IT services provider Mahindra Satyam has launched a mobile platform for distributing special offers. Its Mobile Couponing Platform allows retailers to deliver multiple, targeted marketing campaigns, and gives customers access to coupon offers and information on their mobile phones. 

The solution works by sending customers a Unique Identification Number (UID), and loyalty ID via a text or barcode scan message. This gives the user access to the coupon app. Offers can be scanned directly from the mobile handset, allowing customers to redeem coupons in the retail environment. The platform also allows users to set their preferences and monitor the amount of money they have saved over a period of time.

Ashish Bhuwania, Mahindra Satyams head of retail and consumer sector, says: “Mahindra Satyam has responded to a gap in the market by enabling retailers to offer personalised marketing campaigns. Our vision is to provide retailers with a real-time and plastic-free loyalty programme that can deliver coupons based on customer preferences. For retailers, this is preferential to traditional methods of coupon marketing, as it allows marketers to target consumers with greater accuracy with a much greater redemption rate of 40 per cent versus 2-3 per cent in traditional loyalty programmes.”

Data capture is another advantage over traditional coupons, says Bhuwania. “Couponing can be delivered in a timely and direct manner and the data captured enables retailers to determine the success and ROI of the campaign,” he says. “Distribution is also more efficient and cost effective with a reduction in printing as coupons are delivered directly to customer handsets.”

The Mobile Couponing Platform system can be used as an add-on to multichannel marketing campaigns, Says Mahindra Satyam.