Epicor Software Corp. is partnering with Impact Mobile Inc. to help retailers market to the mobile consumer.

Mobile consumers represent a rapidly growing and lucrative customer segment and retailers are finally noticing that by launching campaigns targeted at on-the-go consumers. Epicor Retail Mobile Marketing was designed to encourage consumers to interact with the store environment and help retailers strengthen brand and customer loyalty while driving revenues.

“Historically mobile and point-of-sale have always referred to business-to-business tools,” said Gary Schwartz, CEO of Impact Mobile, New York. “Now with the consumer, having a robust mobile device at a store’s point-of-sale can leverage this network to create intelligent business-to-consumer closed-loop applications.”

Impact Mobile is a mobile messaging and technology provider.

Epicor Software is a provider of business software services to the manufacturing, distribution, retail, hospitality and services industries. The company provides enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, supply chain management and enterprise retail software services.

Targeting mobile consumers
Some of Epicor’s retail customers include Aéropostale, American Eagle Outfitters, Ann Taylor, Zales and Zumiez.

The new services can be used in-house by retailers to support SMS campaigns, distribute mobile coupons and additional types of promotions.

Epicor will also offer its team CRM professionals to assist retailers in creating, managing and launching mobile marketing campaigns via the Epicor Mobile Marketing services.

The new service can augment existing CRM initiatives or be incorporated as a part of the execution and management of ongoing CRM campaigns.

“Integrating various services such as dynamic PIN-on-receipt for surveys and promotion through to mobile coupon redemption are key to drive sales and mobile customer relationship management in the new impulse economy,” Mr. Schwartz said.

Mobile: final commerce frontier
The software company showcased its mobile marketing service onsite throughout the National Retail Federation show in New York.

Show attendees were invited to text a message to Epicor to enter for a chance to win an Apple iPod. Participants then received a unique bar code, which represents their entry when scanned at the Epicor booth.

Epicor’s Mobile Marketing is the latest in the company’s efforts to help retailers leverage the mobile environment as it continues to gain traction as both a business enabler and a consumer service.

Epicor supports mobile functionality across its suite of retail services to improve in-store productivity and let retailers provide more timely and responsive customer service.

With a wireless device running Epicor’s Mobile Store applications, store managers and sales associates can support the full range of point-of-sale functions such as line busting, real-time product search and locate and reserve stock.

“As market leaders such as Google point to the mobile device as the ultimate commerce frontier, retailers need to look to IT and marketing, not only marketing to drive smart solutions for their retail goal in 2010,” Mr. Schwartz said. “This Epicor mobile service set enables retail operation to present seamless solutions to the marketing side of the enterprise.”