NewHong Kong mobile operator SmarTone prepares retailers to join the mobile e-commerce bandwagon
Network operator signs up bricks and mortar retailers for platform linking consumers to marketing, loyalty scheme and payments
Mobile network operator SmarTone Telecommunications hopes to roll out its new service called "Kiss" this December as the first batch of retailers in the city have signed up for the ambitious offline-to-online marketing and payments platform.
"We've already started signing up stores, including [those run by] medium-sized retailers. Some bigger retailers are looking at it, too," Douglas Li, the outgoing chief executive at SmarTone told the South China Morning Post.
Li, who drove the platform's two-year development, said SmarTone "should run Kiss for five to seven years to fully realise the value of how uniquely focused the platform is to help retailers".
He said there could be an opportunity to license the platform's technology to telecommunications network operators outside Hong Kong.
"It's … an internet business so the actual cost of implementation is not huge. The only question is how quickly it can scale up," Li said. "If it does well in a foreign country, the sky's the limit."
Launched last month, Kiss enables retailers to connect with consumers through a platform that links digital marketing and loyalty programmes with data analytics and mobile payment.
Merchants are charged a monthly fee and provided with tools to create their mobile storefronts on the platform, directly message customers and launch targeted campaigns.