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Office Depot debuts mobile services for on-the-go customers

Scenting a new business growth opportunity, office supplies retailer Office Depot Inc. has deployed a variety of new mobile marketing services designed to reach on-the-go customers.

Office Depot has partnered with go2 Media to create a mobile site connecting busy customers to the retailer's products and services.

"As our customers and prospects are becoming more mobile, these new capabilities give Office Depot the flexibility to speak about our brand and market to them in the way that is most convenient for the customer," said Christine Buscarino, director of online marketing for Office Depot, Delray Beach, FL.

The site will include features such as a mobile store locator and RSS feeds. Go2 will also deploy text message coupons and mobile sweepstakes offers.
The goal of the campaign is to provide customers control over how they receive marketing information

"We want them to select the method that works best for them," Ms. Buscarino said. "One-to-one marketing capabilities and customized messaging is in the future no matter how a customer decides to shop with us."

The mobile store locator will let Office Depot customers and prospects access information such as store locations and hours of operation. It also offers click-to-call capabilities. RSS feeds delivered to customers' mobile phones will provide updates on product information and pricing. And customers will be encouraged to enter to win select Office Depot sweepstakes via shortcodes.

Also, mobile coupons in the form of opt-in text messages will deliver both online and retail store offers directly to mobile phones. The coupons will be targeted by the customer's geographic location and shopping patterns.

With a mobile campaign, customers may choose to shop through a separate channel that a mobile message may have influenced. This can create difficulty in measuring the effectiveness of the campaign, Ms. Buscarino said. However, the company realizes the importance of multichannel integration.

Meanwhile, Office Depot has jumped on the social networking bandwagon, recently launching its first social marketing campaign called "The SLOBS." An acronym for strange little office beings, customers can create and share their own slobs by visiting the site at www.theslobs.com.

"It is a fun and creative way for our customers and prospects to engage and have fun with the Office Depot brand," Ms. Buscarino said.

Office Depot posted $4.7 billion in online sales during the last 12 months. Competing with Staples Inc. and OfficeMax, the company is one of the world's largest online retailers.

"Mobile is still a new form of advertising in the retail space so we are slowly investing but do realize the need to continue to support and enhance our capabilities," Ms. Buscarino said.