The Commonwealth Bank, 7-Eleven and Westfield are some of the first Australian companies to offer discounts under Facebook’s new deals system, it was announced yesterday.
The move, part of a wider consumer trend towards digital coupons, confirms these discounts are now being targeted towards smaller geographical locations and individual stores along with larger, city-based deals.
It also comes as an Australian app developer has launched a similar program of its own, with brands including General Pants, Billabong and Rydges part of the launch line-up, with the view of helping out struggling retail stores with more foot traffic.
Darren Winterford, the owner and founder of app development studio Creative Licence Digital, says his new QuickerFeet app fulfils a gap “to potentially use the smartphone to rejuvenate bricks and mortar”.
“We wanted blue chip, aspirational retail that consumers genuinely care about. We think people are hungry for that, and so we sought out good launch partners.”
The app works by notifying users of deals nearby them, with brands able to update deals at any time. Winterford says the platform will also allow the inclusion of smaller stores, and is providing stores a way to create deals on demand.
“That includes the smaller stores, the Mum and Dad stores, as it gives them a chance to potentially play in a much larger field than they can normally play.”
Retailers have praised the introduction of such deals as the beginning of bridging the divide between bricks and mortar retail stores and deals available on the internet.
Westfield announced its venture into Facebook Deals yesterday, with the first offer to provide customers with discounts to jewellery and fashion retailers Angus & Coote, and Cotton On. A one-week trial began yesterday, with users required to check in from the Facebook Places application in order to access the discount.
“Retail, and particularly the way we can now target shoppers with special deals and discounts, has changed dramatically over the past decade. With tools such as Facebook Check In Deals we’re now able to communicate to our shoppers in relevant and localised ways,” Westfield general manager of marketing John Batistich said in a statement.
He also said the ability for these deals to show up in Facebook News Feeds should increase their popularity among users.
The Commonwealth Bank has gone a step further, offering free movie tickets for a year to any user that checks in and opens an everyday account at a nearby branch.
“The Commonwealth Bank is Australia’s most dynamic and innovative bank, we see this as an exciting opportunity to reward customers. People already connect with each other through Facebook Places and this is an extension of that, allowing customers to connect with our branches,” said bank general manager of consumer marketing Mark Murray.
The Commonwealth Bank deal highlights the opportunity for non-retail based businesses to offer specific products and services through the Facebook Deals program as well.
KFC has launched Facebook deals as well, with one store in Sydney even showing off a banner encouraging users to check-in. 7-Eleven has also offered a new deal, offering a bottle of Coke for $1 to any user who checks in through Facebook until August 21.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
