Beginning with its July 28 catalog, furniture merchant Ikea will include an insert that offers customers the opportunity to get discounts by answering trivia questions on their mobile phones. Those that interact with the national mobile promotion are also encouraged to register at the Ikea Web site to enter to win a $10,000 Ikea shopping spree.
“The strategy in using mobile is to have another layer of communication with our customers,” said Casey Crook, marketing specialist at Ikea Seattle. “It’s a very direct communication device.”
Using the mobile phone for offers is nothing new for Ikea’s Seattle store. The store introduced a pilot mobile program last November and experimented with different types of offers. It has already offered similar in-catalog trivia games on the mobile phone, in which consumers participated for the chance to win a $5,000 shopping spree.
The Seattle store also offers mobile coupons in its store through a partnership with BCode, a mobile marketing services firm, and Valassis Interactive, an interactive agency.
The mobile coupon program is a monthly offer for loyal customers looking for free services and offers. Every month, members are invited to a special shopping day, the morning of which they receive a BCode text coupon offering a special percentage off of everything in the store. These “textvitations” also offer special perks, such as a free cinnamon roll with the purchase of coffee, redeemed at the store using BCode’s self-service mobile scanners.
As of July, the Seattle store had signed up 10,000 mobile loyalty members. Customers can join the “Ikea Mobile” loyalty program by sending a keyword through a text message to a shortcode. “We try to be respectful and send valuable offers only a couple of times a month,” Crook said of that program.
