Indian text-based social network attracts insurance companies, yoga studios and gyms to its 'BrandClubs' service.
In the West, companies like Facebook, Foursquare, Groupon and a squillion others are racing to become the digital partner of choice for retailers. They're doing it via apps, NFC and other advanced technologies.
But in India, where PC ownership is low and smartphones are in the minority, more democratic methodologies are required – like text.
SMS GupShup already has 50m members - that's than either Facebook or Twitter in India. So it's using simple text alerts to bind businesses to their customers.
Consumers join a BrandClub to receive targeted messages with relevant deals and offers from the selected brand.
So far over 25,000 advertisers have created ‘BrandClubs’ on the network. Participating businesses insurance companies, yoga studios, gyms, and food/nutrition businesses.
Article continues belowAdvertisement
Today, SMS GupShup makes 40 per cent of its revenues from these SME clients.
BrandClub user Anand Sky Shop sells everything from discounted DVDs to car wipes, and has created a fan base of 62,000 of club members.
Owner Uday Patil said: “We've managed to make large profits because we only offer products that a particular set of consumers would be interested in - relevancy is key to success in mobile marketing, and our BrandClub gives us the ability to target their messages based on interests, gender and age.”
Add a new comment
You need to be logged in to post comments. If you do not have an account then please register.
Comments
0 comments
There are no comments yet, be the first to add one!