Gasoline Doesn’t Fuel this Loyalty Program

Erie, PA, July 11, 2006 --(PR.com)-- Current shopper loyalty programs have recently been centered on the highly priced commodity of gasoline… until now. In the United States, close to 80% of adults 18+ years-old own a mobile phone, and now, they’ll be able to incorporate their mobile phone while grocery shopping and earn free airtime.

Additionally, this loyalty program is the first ever introduced that actually generates additional revenue for retailers by reducing credit card interchange and coupon redemption fees, selling additional airtime minutes, decreasing transaction time at check out and increasing per visit spending.

BENSUR :: Creative Marketing Group has developed a revolutionary loyalty platform that will combine shopper club programs, store-branded credit cards and mobile phones into what is considered by many their most valuable asset – their mobile phone. The program is called M-Shop and with it, customers will be able to receive coupons and discounts via text messaging to their phone, integrate shopping lists, recipes and meal solutions, participate in store contests and sweepstakes in real-time and much more. M-Shop also offers digital coupon redemption (DCR), when the clerk physically scans a coupon on the screen of a phone for redemption. With M-Shop, customers even earn free airtime just by shopping and the service is compatible with most mobile phones and service providers. M-Shop can be tied into current loyalty programs so a customer’s mobile phone becomes their shopper card and credit card, thus enabling the loyalty program manager to tailor specific profile-driven offers that cater to select customer sub-sets.

The world is changing and use of mobile phones will greatly expand within the next few years. Today, there are more than 203 million US consumers who own a mobile phone – soon they’ll use it as a ticket to the subway or bus, it will pay for coffee at neighborhood cafés and it could even take over the functions of credit cards. Europe and Asia have been using this technology for several years.

“The wireless phone allows you to extend your brand experience through text messaging, mobile coupons, opt-in targeted multi-media broadcasts, screen savers, ringtones, sweepstakes, games and much more,” said Kevin Seeker, Account Director. “With M-Shop, customers can participate in your store loyalty programs, access real-time specials and deals, download recipes from the shopping aisle, redeem digital coupons and complete their transactions with a store-branded credit card with their wireless handset.”

Seeker went on to say, “We’ve only begun to see the extent of how mobile phones will be integrated into everyday life… there are endless opportunities to customize M-Shop to fit specific loyalty platform needs.”

The M-Shop platform has two key products, each with a different focus and position to fit each retail philosophy, customer demographics and loyalty programs – ShopTalk and MobilRewards.

ShopTalk has been structured to fit retailers that have heavy pre-paid consumer demographics, above average multi-cultural presence, price sensitive customers and young (18-35) and older (55+) demographics. With ShopTalk, each time a customer makes a purchase they are rewarded free airtime minutes. A text message alerts them when reward minutes are added to their account and they can check their minutes anytime via text message or the internet. Additional minutes can be purchased and added to the customer’s phone anytime.

To cater toward a lifestyle marketing experience, MobilRewards was created for customization to a retailer’s specific loyalty program goals. MobilRewards is geared toward higher-end, middle-aged demographics with high concentration of families with children. With MobileRewards, the idea is to move the program focus from low price to loyalty with the abilities to design entire marketing programs through the mobile phone. The mobile phone becomes a tool to help customers shop by providing in-store sales and offers directly to the phone via text message, having relevant digital content (health information and shopping reminders) and also can drive sales of specific products (SKU size, day-part, etc.). This product creates a very profitable revenue stream from additional airtime that is purchased. MobilRewards can also be integrated with current fuel loyalty initiatives or any other redemption based program.

“M-Shop is only the tip of the iceberg of how our wireless phones will be integrated over the next few years,” said Seeker. “We are looking to continually find ways to fuse together current retailer loyalty programs with M-Shop to drive sales and brand loyalty.”

BENSUR :: Creative Marketing Group is not a technology company that decided to learn about the food marketing business. Rather, BENSUR is a 15 year-old food marketing company, well respected in the industry by retailers and manufacturers alike. BENSUR has aligned the proper technology partners to produce the M-Shop solution. While M-Shop enables cutting edge technology, it is driven by a true understanding of the landscape of the retail industry. More information is available at www.wirelessloyalty.com.

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