SMS a boon for bottleshops: Marketer

Text messages are a very cost effective way for bottleshops to market to customers in their local area, according to new media expert Kurt Opray.

At the recent Australian Liquor Stores Association (ALSA) conference, Opray, co-founder of consultancy Impact Data, backed up earlier calls by finance commentator Peter Switzer for bottleshops to embrace marketing through social media.

But Opray said his clients had also achieved some impressive sales results by marketing using text messages sent to customers' mobile phones.

He said retailers should simply ask the customer at the point of purchasing a product whether they would like to know next time it was on special.

"If you've just bought a case of VB, of course you want to know next time VB is cheaper at the local bottleshop," he said.

Opray said staff should enter the customer and their mobile number into a basic database along with which category promotions were relevant to them.

He said bottleshops he had worked with had achieved an increase in unit sales of anywhere between 30 and 197 per cent using SMS marketing.

In one case, text messages were sent to 493 customers notifying them of a special involving Jim Beam RTDs, at a cost to the bottleshop of just $20, resulting in a 197 per cent increase in unit sales.

"A 200 per cent increase in sales with a $20 marketing spend is pretty compelling stuff," Opray said.

Source: The Shout, 12 September 2012