“Imanara!” is a Japanese iPhone application through which users can download coupons for various restaurants and bars, launched in May 2010. The unique feature of this mobile marketing is that it’s not only location-based, but also time-based. The word, Imanara, literally means "Only Now" in Japanese.
So, here is how the marketing strategy works. When starting the application, GPS automatically searches for nearby restaurants with promotions based on the current location. Google map shows up with marks that identify the locations of those restaurants. Each of the restaurants has specific discount, such as “You’ll receive 30% off if you come within 30 minutes!” The coupons show a clock that counts down toward the expiration time. Once the user decides which one to go, they can download the coupon and make a quick phone call to make reservation. Finally, once they arrive at the restaurant, they will just need to show the downloaded coupon to the staff.
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| 【Left】Google map indicating the locations for coupon availablility. 【Middle】Coupon description with count down clock and remaining # of coupons. 【Right】Coupon with phone number for reservation |
Although location-based mobile marketing is becoming a standard these days, there is not much out there that uses time-based marketing strategy yet. This strategy is very popular among the participating restaurants because they can easily provide time-specific coupons when a reservation gets cancelled in last minutes, when the weather is bad, or simply when there are not enough customers to fill the seats. With the traditional coupons in flyers and on the website, it’s difficult to predict and control when customers come to their restaurants with coupons. However, with this time-based marketing strategy, the timely coupons make customers come in at the best timing for the restaurants in need of more customers.
For the users, this mobile marketing strategy is appealing because it is highly convenient to be able to see cheap dining options when they are not familiar with the area, when they do not have any reservation for a large group, or when they are looking for new restaurants. The coupon with time limit works effectively as an incentive to try out, stimulating the customers’ human nature to favor something “limited.”
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| Increasing number of users from May to December, 2010 |
More than 400,000 users have downloaded the app so far, and there are over 10,000 restaurants that provide coupons through “Imanara!” The app was named for the best mobile solution at Mobile Project Award in 2010.
Here is a promotional video of "Imanara!" from YouTube. Unfortunately, there is no English subtitle, but hopefully you can get the gist of it.
The primary target audiences for this mobile marketing are both male and female young workers who are under 35. In Japan, it is very common for colleagues to have dinner or drink together after work almost every day. This is especially true for those young demographics because they are less likely to have the obligation to go home early to take care of children.
In terms of geography, the target audiences are in large cities, where tons of restaurants and bars are concentrated close to each other. This is quite important because the users need to be able to choose from many dining options on the map within walking distance. (The Japanese in the cities rarely use cars to commute – trains and subways are the main transportation for them.)
The psychographics of the primary target are tech-savvy with smart phones, and they like to try new places in the surrounding areas of their offices. They aren’t attached to certain places yet because they recently started exploring the cities as full-time workers. Also, they are always looking for cheaper deals due to the entry-level low salaries. They also don’t like spending too much time on choosing restaurants when their brains are already exhausted from overtime work.
The secondary target audiences are college students in large cities. College students in Japan go to restaurant bars after school no matter which day of the week it is. Since most of them are smart phone users and looking for cheap meals and drinks, “Imanara!” helps them to conveniently find appropriate places for groups of college students near their campuses. In addition, weekend lunch and dinner are targeted to female college students, as there is an ongoing trend called “Girls’ Party,” at which girls gather at a fancy, yet affordable restaurant or café to chat, gossip and laugh on weekends.
I think the mobile marketing strategy of “Imanara!” is highly effective as more and more people own smart phones these days. Before, the audiences used to look for coupons on magazines, free papers and on website for computers. However, their behavior is shifting towards quick mobile search, and they value easiness, convenience and promptness when searching for something. The incorporated Google map with GPS is very helpful for the users to find the desired restaurants without getting lost or wasting time.
Additionally, I personally think that this mobile marketing works well because it reduces awkwardness when making a decision among many people in a large group. I’m sure everyone has experienced the awkward moment no one suggests a specific place to eat out, and you and your friends eventually get irritated because they are simply too hungry to come up with ideas. I think “Imanara!” is desirable because its timeliness and location-specific suggestions trigger the users to decide on destination without hesitation. Once one of the group members finds a suitable coupon on the app, that person can suggests the place, saying, “Let’s go here! This coupon will expire in 20 minutes!!”
And, as I mentioned earlier, this marketing strategy is effective in attracting more restaurants to participate and generating competition in the targeted areas. The time-specific offers are preferable for the participating restaurants because the management could balance out the number of users with discount and the number of normal users, so that sales promotions do not harm their businesses. Once a substantial number of restaurants put coupons on “Imarana!,” other restaurants nearby will need to participate as well to remain competitive in the market, which gives more revenue for the provider of “Imanara!”
This mobile marketing will surely keep improving more and more in the future and other marketing companies will copy the basic business model soon as a successful strategy. However, one suggestion I’d make for “Imanara!” is to develop more interactive features among the users. As of now, the communication process is only one-way: from restaurants to customers. I think there should be a system through which the users can share the coupon with their friends to maximize the possibility of attracting potential customers to the restaurants. Facebook and Twitter might be the best built-in mutual function to spread the discount information in a timely manner.
I tried the application on iPhone when I went back to Japan this winter. It was extremely convenient to be able to see the availability of discounted restaurants with only one click. The interface is very simple and easy to follow, so I had no trouble going through the process for the first time. I believe this marketing strategy shouldn’t and won’t be limited to dining options. There is a huge potential for the time-based mobile marketing, such as hair/nail salons, Internet cafes, karaoke, drug stores and supermarkets.
One day when everyone becomes a smart phone user, there might be a conglomerated mobile app of time-limited coupons for any kind of stores you can think of.
Sources:
1) Official Imanara website: http://imanara.jp/
2) Toremaga News: http://news.toremaga.com/computer/mobile/302394.html
3) Nikkei Trendy Net: http://trendy.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/pickup/20091013/1029604/?rt=nocnt
3) Nikkei Trendy Net: http://trendy.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/pickup/20091013/1029604/?rt=nocnt
