off the screens interferes with the scanners' detection systems. "Then I thought, What if we get out of the paradigm of trying to read the code off of the screen?" Challa says. "It's looking for light reflections, so why don't we just give it the light it's expecting?" The upshot: Instead of printing out online coupons, movie tickets, and boarding passes -- and toting around credit cards and gift cards -- consumers will soon be able to store bar codes in their phones. Visa found Challa's idea so revolutionary that it just announced plans to make MoBeam the centerpiece of its upcoming mobile-phone credit-card program ... "

Making Electronic Coupons Easier

Larry Loper sends along a Mercury News Article : Hoping that Digital Coupons Will Cut it. This is about breakthrough work by Cupertino company Ecrio. The article is not about their Mobeam technology, which allows you to transmit electronic coupons from cellphones to standard supermarket scanners, but rather about the research process and it's sometimes odd turns. Describing their newest piece of work:

" ... the gadget translates coupon bar codes loaded from the Web into quick light bursts that trick supermarket scanners into thinking they are reading the coupons themselves. Point the so-called ClipPod at a scanner, press a button and bingo, the coupon savings is deducted from the grocery total ... "

This technology was at FMI and demonstrated at our innovation center because it showed how commonly installed existing technology, such as supermarket checkout scanners, can be used to create new value. It's this kind of piggybacking research that can leapfrog the costs and complexity involved.

Couponing in the Digital Age

Good overview piece on digital couponing via NielsenWire. Particularly interesting mention of using cellphones and other devices for coupon acquisition, management and delivery. I have linked with and posted about the company Ecrio, which is doing some very interesting work with their MoBeam effort. See their white paper on the redemption gap. From the Nielsen paper:

" ... Coupons are already well-established as a promotional vehicle in the U.S., with coupon-clipping Americans comprising 86 percent of households and driving 89 percent of all-outlet dollar sales, according to data compiled by Nielsen ...

1. Reduced reliance on paper-based feature and coupon circulation. A race for dominance is taking place with computer-based Internet applications, mobile phones, credit and frequent shopper cards and in-store applications. Global positioning systems (GPS), radio frequency identity tags (RFID), eye movement tracking cameras and similar devices will enable location- and interest-specific promotional offers to be delivered at actionable sites.

2. Electronic or store entrance coupon delivery. Instead of tagging consumers as they leave the store post-purchase, next generation systems will deliver coupons via mobile phones, Internet or in-store devices when shoppers enter the retail location or are in the mood and in the aisle, ready to buy ...

... Integrated strategic promotional planning. Shopper marketing comes of age, dominating the retail landscape, displacing product-centric marketing planning. Technology enables a holistic planning approach that puts the consumer front and center while "benefitting the brand, the consumer, the shopper and the retailer." ... "

P&G Working with Couponing Startup MoBeam

In the local papers:   P&G  is working with a west coast startup called MoBeam, and a company called Ecrio. which I originally brought into town for tests several years ago.  I have mentioned their methods a number of times here.   Part of the effort invoved here was to do the consumer analytics to see what the response of the shopper was to these new methods.   See also an earlier press release.

" .... Snipping coupons from the Sunday paper, stuffing them into a wad and producing them at checkout is a weekly ritual for millions of shoppers.

The current technology is not easy to use, Baker says. The shopper must present the phone to the cashier, who then must key in a number, as shoppers waiting in line grow impatien

 The opportunity is growing, but it’s a long way from being a mainstream technology used by a large segment of the population,” he says.

 That’s what P&G and Mobeam are hoping to fix.  “If couponing can be easier, faster and less costly for shoppers and retailers, we want to help bring it to life,” said Jeff Weedman, vice president of global business development at P&G.

P&G and other manufacturers are banking on projections that 50 percent of the population will own a smart phone by 2015. Thirty percent currently own the phones, creating a demand for systems allowing them to easily cash in their coupons anywhere.... "

Digital Coupons on the Rise

Good Financial Times Piece, mentions P&G, Kimberly Clark. It is inevitable that we see more of this kind of play. One example, Ecrio's Mobeam system, shown at the right. Ultimately these kinds of promotions should be organized and transmittable directly from a shopper's cell phone.