My initial idea stays the same.
The App:
The Pros:
- As I already demonstrated with the Bump App and more initial research this is very possible.
- Provides the function for users to opt in and out of their favourite retail stores and restaurants/café's.
- Provides different types of discounts such %'s off (e.g. 10% off when you purchase over £10), money off (e.g. £5 off when you purchase over £20).
- Free incentives and treats. (e.g. at a fashion store, free bracelet with every dress purchase or at a restaurant free drink with every main course).
- This helps towards the promotion of new products and even the clearing of products that are overstocked or not selling well! - The location service function and geo-fencing function is useful as it only offers services that are local. Users can also filter offers from 30ft to a mile away.
- Open to all businesses, big and small. Corporate and independent. From Tesco's to the local corner shop. (If necessary.)
- Is cheap to manufacture ($99 for a Software Development Kit & App License) requires a Mac (which I own) and a couple of really driven techie people. (Check!)
The Hurdles:
- A new concept can be quite difficult to encourage users to embrace.
- Indirect competitors such as Groupon, Vouchercloud can also be quite large competitors due to their success.
- Would require a lot of exposure and mass public use to get running and off the ground plus to maintain.
So how would it work?
Head office computers / the marketing team would calculate which stores require the use of the Store Pass app. Notification allowances would then be sent to the store and distributed at the store manager's discretion.
The marketing team would also set the margins for which the offer operates. The time and price limits etc. and how many to send per hour per day.
Users that receive this offer than have a limited amount of time to claim it, they'll be encouraged to browse even if they were initially uninterested. For the user there is no loss, browsing is costless and they may find something they're interested in.
Initially the app would be free as costs could run on profit from store discounts, if the app proves to be popular, a small price can be implemented. The price would be a small amount such as £0.69 - £0.99. People would quickly earn this money back via the discounts therefore wouldn't mind the small cost of maintaining the app.
The idea is fairly straight forward but extremely effective, all faults and worries that have been brought up can also be ironed out and smoothed, with the right amount of work and knowledge.
As expressed in my Survey results, available here and here it would prove useful and an exciting new shopping experience.
Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Why?
How?
The WWWWWH's
Who?
- Stores that use this can vary from large companies to small companies. It may appeal to retail stores such as: River Island, Dune, Urban Outfitters, H&M, Forever21 - stores that don't usually offer many sales or existing discounts (e.g. Student Discount)
- Consumers that use this app can be anyone of all ages that enjoy shopping and discounts. It's open to anyone with a smart phone and downloadable for no cost at all. However with this kind of demographic, the age range that would be most interested in this app would be between the ages of 21-29+. Individuals in that category have usually secured a small to medium disposable income who would be interested in shopping and saving.
What?
- Utilising this app would be extremely simple, it would just require the installation of a program into head office and store computers for retailers and just a simple app download for users.
When?
- The great thing about this app is that it's time of use is completely controllable, there is no promise of high or low, frequent or seldom discounts. A store can utilise this to their full benefit ensuring a days profit is always secured.
- However due to consumer needs there should be a guaranteed minimum time of discounts e.g. two-three times a week, to keep interest in the app up.
Where?
- Store pass is extremely flexible but for the purposes of trialling it's success I would like to launch it in a city smaller than London. With London hosting the majority of head offices and flagship stores and the highest population in England, it tends to not struggle with huge sales and footfall.
- Store pass would be more directed at second cities such as Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool etc. All the cities named have notable shopping centres and a high population count. Despite all that, some stores still struggle with footfall and completing daily targets. For this reason it'd be much easier to test the effectiveness of store pass.
Why?
- As far as my research can prove, this type of app does not yet exist. There are apps in which you can manually search for discounts but it's far more time consuming than an app where discounts search for you.
- This method is fast, easy and accurate. Stores can mix up the offers and discounts however they want to suit their company's needs.
How?
- As mentioned and to quite myself, Store Pass "Is cheap to manufacture ($99 for a Software Development Kit & App License) requires a Mac (which I own) and a couple of really driven techie people. (Check!)"
