Telecommunications and retail exchange traded funds (ETFs) could see future benefits of increased consumer spending via coupons in their mailboxes. Well, cellular mailboxes.
The cellphone industry is starting to team up with retail shops in allowing cellphone users to browse for deals or recieve alerts at stores and then use the phone as a virtual coupon at the cashier, reports Bob Tedeschi for the New York Times.
One service provider in this nascent industry is Cellfire, but recent reviews show that users are vexed by the dearth of available coupons from the application and the lack of deals in any shops in big populated zones. This may change as Cellfire grows and it recently signed a deal with Kroger (KR), a grocery chain, that provided a list to users of 10 to 30 offers.
Cellphone users of AT&T (T), Verizon (VZ) may find the Cellfire service on the phone’s application stores while Sprint (S) users will have to visit the Cellfire website.