Back-to-School Retailers Using Mobile -- Mostly
Kmart, to its credit, is making a big effort to reach tweens and teens as they head back-to-school. The retailer understands that kids are big influencers over where their parents shop, what is purchased, and how much is purchased. Nevertheless, Kmart has apparently dropped the ball by failing to incorporate mobile marketing into its back-to-school advertising strategy.
As reported by Mobile Marketer, Kmart's "Be a Schoolebrity" campaign does not include any mobile advertising components such as cell phone text messaging (SMS) blasts, mobile web sites, and SMS keywords. Instead, Kmart is relying on the old style mail-in sweepstakes using forms that customers can obtain when they go to the stores. Seriously, does any tween or teen use the mail? I've heard that 40 percent of college students don't even know their own zip codes. While that seems to be a negative reflection of the students, it really isn't. If you didn't send or receive anything by mail, why would you need to know your zip code? Their subscriptions are on-line, they pay their bills on-line, their written communications are electronic, and they probably couldn't find their way to a post office if their lives depended on it.
But let's give the retailer some credit and assume that they weren't really targeting the kids but instead the parents (mostly mothers) who are paying for the goods. Should they have? No. The teens are the influencers and moms of teens are busy and constantly on the go. Looking up the location of the closest Kmart and getting alerts of specials sent directly to their phones is a much more powerful strategy than promoting a 1980's style sweepstakes through print ads and requiring customers to mail in forms.
Is this oversight afflicting all retailers? Nope. One of Kmart's closest competitors, JCPenney, ran a multichannel, back-to-school ad campaign that involved mobile. They encouraged teens to sign up for text alerts at a special mobile web site. My guess is that a year from now we'll be applauding Kmart's efforts to reach tweens and teens through their most prized possession: their mobile phone. And when that happens, watch Kmart's sales increase.
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