Visa Inc. is working with clothing retailer Gap Inc. to deliver discounts to cardholders via mobile phone SMS text messages.
In a test in November customers from Gap’s e-mail database got the chance to opt in to the service with their Visa cards.
Visa is using VisaNet processing connectivity and transaction information to deliver immediate discounts to participating cardholders, says Leigh Amaro, Visa senior business leader for global information products. Visa will provide Gap information on cardholders’ shopping habits so it may provide them discounts while they shop, she says.
“We can see by cardholders’ transactions when and where and at what time they are shopping,” says Amaro, “so we can use the mobile phone to buzz them with a text message that says to ‘come to the Gap in the next four hours and get 50% off regularly priced items,’ for example,” says Amaro.
Visa is opening the service to other merchants, though she could not say when more might begin using the service. Retailers may use the mobile-texting program to drive traffic and sales, especially during normally slow periods, Visa says.
