Shop Scan Save Goes National

The Light Agency's ‘Shop Scan Save’ mobile coupon promotion is going national, with a roll-out to around 17,000 local grocers and corner shop chains, including Spar, Costcutter, Londis and Co-Ops. The scheme will go live on 1 July.
The Light Agency is rolling out the scheme in conjunction with electronic payment systems provider PayPoint, which manages electronic payment systems for retailers nationwide. It says the Embargo technology used to manage the scheme integrates seamlessly with retailers’ existing electronic payment systems.
The Shop Save Scan scheme invites shoppers to join a discounting scheme by texting the word ‘JOIN’ to the shortcode 62111. Shoppers then receive discount coupons in the form of mobile barcodes, sent to their phone. Shoppers can also text generic keywords, such as ‘PARTY’ to receive relevant offers, such as discounts on beer and party food, back to their phone. Coupons are redeemed by scanning the barcode on the shopper’s phone at the checkout. Shoppers will be able to redeem mobile coupons at any of the 17,000 stories participating in the scheme.
Apart from the convenience of having the discount coupon storied on their mobile, the scheme also eliminates mis-redemption of vouchers, since the scheme only discounts against legitimately discounted items in the shopper’s basket.
The scheme was initially trialled in an extremely successful pilot in a ‘Jacksons@Sainsbury’s’ store in Hull a couple of years ago, since when The Light Agency has been trying, unsuccessfully, to persuade Sainsbury’s to roll out the scheme nationally. But The Light Agency Founder and Chairman Marc Lewis told Mobile Marketing Magazine that when it was clear Sainsbury’s were not going to proceed, he decided it was time to look elsewhere.
“It became obvious that we needed to go with a partner who knew which way the puk is going” said Lewis. “PayPoint understand mobile technology, they have been doing it for years. They have a distribution network that makes even Tesco’s look small, and it became obvious that there was a natural marriage between us, because they share our vision in a way that we did not see with Sainsbury’s, so we gave Sainsbury’s notice in November last year, and left them in February.”
Lewis says it became clear that Sainsbury’s was focused on fixing its business, rather than understanding technology.
“They understand how to shift beans or cans of coke, but they are not a technology business” he says. “It was frustrating for me trying to educate them, and frustrating for them being preached to by me, so in the end, there was only so long I was prepared to keep banging my head against the wall.”