Rite Aid hops to it with HipCricket

KIRKLAND, Wash. Rite Aid is among the retailers working with mobile marketing company HipCricket in an effort to reach Hispanic customers through permission-based offers and advertisements sent to their mobile phones. It’s a market that is overweighted with mobile phones, has a desire to interact with brands and has buying power that is projected to exceed $1 trillion in 2010, HipCricket noted in a release Tuesday.

Rite Aid has already realized a significant increase in store traffic by providing coupon offers when consumers texted "MARCA" (Spanish for “brand”) to a specific shortcode, HipCricket noted. A coupon for $3 off a purchase of $15 or more produced a 7.6% click-through rate and 2.5% clicked on an offer for a $25 gift card given to those who transferred their prescriptions to Rite Aid.

"Since we launched the Hispanic Mobile Marketing Network last year, it has delivered tremendous value to our brand as well as retail and broadcast partners, by providing them with a conduit to reach very valuable, loyal customers who are ready to engage," stated Eric Harber, HipCricket president and COO. "These results represent just the beginning of the capabilities of the network which will continue its rapid growth in the weeks and months to come."

Other companies utilizing HipCricket include Arby's, Harley-Davidson, HBO and Frito Lay North America’s Cheetos brand.