Cell Phone Coupons Good Business for Mobilab

Mobilab is a company with a low profile. Owned by TV4, Mobilab's unique work with Kuponginlöse (which means "coupon redeeming" in English) it will soon be found nearly everywhere in Sweden - in people's cell phones.

"There are 10.5 million cell phones in Sweden," says Joachim Alvarez, product manager at Mobilab. "Some 97 percent of Swedes use mobile telephones according to the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency. Coupons and cell phone gift certificates are still in their infancy and they have enormous potential." 

In short, Mobilab's cell phone coupon technology allows companies and stores to sent out a text message with a unique number code that functions exactly like a printed coupon when the customer comes to the cash register.

"It's a way to reward customers in real time," says Alvarez. "It saves paper and thereby the environment. And even we win since we get a micro-part every time someone redeems such a coupon."

The number of customers has risen enormously since the start. Some 180 different firms use the technology today, including giants such as Proctor & Gamble and Arla Foods. For example, Swedish transporation company Swebus has developed a simple customer complaint service for its customers in conjunction with Mobilab: when something unforeseen happens, Swebus can quickly compensate its customers in the form of cell-phone coupons that can be redeemed at Swebus service centers or retailers such as 7-Eleven or newsstand chain Pressbyrån.

Other companies that have used Mobilab's cell phone coupons for campaigns include Marabou, Norrmejerier dairies, meat company Scan and ice cream maker GB Glass. When it comes to giving away cell phone coupons for a product that customers can then get for free, they nearly market themselves, says Alvarez. "It spreads amazingly quickly virally," he says. "When GB Glace created a campaign connected to Facebook where they gave away ice cream cones, the 5,000 cones were gone within three and a half hours. It gave GB Glace 5,000 new Facebook fans at the same time. That campaign has been talked about a lot in the retail food industry."

Mobilab is sometimes involved in developing the concept around a campaign, usually in exchange for a part of the profits from the product being marketed. But the company is never mentioned in campaigns, and even its infrastructure partner Ericsson talks about the technology without directly naming Mobilab as the developer.

"We're technology suppliers," says Alvarez. "Ericsson helped in dealing with lowering prices with telephone operators, and we've been working with them for a long time. It's better that they market the technology internationally, where people recognize the name Ericsson and not little Mobilab. We get our share of the pie anyway with every micro payment."

Which is how Mobilab's coupon solution gets help from Ericsson, primarily internationally.

"Our coupon solution for cell phones is unique," says Alvarez. "We have for example only one competitor in terms of technology, and that's South Korea Telecom, which isn't working on the Swedish market. And according to both Ericsson and the international organization that works with standardization of mobile solutions, we've come the furthest in this arena."