James Tenser

BrainTrust Query: Are we creating too many promotion channels?

January 22, 2010

FROM RETAILWIRE:
BrainTrust panelist Bill Bittner visited the ARTS pavilion at the National Retail Federation Big Show this year to look at contenders in the personalized marketing arena.... Is there an industry-wide answer for the convenient distribution of electronic coupons?      [more...]

I have little doubt that the future of paperless couponing lies within the next generation of NFC-equipped smart cellphones. Their "electronic wallet" capabilities (already proven in Euro and Asian markets) are a natural for coupon delivery, storage and redemption. Redemption is "tap and go," similar to Visa Paywave, and Mastercard Paypass.

With no paper to track, the redemption process becomes completely electronic and instantaneous. Unique coding and security protocols make counterfeiting virtually impossible, and tracking and analytics are powerful enough to target individual shoppers, locations, times and loyalty patterns.

Finally, the Internet, cellphone cameras, bluetooth, and NFC radio may all be used to capture and hold coupons in the phone, making any medium--electronic or print--a potential delivery vector for the coupon offer, with every delivery trackable.

In full disclosure, I am an advisor for an early stage firm, Contactless Data, Inc. (http://www.contactlessdata.com) that is championing this approach. I'm quite certain it's a matter of time before the e-coupon wallet seems completely standard, maybe even self-evident.