Bon App-etit

There’s little doubt that UK consumers have a keen eye for a deal, but not everyone is so willing to accept the hassle – or embarrassment – of printing off discount vouchers to pay their restaurant bill.

Now digital marketers Invitation Digital are developing Vouchercloud, a free mobile phone application which enables users to discreetly download deals.

As with other discount voucher schemes, the App will be open for everyone from family restaurants, bar chains and high street retailers to upload their latest deals directly, both to the App and its supporting website.

Consumers can then browse the latest offers by category or location, download the relevant discount and show the on-screen voucher to staff when they pay.

Due to launch in February, the App will be available initially on the iPhone, before being rolled out across all Smart phones in the next few months.

While Vouchercloud has already signed up over 100 national high street brands, the App’s developers are also aiming to attract many smaller, local businesses.

Greg Le Tocq, managing director of Invitation Digital, explained: “The hottest deals are all delivered straight to the target consumers’ pocket with a fully integrated redemption and tracking system. This has never been done before in Europe on such a large scale.”

This form of mobile incentive marketing has already proved a success in the US, where Apps such as Cellfire and Yowza have seen over two million vouchers downloaded in the past year.

Vouchercloud’s developers project that by 2013 eight billion mobile phone vouchers will be downloaded in the UK alone.

Gabriel Savage, 12.01.10