Photopon™ Custom Couponing App Launches Merchant Center

HACKETTSTOWN, N.J., Jan. 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Photopon, Inc., makers of the iOS app that turns mobile photos into coupons, today launched the Photopon™ Merchant Center, a web-based platform where restaurants, bars, shops and other local businesses can create their own coupon templates. Photopon™ users who are located in or near the business will be able to find the templates, snap a background photo, add a personal message and share the finished coupon via email, text messages, Facebook™ or Twitter™.

When users sign up on the Merchant Center website, they provide a business name, email address and physical address. To create a coupon template, merchants simply type out the deal. Great offers like "$10 off an entree," "$2 draft beers" or "Buy one ticket, get one free" can be created in seconds. The platform will use the merchant's physical address to automatically geo-tag new coupons so nearby Photopon™ users can find them.   

Unlike expensive daily deal providers that create a flood of one-time visitors and take a large cut of the business, Photopon™ helps merchants acquire customers through referrals. According to Nielsen, 84% of consumers trust recommendations from people they know, and 77% of consumers say they are more likely to buy a new product when they hear about it from friends and family. By creating Photopon™ coupons in Merchant Center, business can make such recommendations personal, visual and mobile.  

"The Merchant Center is one of the most simple, cost-efficient and effective ways to amplify social marketing and drive customer acquisition," said Brad McEvilly, co-founder and CEO of Photopon, Inc. "Businesses can supply loyal customers and new visitors with great deals that are fun and easy to share. We've made it possible for local business to scale word-of-mouth marketing at an extremely low cost."

For the first three months, the Merchant Center will be available for free. After the first three months, businesses will pay 5 cents per "snip" (a reference to the old practice of cutting out paper coupons). In Photopon™, a "snip" occurs when users save a coupon to their digital wallet. Only when a coupon is redeemed does the business pay 25 cents. Therefore, merchants only pay for measurable brand awareness and actual business. Merchants will be able to view data on the number of coupons sent, snipped and redeemed as well as demographic information like the age, gender and location of their advocates and new customers.

"The Merchant Center is risk-free tool for reaching potential customers and bringing in business," said Michael Gutkin, co-founder and CFO of Photopon, Inc. "We've designed the entire system to be accessible and affordable for local businesses, and we're very confident that they will continue using the Merchant Center after the free trial."

While Photopon™ relies on deal aggregator 8coupons™ for a selection of local deals, the Merchant Center allows local business to create coupons specifically for the Photopon™ community.

To learn more about the Merchant Center, visit http://merchants.photopon.com/ or download the app from the iTunes store.

About Photopon, Inc.
Photopon™ is the next generation of social couponing. Available on iOS devices, Photopon™ allows users to make custom coupons using their mobile photos and nearby deals. Photopon personalizes deal discovery, coupon sharing and loyalty rewards for the mobile generation. Learn more at www.photopon.com.

Facebook™, Twitter™ and 8coupons™ are trademarks owned by their respective companies and not associated with Photopon, Inc.

SOURCE Photopon