Clickatell Helps Retail Industry Increase In-Store Promotion Effectiveness Using SMS

Leading Grocery Chain – Fruit & Veg City – Text Promotions and Coupons Directly to Customers’ Cell Phones

Redwood City, CA; Cape Town, South Africa; June 17, 2008 – Clickatell, leading provider of global mobile messaging solutions, today announced it was chosen by retail grocery chain Fruit & Veg City to provide text messages to communicate store announcements and sales promotions to customers. This service provides instant access to customers, ensuring they never miss discounts and ‘deals’ on offer.

Given the sheer ubiquity of mobile phone adoption across the world, this initiative leads the way in providing not only a compelling marketing and promotions platform, but enables retailers to lower operational costs and increase the bottom line. SMS marketing and communications is a fraction of the cost of traditional methods commonly used to market, promote and communicate with consumers via print ads, flyers and mailers, etc. giving Fruit & Veg City an innovative way to reach customers at a much lower cost and more importantly in dynamic and targeted manner.

Customers no longer have to search through the Sunday newspaper ads for coupons and weekly specials. After customers opt into the program, Fruit & Veg City provides current ‘on sale’ information directly to the customers’ cell phone via SMS. The retail chain also runs ‘real-time’ contests and promotions with customers to give them opportunities to win prizes such as free overseas trips.

“Our customers use their cell phones in every aspect of their lives from chatting with friends to mobile banking. We want to make sure they never miss the opportunity to participate in a store promotion or save money during a sale. The most effective way to communicate with them is directly to their cell phones using SMS,” said Paul Savva, chief information office at Fruit & Veg City. “We have already seen a direct increase in sales as a result of this new mobile messaging & marketing program, and we are happy to be working with Clickatell, which provides excellent quality of service and customer support via an easy to use service and have proven their experience.”

To take advantage of this free service, Fruit & Veg customers simply fill out a form in the store to opt into the program. They can then arrange their shopping trips depending on what is on sale that week. If they choose to participate, they can even take part in Fruit & Veg–initiated contests to win free groceries from the store.

“We all face the reality of rising food prices and increased cost of living and are looking for savings; retailers on the other hand are eager to find more cost effective ways to bring savings closer to their customers,” commented Pieter de Villiers, CEO of Clickatell. “Fruit & Veg is providing a truly innovative service by taking advantage of the adoption of mobile phones and there is simply no new technology that is more compelling and ubiquitous than SMS text messaging when it comes to empowering retailers to establish a direct relationship with its customers. Consumers are now ‘armed’ with information at their fingertips, anywhere, anytime. We are seeing this adoption of SMS messaging as a growing trend amongst retailers around the globe as consumer spending slows and retailer s are becoming more creative. Clickatell is working with a number of retail chains in the US, UK and across the world to provide similar services to their customers.”