Placecast Unveils ShopAlerts Self-Serve, B2B Solution that Enables SMBs to LaunchLocation Based Mobile Campaigns Quickly
July 21, 2011
SANFRANCISCO – (July 21, 2011) – Location-based mobile marketing leader Placecast this week announces the release of ShopAlerts Self-Serve, a simple toolthat enables merchants to create, deliver and track redemptions of mobilepromotions. For the first time, the ShopAlerts platform will be accessible on aself-service basis for a broader range of marketers looking to runlocation-based marketing programs at scale.
ShopAlertsSelf-Serve is not directly open to small businesses, but rather larger verticalcompanies like mobile operators, yellow-page providers, retailers, financialinstitutions or deal services that work with SMBs and can deploy this tool fortheir customers.
ShopAlertsSelf-Serve delivers a complete, white-label geofencing solution for businesses thatwant to deliver geo-triggered offers to their customers on their mobile phones.Geofences are virtual areas setaround physical locations; when an opted-in consumer is inside a geofencedarea, she receives a message from a business, including a discount, notice of asale, directions to a store or other content.
“Thissimple tool can be used by any business – from sole proprietor to large retailchain – to create and run their own geofence mobile promotions easily, andfully protect consumer privacy due to the double opt-in nature of the service,”stated Alistair Goodman, CEO of Placecast.
Unlikeother location-based consumer services that require an app, ShopAlerts is theonly solution that can reach all of the 268 million phones currently inoperation across the AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile networks. For thefirst time, businesses can create and track real-time location-based offersquickly and efficiently across all mobile devices, from smartphones to feature phones;with just a few clicks, a marketer can use ShopAlerts Self-Serve to create andmanage his own geofencing promotions.
ShopAlerts Self-Serve was unveiledon Tuesday at BIA/Kelsey’s Deals 3D conference in San Francisco.“ShopAlerts has beena powerful tool for brand advertisers and retailers to manage mobile dealalerts,” said Michael Boland Senior Analyst for BIA/Kelsey. “Enabling Placecast partners to openthis up to self-serve should democratize the platform and allow it to scale tothe long-tail SMB segment where there is growing interest in location basedmobile marketing.”
ShopAlertsSelf-Serve offers the following:
· Upload and manage store locationsand information
· Create geofences – a super-simpleway to generate zones around a location
· Create a real-time promotion,including store location, time of day, day of week and other variables
· Opt-in users via text message
· Track coupons or redemption codes
· Record and report analytics on allaspects of program performance – participants, geofences and ROI
· Change messages frequently inreal-time. For example, if a large outdoor customer appreciation day is plannedand it starts raining, a message could be:
Our event has movedinside the store – join us and get a rainy-day gift prize + 20% off entirestore!
Placecastlaunched ShopAlerts in 2009, and the platform has become the only industrystandard geofence marketing platform for major carriers and brands in NorthAmerica and Europe. ShopAlertsSelf-Serve is a simple version of the more comprehensive platform thatPlacecast is currently licensing to partners like AT&T in the U.S. and, O2,a major carrier in the UK owned by Telefonica, and others.
Messagescan be rendered as either an SMS/MMS or a push notification from an app.Placecast has found that these sorts of messages cut through the clutter andgrab immediate attention, versus an app that has to be downloaded and poweredon by consumers.
According to Placecast research, 60 percentof participants found ShopAlerts messages to be “cool and innovative”; 79percent said it increased their likelihood to visit a store; 65 percent made a purchaseas a result of a ShopAlerts message; and 73 percent of participants would “definitely”or “probably” use it in the future.
Formore information, please visit www.placecast.net
About Placecast
Placecast is the firstlocation-based platform specifically designed to use mobile marketing to driveconsumers into physical environments. Comprised of a team of experts in digitalmarketing, mobile solutions and location technology, Placecast offersShopAlerts as a white-label service for retailers and operators and alsolicenses the Placecast Platform technology for the delivery of othertypes of location-based services. The ShopAlerts™ geofence marketing servicehas transformed the mobile industry; brands such as The North Face, L’Oreal,Starbucks and Chicos are all delivering location-based mobile offers tocustomers near their stores on any mobile phone. Operators like O2 in the UKdeploy the company’s service and have enrolled subscribers in theirlocation-based marketing program, opening new sources of revenue and reducingchurn. The ShopAlerts service received significant recognition in 2010, takinghome the prize for innovation awarded by the National Retail Federation, aswell as garnering honorable mentions at the Mobile World Congress, Webby Awardsand CTIA. The company is backed by Quatrex Capital, ONSET Ventures and VoyagerCapital.
Media Contactfor Placecast:
Rachael HimselNunez
Placecast PR
rachael@vscpr.com
Phone:415.677.9125 x 257
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