Mobibucks Corp., the company behind a mobile marketing and payment service, said its system can now be used by diners at Field of Greens and Voodoo BBQ and Grill to receive discounts and make payments.
Mobibucks, which supports a prepaid service for making purchases using a mobile phone number, is free for consumers and works on any type of mobile phone.
Field of Greens, of West Palm Beach, Fla., and Voodoo BBQ and Grill, of Baton Rouge, La., initially are offering mobile-based coupons, but eventually their relationship with Mobibucks will "evolve into a mobile prepaid and rewards-based program enabling consumers to pay for purchases and redeem rewards with their mobile phone number and a four-digit PIN," said Michelle Pellerin, Mobibucks vice president of business development.
Others using the service include five Tomatina restaurants in California, two Pizza Schmizza restaurants in Oregon and a Quiznos restaurant in Bellevue, Wash.
Consumers sign up for a Mobibucks prepaid debit account on the company's website by entering their mobile phone number and selecting a PIN they also will use to redeem coupons and pay for purchases.
Mobibucks, of Louisville, Ky., will send them a text message with a confirmation code to complete the registration process, after which they are sent a $5 coupon that confirms enrollment.
Users may add funds to their account online or at participating merchants using credit and debit cards or through a checking account they link to their Mobibucks account.
Consumers receive coupons through a text message. They may redeem them or pay for their purchase, if the retailer supports that function, by entering their mobile phone number and PIN into a Mobibucks keypad either integrated into a merchant's point of sale terminal or from a separate keypad that connects to a merchant's terminal through a USB port.
Consumers pay nothing to redeem coupons or make purchases, but they may have to pay standard text messaging rates, Pellerin said.
Participating merchants may use a Hypercom Corp. payment terminal, and they may integrate the PIN pad or use the separate Mobibucks keypad, Pellerin said. She did not say which specific Hypercom terminals work with the Mobibucks system.
The system links directly to merchants' point of sale systems through their existing communication configurations, such as Internet protocol or traditional phone line connections, Pellerin said.
Mobibucks' pricing to use the service and to integrate or purchase the terminal varies by individual merchant, Pellerin said.
The company also is hoping to make its service global. Last year it signed a deal with Emirates Net Systems LLC, which will support Mobibucks' growth in the United Arab Emirates and North Africa.
Mobibucks' service may not be the most sophisticated, but "it certainly is convenient and will most likely work for smaller purchases," said Megan Bramlette, director of knowledge management at Auriemma Consulting Group. Moreover, consumers do not have to download anything extra to use the service, she said.
But there still needs to be critical mass. Indeed, "if you bring consumers, merchants will come — but you need to bring a lot of consumers," said Todd Ablowitz, the president of Double Diamond Group LLC in Centennial, Colo.
But explaining what consumers must do to redeem a coupon or make a purchase may pose a challenge because many consumers are not used to entering their mobile phone number plus a PIN to make a purchase or redeem a coupon, he said.
Challenges aside, "mobile-based marketing and payment services are the way to go," Ablowitz said. Though more companies are launching services, it still remains to be seen which mobile payment models will receive the most traction, he said.
