This article is about the traditional mobile couponing campaigns underway.  My mom sent this to me and here was my response:

That is not what I am doing but very effective.  I allow users to collect the coupons rather than just be an open portal to discounts that they may or may not use, thus receiving anything and everything.  Also here in China I have to deal with no computers at the point of purchase but still have to verify that the coupon is valid.  I can also go from print to feed to mobile.  Not just surfing the net to feed to mobile.  By feed I mean that the users have a personal account at advertual.com and can collect more coupons from around the Internet, set their settings for advertisers to direct to sell to them, and access their feed of coupons from their phone, much like what I see in this article.  Sounds the same but mine can work for any retailer no matter how big or small with point of sale computers or not.

I checked out the sites that were in the article.  The coupons are so un engaging it is the exact same as cutting coupons the way you used to except on the computer.  Completely boring.  There is no sale done by the retailer except the money off.  Apparently the sale already has to be made then you have to find the coupon and then save.  My clickboard makes the sale, gives you the discount, and then rewards you at the final purchase.  This is advertual, not couponing.

Searching for ’social shopping’ I found several sites listed here.   They basically use words like Rave, Impartial Advice, Recommend, Community, Wish list, where people in the community act as promoters for products they bought.

Searching for ‘networking discounts’ and ‘network savings’ I found that networking basically means on the web or saving on getting your computer onto the network online.

All have nothing to do with a Social Savings Networked Utility.  The second search I did was the most relevant.  However it requires user interaction after the sale, which I would have to argue is a weak platform.  Even Wikipedia defines ’social shopping’ as making informed decisions from information about products posted by the community.  However, coupons and deals are usually researched or collected prior to the sale, so this system relies on people finding the deals and then becoming self promoters of the products they bought.  And none have anything to do with creating a network where you begin to save more with the more people in your network and the common characteristics in shopping behavior you all share regardless of whether or not you actively promote your shopping behavior.  Network here still just means a group of people not actually webbed together.

One site had the ability to pass coupons to friends where you gain commission from the sale if your friends buy the product.  There was also a site that rewarded you for using the coupons with bigger coupons that you can cash in your points for.  There is still only one degree of separation in these methods.

None of these integrated mobile possibilities.  In the mobile media playground here in Beijing, China, there a system where you buy a card and get access to the discounts around the city as well as 1200 points.  Each time you buy the card you get 1200 more points. These can be used at some locations like cash.  The discounts you recieve are obtained by texting the store code and price of purchase to the number.  A confirmaion text is sent back and you show that to the teller.  There are several similar services.  Again no mobile media has anything to do with a network.

But when I start talking to local restaurants and stores and say you need to pay me to make you a Clickboard and pay for the space on the websites it will be posted, and make some sort of discount for the customer (and rent the portable receipt printing machine); well that begins to sound like a long shot.

The machines I will probably have to give to them, or like in the conversation I had last night, find a way to get rid of them and use something else.  Not only that try to find a way to get rid of the card.  Yes I want to do this, but the fact remains that although most stores already have their static discount cards for themselves, their cards don’t do what mine do; connect ads on the Internet to the users purchase.

So my model is probably not going to make money, at least not enough to pay for the machines.  And that is a big thing to think about.  How much online advertising can I give to a store that purchases the machine.  $400 dollars is quite a lot of advertising and also quite a big sale to sell to a small restaurant or store.  Although the machines are an easy way to prove my model works.  I need a simpler method.  Without the machine I’m afraid my idea is still long in advance.

Next option: create apps for phones that could bluetooth information to store computers and give the stores the software to run in the background.  Paperless transactions would be nice, but small shop owners may be wary of this type of coupon redemption.

So now, do I prove the model works, or do I proceed to the next step?

The iClickcard is one piece in the puzzle for creating a shopping history everytime you shop to save money.  Your personal Clickcard can be used online or at brick and mortar stores, the phone can actually become the Clickcard, thus ‘iClickcard.’  Savings based on your shopping history will be automatically added to your account to further enhance your experience.

With all your discounts stored in one database online (available to be viewed and updated while shopping using your phone), your iClickcard gives you every discount in the city and online for any product that you are interested in.  Any coupons available for the product like two for one deals, discount on alternative flavors, additional discounts on relating products, rebates, and additional freebies, can be found by entering the UPC code, or in some cases scanning the barcode with the phone, helping you better manage your selection of products.

Using the Bluetooth feature when you check out, the register can be signaled of your online database and any discounts you will gain upon check out from your pre-shopping experience.  Another way is the iClickcard could display your personalized database barcode that would then relay any information for anything you are purchasing and that could be scanned.