Coupons delivered via cell phone can be redeemed in stores or online

Bringing the cell phone into a multi-channel marketing strategy, communications technology company Twelve Horses and Mobile Technology Group have launched a service that lets retailers deliver mobile text coupons that can be redeemed in stores or online.

David LaPlante, CEO of Twelve Horses, said the coupon service is starting to be deployed in Europe and is under consideration in the U.S. by two apparel retailers and one music merchant. “The technology has definitely hit a nerve,” he tells InternetRetailer.com.

LaPlante adds that the cell phone-delivered coupons – which appear as alpha-numeric text messages that can be entered onto a retail web site, spoken into a voice-recognition system, or simply shown to a store retailer – are expected to be particularly popular with young people accustomed to text-messaging. “These teens and tweens don’t necessarily have a desktop computer to receive e-mailed coupons, but they use cell phones and they can show mom and dad how to use text message coupons,” he says.

Retailers as well as other marketers are expected to deploy the cell phone coupon service as part of broader marketing strategies that include e-mail marketing and other forms of advertising, LaPlante says.

He adds that the cell phone coupons are intended for consumers who opt-in to receiving them after shopping at merchant. “The mobile communications market won’t make the mistake of e-mail and telemarketing with non-permission marketing tactics,” he says.