Matahari Food Business Creates Consumer Engagement Using Mobile in x90 Retail Outlets Throughout Indonesia

HONG KONG, April 25, 2013 (Press-News.org) In a trial lasting 3 months, TheTMSway, Matahari Food Business and Brand Loyalty produced a scalable in-store mobile competition within x90 retail outlets located throughout Indonesia. The trial discovered that Indonesian shoppers were highly responsive towards the retailer's mobile offer and recorded an 80% engagement from a total of more than a thousand of interactions per day during the campaign.

The engagement was largely dominated by women (65%). The campaign also proved popular with the younger generation with the 18-34 demographic accounting for 68% of total users.

"Solving how mobile can be integrated in store for retailers is of fundamental strategic importance today. A territory, such as Indonesia, where the proliferation of these connected devices has taken off, presents both a challenge and a huge opportunity for brands in this sector. The simplicity of this execution, the mass adoption by consumers, and the data surprised all three parties. It proved to us that when presented with the correct opportunity, consumers will engage and interact with brands via their personal devices," says Jonathan Ellis, CEO of TheTMSway.

Between October and December 2012, shoppers were invited to interact with in-store marketing promotions. Using a simple TMS short code (ARZBERG 2012), the consumer simply visited their browser and interacted 'there and then'. The solution was integrated on-shelf, on window, and inside marketing displays throughout all x90 participating stores (Foodmart & Hypermart). By visiting TMS search on their mobile and entering the TMS short code, each consumer immediately landed to an optimized and personalized Matahari mobile site from which they participated in a competition.

"Having delivered many successful loyalty programs with Matahari Food Business, this technology collaboration with TMS via an in-store mobile competition provides us an innovative way in reaching out to the Indonesian market. It not only helps us to design our programs better, but also helps to drive sales of our partner brands in the promotion, providing a win-win solution for all parties'', says Mr. Patrik Sundvisson, General Manager of Brand Loyalty.

TMS Search is an advanced search technology that was devised with an algorithm which enables us to determine, in real time (using different parameters), which offer to provide each consumer when they connect and engage with a brand using a TMS shortcode on their mobile.

Of all consumers that interacted with the mobile campaign, more than 10% of them converted and registered their personal details. Today, the Matahari Food Business has access to a data base of unique 'opt in' consumer data, including name, age, gender, email and/or mobile.

The most encouraging learning from this trial was the willingness of the consumer to forward and recommend this mobile competition to their friends, via social media. The TMS analytics platform tracked the postings to social networks from the Matahari mobile site, which generated an impressive 600,000+ reach on Facebook feeds. A clear learning from this trial was that consumers will recommend services to their friends on mobile if it is both attractive and easy to do.

"It is very heartening to know that this mobile campaign has generated much noise in our stores and via social media. It has definitely proven to provide our customers a unique shopping experience, and it will be interesting to explore how we can continue to create consumer engagement via such technology. It is all about rewarding our customers,'' says Ms. Meshvara Kanjaya, Marketing and Merchandising Director of Matahari Food Business.

During the campaign, more than x40 different types of connected devices (mobile & tablet) were used by consumers. Unsurprisingly, Blackberry was the most widely used mobile device and accounted for more than 60%, whilst Nokia came second with 23% and Samsung third with 8%.

Using a survey, the Matahari Food Business had their previous thoughts confirmed when Price was considered the key factor (47%) in determining why each consumer visited their store. Accessibility & location came second 27% of the results, and offering a Wide range of products registered third with 24%.

"Delivering a device agnostic solution is fundamental when creating scalable consumer engagement. Providing brands, such as the Matahari Food Business, with a simple way to 'tag' and 'interact' their in-store assets has proven a very effective means for them (and their brand clients) to learn about their customers.'' says Jonathan Ellis.

About TheTMSway

TheTMSway provides a platform of services to create and manage mobile offers and use them as an extension of a (traditional or social) marketing campaigns to engage consumers and provide valuable consumer data and metrics about the media used as starting point of interactions. For more information, visit: http://www.theTMSway.com

About Matahari Food Business

The Matahari Food Business (MFB) is the largest food retailer in Indonesia, operating in the retail marketplace through three channels: the hypermarket channel "Hypermart", the supermarket channel "Foodmart", and the Boston chain of health and beauty stores (BHC). For more information, visit: http://www.mataharigroup.co.id

About Brand Loyalty

Brand Loyalty specializes in designing and running innovative loyalty programs for the food retail sector globally. Brand Loyalty successfully runs loyalty programs in more than 20,000 retail stores each year. For more information, visit: http://www.brandloyalty-int.com/