Paypoint and Shop Scan Save bring mobile barcodes to the masses

Link: Pay Point – PAYPOINT ANNOUNCES EXCLUSIVE PARTNERSHIP WITH SHOP SCAN SAVE®

Got an anonymous tip in about this earlier. Must have missed the press release back in April, or they need a new PR agency, as it didn’t appear on our news story radar. Anyway, better late than never..

Shop Scan Save® is an innovative retail solution that binds together mobile phone technology and EPoS payment systems, so consumers can receive and request money saving deals by text message, as an alternative to tearing out paper coupons.

Shoppers sign up to Shop Scan Save® by texting ‘JOIN” to a standard rate SMS shortcode.  Following the simple registration process, a unique barcode ID is sent to their mobile phone.  Subsequently, Shop Scan Save® members receive regular, personalised SMS offers entitling them to discounts on popular items.  When redeeming coupons, customers simply present their barcode ID, which is then scanned at the till along with the qualifying items to automatically receive the discounts they are entitled to.

It’s due to launch nationwide across the UK this summer – and check this for a response rate:

PayPoint’s involvement with the scheme and planned national rollout follows a successful trial at Sainsbury’s at Jackson’s in Hull.  The trial delivered an average 20% coupon redemption rate: sometimes up to 90% because members were able to request specific offers tailored to their shopping list. Therefore, retailers can expect to see instant benefits in-store.

20% is quite good, but up to 90%? Wow, that’s impressive! Now here’s the interesting thing. A quick browse around the PayPoint site later, and I found my local PayPoint retailers. It’s all relatively small corner shop mini-market ventures – no sign of Sainsbury’s, Asda, Tesco or Morrisons in the list. Wonder how long it’ll take for the big retailers to jump on the mobile voucher bandwagon?