Business aims to scan coupons off cell phones
Centerville businessman provides hardware so scanners can do that
Sunday, March 22, 2009
CENTERVILLE — Entrepreneur Jack Eggert wants to connect to your cell phone — with coupons.
But only if you opt in.
Eggert, president of WEconectIT Inc., points to 75 billion text messages sent monthly in the United States in 2008, a 160 percent jump compared to 2007. He thinks he has a way to help businesses grab a piece of that.
Eggert's scanner serves as a link between store coupons and customer cell phones.
At a Dairy Queen in Peru, Ind., customers are invited to dial a short-code number and ask for coupons to be texted to their cells. "They key this in, and then they join the club," said Eggert, a veteran of NCR Corp.
Once in, the customers receive a number of coupons each month. They'll receive offers for free items or buy-one, get-one-free deals. (The coupons won't be transferable to other users.)
Once customers have the texted coupons, they can hold their phones up to Eggert's image scanner, showing the scanner the bar code on the coupon, Eggert said.
"The customer always has the cell phones," he said. Employees won't take the customer's phone away.
Partner Tetherball LLC was initially selling coupons only with numbers. But the advantage with bar codes is accuracy — bar codes have a "99 percent" read rate, Eggert said.
Tetherball retains the marketing end of the transaction, taking care of texting the coupon to customer cell phones.
"We provide the hardware for the scanners," Eggert said.
"So far, so good," is the verdict of David Reasner, chief executive of JD Restaurants in Tipton, Ind., where he and his co-owner have 11 Dairy Queens and three Jim Dandy restaurants. Reasner uses a WEconectIT scanner in one of his DQs.
"The customers, the ones who use them, think it's kind of nifty," Reasner said. To date, about 100 of his customers have signed up for the mobile coupons, he said.
The CEO especially likes the idea of having a device linked to his cash register for real-time reporting or validation of coupons. Tracking buying habits gives him crucial information.
And Eggert's "box" (as Reasner calls it) knows when customers already have taken advantage of coupons. Employees at registers don't have to track that.
Said Reasner, "I was enthused with it."
For one fully functioning WEconectIT station — computer box, connectors, scanner, software and printer — the cost is about $3,000, said Ken Hopfer, the firm's vice president of sales. He says the firm has set up three stations for about $5,500.
"We're expanding the functionality of a complete legacy cash register system," Hopfer said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.
