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Apple's Passbook used to drive coupon campaign at UK restaurant chain

Last updated

UK restaurant chain Harvester has taken advantage of the Passbook feature in iOS 6 to drive a wave of customer interest and new sales.

Looking for a way to drive customer traffic and increase buying, Harvester and their technology partner developed a voucher campaign based on Passbook. Harvester created a coupon that could be used at any Harvester restaurant across the United Kingdom, with users able to redeem the coupon directly from their mobile devices.

The campaign allowed customers to get £5 off their bill when spending £30 or more.

Harvester's campaign was the first of its kind in the UK to take advantage of Apple's Passbook app. Within two clicks, users received a unique voucher code on their devices, stored automatically within Passbook. The voucher was redeemed when the customer paid the bill, with restaurant workers able to input the voucher code into their point-of-sale terminals, allowing Harvester to track the efficacy of the campaign.

"The campaign exceeded our expectations," a Harvester representative told Millennial Media.

Harvester issued almost 16,000 vouchers in two weeks of campaign operation. Of those, almost 700 were redeemed during the course of the campaign. Overall, the campaign had a cost per action of £3.41.

"Clearly Apple Passbook users love a great deal as much as they love their technology," said a Harvester rep. "[The] platform gave us real-time data and secure redemption we needed to control the offer with confidence."

Launched with the release of iOS 6, Apple's Passbook allows users to store items like digital tickets, reward cards, and more. The feature has seen some uptake from a number of large service providers and venues. Major League Baseball, for instance, has been steadily integrating Passbook into its ticketing operations at a number of ballparks.

In December, American Airlines and Sephora expressed excitement quicker-than-expected growth of iOS users storing boarding passes and more in Passbook. Credit card company Discover now allows users to store and redeem eCertificates through Apple's Passbook app.



14 Comments

jasonfj 421 comments · 22 Years

"Have you ever been to a Harvester...?"

zoffdino 191 comments · 15 Years

Quote:
Originally Posted by jasonfj 

"Have you ever been to a Harvester...?"

I haven't been there, and it may very well be a crappy restaurant. That doesn't matter. Some have dinner at McDonald, some at a steakhouse. The point is they are using a cool technology to replace coupons. You phone stores everything nowadays.

markroder 7 comments · 16 Years

As a UK resident, I'd say Harvester is much more in the Android user demographic.

v5v 1356 comments · 14 Years

Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider 

[...] Harvester's campaign was the first of its kind in the UK to take advantage of Apple's Passbook app. Within two clicks, users received a unique voucher code on their devices, stored automatically within Passbook. The voucher was redeemed when the customer paid the bill, with restaurant workers able to input the voucher code into their point-of-sale terminals, allowing Harvester to track the efficacy of the campaign.

 

I'm glad to see Passbook is finally being used for something other than coffee and flying, but I still don't really get exactly what it's supposed to be and what need it's supposed to fill? Couldn't this have been just as easily accomplished via email? Text message?

 

I'm trying to understand what this whole Passbook thing is about, but I'm just not getting it. Of course, I'm just not that bright so it's no surprise...