The Right Place At The Right Time Deal
Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
Mobile Fringe, a Toronto company ranked by Business Insider as the number one mobile company to watch in 2011, has launched Push a Deal, a service that uses willing consumers’ smart-phone GPS locations to send them deals when they cross the ‘geo-fence’ and enter a participating store’s immediate vicinity.
For the smartphone savvy set, this app means immediate savings on things to buy, do and eat at close proximity. The app works on iPhone, Android, Blackberry and other devices.
Since its launch in late 2008, Mobile Fringe has built a robust mobile retail platform that has achieved over 1 million user impressions through retail shopping apps such as the Toronto Eaton Centre and Yorkdale Shopping Centre apps. Now the company is using that expertise and launching a mobile location-based service where deals are presented and pushed to users who are in the right place at the right time. Starting in Toronto, Push a Deal will be rolling out to Canadian cities over the ensuing months. In fact, willing consumers in Vancouver and Montreal can already download the app and have existing local group deals sent to them.
“Despite the success of the group buying model and deal-of-the-day websites, today’s young consumers are on their phones, not their computers,” says Steve Sorge, CEO of Mobile Fringe. “Push a Deal is an acknowledgment of that shift and is dedicated to delivering deals based on where a person is standing. When you are close to the deal, you will get an alert.”
A recent Microsoft study of 1,500 people in the U.K., U.S., Canada, Japan, and Germany found that 51% had used a location-based service, and 62% were aware of such services. Young men aged 18-34 are the primary drivers of adoption. Across all countries, 94% of location-based services users said they found them valuable. Four-in-10 use location-based services once a week and perceived value increases with use as the services become ingrained in day-to-day life.
Push a Deal is a one-stop-shop for all sorts of goods and services. When on the app, members choose to view either exclusive deals, or one of the many group site deals that are close to their location.
“The financial model of the deal-of-the-day websites, where retailers only receive 25% of a product or service’s retail price is simply unsustainable for businesses,” says Sorge. “Push a Deal offers a risk-free, strategic marketing tool for retailers who want to actually increase traffic without decimating their bottom line.”
To that end, Push a Deal only takes 25% of the deal amount, leaving the rest for the retailer. This is versus 50% taken by the predominant group-buying websites. Moreover, a risk-free compensation model means companies only pay Push a Deal when someone actually redeems an offer, unlike deal-of-the-day websites who control all the cash.
Push a Deal has a link for stores where retailers can sign up, create an offer online in 60 seconds, and start pushing deals. Stores can choose when to send out deal alerts, based on inventory, or how busy they are and therefore drive foot traffic when they actually need it. Additionally, For the first two months all deal redemptions for new stores is free.
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