An excerpt from Retail Big Blog
Ellen Davis, VP and NRF spokesperson, recently interviewed mobile retail expert Mickey Alam Khan, the editor-in-chief of Mobile Marketer and Mobile Commerce Daily, for a primer on what’s happening in mobile right now. One of the questions he asked was: How can a retailer with a limited budget, or who is just getting started, dip a toe into the mobile retailing world?
Start with SMS, which is ideal to drive traffic to bricks-and-mortar stores. Lease a common short code at the U.S. Common Short Code Registry. Short codes are those five- or six-digit numbers to which you can text keywords. For example, the American Red Cross is asking consumers to donate $5 or $10 by texting the keyword HAITI to their 90999 short code.
Short codes cost $500 per month to lease and $1,000 if it’s a vanity number. For example, President Obama’s campaign short code was 62262, which spells OBAMA. Retailers can use short codes to deliver alerts of store openings, new merchandise, special offers and discounts. They can also send coupons or links to drive traffic to mobile sites.
Next, retailers should work with mobile site developers to create a mobile-friendly website that works on all smartphones. Nothing fancy, but make sure the site has a strong search feature and similar branding elements as the stores and online presence. Also, it should have a store locator function and a section for offers or the latest store circulars. Take that step, learn from customer visits and then graduate to a full-fledged mobile commerce site that allows transactions on the mobile phone itself.
An application is good for retailers with weekly circulars and loyalty programs. It kind of duplicates the mobile site, but those with deep pockets are advised to add an application to site and SMS programs. And of course, don’t forget to run mobile advertising campaigns on mobile sites of publisher properties whose readers match the retailer’s customer demographic. Search campaigns on mobile versions of Google, Yahoo and Bing can complement the mobile ads.
Read the entire interview here.
