Groupon and Starbucks See Mobile Devices As Powerful Marketing Tools

Companies large and small are turning to mobile devices as a critical part of their marketing strategies.

A Groupon service that allows merchants to counteract slow business in realtime by offering discounts to draw in customers when they most need them was just launched in Chicago and will go nationwide by June, said Michael Shim, vice president of partnerships at Groupon, who spoke on a panel this morning at Mobile Northwest 2011.

“When we started it was about offering daily deals that create demand out of thin air,” said Shim. “Some merchants were just inundated with business.”

Shim says the model is evolving. “Now it’s about local discovery.” For the consumer, he said, its about revealing special deals in the part of town they happen to be in. For merchants, he said: “It helps them manage perishable inventory.”

The service already has 1000 merchants signed up in Chicago, where it was just launched. Merchants like the service’s ability to alter deals in real time, said Shim.

If a restaurant wants more customers to come during the slow hours from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. it can offer a happy hour deal. But Groupon’s new service allows the merchant to halt as soon as the restaurant is close to capacity. Shim says mobile devices are a critical growth area for Groupon and could soon account for as much as 50 percent of the company’s sales.

While Groupon is allowing small merchants to use mobile devices to reach customers in a way never before possible, Starbucks sees mobile devices as a way to increase customer loyalty.

In his keynote address, K.C. MacLaren of Starbucks said that while the coffee company’s mobile payment system, introduced in January, has been a great success the real benefits are not about handling transactions but about creating future sales.

“It’s about find developing customer loyalty, of communicating with the customer,” says MacLaren. He said the mobile payment system required a significant investment in money and time. Every store had to have its scanner replaced because laser scanners don’t do a good job of reading mobile devices.

Starbucks Apps are currently available on the iPhone. The company is developing an App for the Google Android operating system in response to customer demand. Customers have also asked Starbucks to develop the capability to order coffee online. But MacLaren said that capability might not make sense. Some customers could be annoyed if those who order online cut in front of them. And some who order online could be unhappy if they find their coffee has cooled down. Read Seattle Business magazine’s take on the mobile marketing revolution here.