STORES Magazine - May 2014 - (Page 52)

n MARKETING Savor the Savings Shopping app categorizes and catalogs personalized deals by D. GAIL FLEENOR S hopping and coupon apps seem to be multiplying exponentially these days. One such app, Savor, hopes to stand apart by examining customers' social DNA to provide personalized deals for their favorite merchandise and retailers. Savor scours the web looking for the best offers at hundreds of popular retailers and then creates a personalized catalog of offers. "Most other apps deliver a random smattering of items, which is not how consumers shop," says Savor CEO and founder Rich DeNardis. "Shoppers like categories and organization. They don't want tires next to dresses." Savor tries to mirror how people interact with coupons, he says, by using tabs as a second screen for the catalog. He compares Savor's user-friendly de- sign to Flipboard, since shoppers can flip through pages on their tablet to find deals. "We want shoppers to find the deals and brands they care about," DeNardis says, citing this as one reason the app integrates with Facebook. "Once a consumer connects with Facebook, they can go in and look at the personal likes and interests of friends." Shoppers who join through Facebook can find deals they want and click on the coupon, which directs them to the retailer's online store where they copy-and-paste the coupon code and then check out. Savor provides the ability for offers to be shared easily with friends through social media sites. Customers can also sign up via e-mail; Savor will not send spam, DeNardis says, and will not post to customers' Facebook timelines unless the customer wants to share. OMNICHANNEL COUPON SERVICE DeNardis began his career on Wall Street, where he worked with companies in the affiliate marketing and payments arenas. His goal in designing Savor was to take what was available on the Internet and make it visually interesting to consumers. He also wanted these consumers to share their excitement about product deals across social networks, seamlessly moving between platforms and devices. Shoppers can flip through catalog pages on their tablet to find specially chosen deals. 52 STORES May 2014 The site launched in November; in February, Savor announced the launch of its omnichannel coupon service and free iPad app. It also launched a new version of its website for desktop, smartphone and tablet users to make it easier for shoppers to navigate between these modes of shopping. Beyond social media integration, the app also includes bookmarks so shoppers can start looking for coupons on one device and finish on another. Customizable notifications let users manage the flow of e-mails, allowing them to choose whether they want alerts when the deals they bookmarked are about to expire. 50 MILLION COUPON USERS Retailers using Savor can target potential shoppers more easily. At traditional coupon sites, the only chance brands have to engage with a customer is when she searches for a last-minute coupon code. With Savor, however, customers using the app receive targeted deals relevant to their lives, driving increased traffic to retailers' online shopping sites. Over 50 million consumers will use mobile coupons in 2014, DeNardis says, and more than half of shoppers who begin shopping on a tablet will finish a purchase on their desktop or laptop computer. Online coupon redemption rates are significantly better than offline - as much as 10 times better, DeNardis says. "This benefits retailers," he says. "They get a better bang for the buck, because Savor is driving people to complete sales." An Android version of Savor will debut soon. For the balance of 2014, DeNardis says his company will be focused on everything concerning online shopping and ways to make it easier to redeem coupons and gift cards in stores. Virginia-based D. Gail Fleenor has written hundreds of articles about retail, technology and consumer research following nearly two decades as a supermarket research manager. WWW.STORES.ORG http://WWW.STORES.ORG

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of STORES Magazine - May 2014

Brave New World
Information for All
Dreamy Solution
Traveling in Reverse
Retail People
Teen Angst
C2W
Editor's Page
President's Page
Retail Politics
NRF News
POV
NRF Communities Update
End Cap
Trends
Consumer Trends
Personalization
Omnichannel
Analytics
Store Operations
Marketing
Loyalty
Preparedness
Surveillance
Fraud

STORES Magazine - May 2014