Unilever trials mobile coupons

UNILEVER is set begin a trial run of a new technology. The new technology will allow consumers to redeem digital coupons, by having a supermarket cashier scan their mobile phones.

The trial is being conducted at ShopRite in Hillsborough, New Jersey, will give discount offers for some of the company's most popular brands, including Breyers ice cream, Dove soap, Hellmann's mayonnaise and Lipton tea. The system was developed by Samplesaint, a Chicago mobile-technology firm and the trail will run for four weeks.

"This has been a Holy Grail thing that people have been trying to figure out," says Marc Shaw, director of integrated marketing at Unilever, the first major marketer to test such a service in the U.S. "I think this is on target for where consumers' heads are at right now."

To get the coupons, customers must visit the website Samplesaint.com, from which they can transmit the Unilever discount offers to an Internet-enabled mobile phone. At the checkout, the cashier scans the bar code on the phone's screen, redeeming the coupon and deleting it from the phone. 

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