App to enable ‘spontaneous promotions’
A new iPhone app – called Quicker Feet – will allow retailers to alert consumers to nearby promotions to shift slow-selling stock.
The app, which is set to launch in May, is being promoted as a way traditional retailers can win back revenues lost to internet shopping.
Quicker Feet is free for consumers and will allow spontaneous promotions that can be locally targeted, explained Quicker Feet’s found Darren Winterford.
It is suited to retailers with fixed costs that sell perishable goods, but it could also work well for cinemas and airlines that need to shift unsold seats, last-minute, he said.
The launch is backed up with a jazzy website and video:
The app will be available for iPhone users and will later be available for other smart phone models.
The API has been made ‘open’ to allow other vendors and retailers to develop their own apps on the back of it.
The service will cost retailers $4.95 per posting if used regularly, and $15-$20 for one-off postings.
“I’d like agencies to get in touch to discuss how to work with clients on this, as well as possible revenue share opportunities,” Winterford said.
A very interesting spin and the technology and web presence all look very “on message” but speaking as someone who has already launched an app into a similar space (The Specials Board has bar/restaurant offers) the key to the proposition is volume – volume of participating merchants from the users’ perspective, and volume of users from the merchants’ perspective.
Given this is going to be targeting (mostly) FMCG retail, I’d also question how much time smaller merchants are going to have to administer this, so this may be one for the big(ger) boys.
If you’ll excuse the double negative, I’m also not convinced that the constant notifications wouldn’t be a little irritating, but by and large I welcome another mobile advertising proposition to help us build the market!
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