The London-based company, which was set up in 2003, issues unique digital vouchers that can be delivered using any media, including mobile phones, e-mail and payment cards.
Since its inception, i-movo has processed almost 6 million transactions worth close to £40 million at more than 50,000 retailers. This has only been possible, according to its founder David Tymm, because it has developed a reputation as a secure and reliable service.
i-movo has been involved in many projects over the past decade, including helping Coca-Cola to promote its drinks brands in the UK in 2009 with an SMS offer. Retailers advertised the offer next to the drinks display, informing shoppers that they could get one for free by sending Coca-Cola a text.
Once they sent the message, they almost instantaneously received a voucher. These were unique and could only be used once, so there was no risk of over-redemption and, therefore, of budgets being exceeded.
More than 200,000 bottles were distributed to consumers, each for the cost of a text message and Mr Tymm was able to provide Coca-Cola with analysis by location and time, and even use till receipts to report what other products shoppers bought.
“This system allows us to run sampling campaigns across thousands of retailers simultaneously without any additional staffing costs or impact on the supply chain,” says Ed Knight, head of communication at Coca-Cola Enterprises. “The feedback we have received from retailers and consumers alike has been hugely encouraging.”
Mr Tymm believes that one of the biggest advantages of i-movo’s system over paper vouchers is that it gives companies a daily breakdown of how successful the offer has been. Paper vouchers, on the other hand, take much longer to feed through into the system.
