SEATTLE -- No one can accuse the prepaid-services category of lacking novelty or being unbalanced. On one end of the spectrum lies innovation in the form of prepaid adult-entertainment cards, and on the other is a new product that delivers daily prayers, Bible verses and other content directly to a user 's cell phone by way of divine text-messaging.
This latest innovation comes from something called Text-a-Day from Lifestyle Wireless Inc., Seattle, which is distributed to convenience stores in the form of prepaid cards through Atlanta-based InComm.
The product 's initial rollout [image-nocss] includes three Text-a-Day cards: the aforementioned Faith (Bible verses, prayers of the day, daily inspirations, etc.), Sports (scores and schedules for professional and college sports teams) and Lifestyle (horoscopes, jokes, celebrity gossip, etc.). Upon a card 's activation, which is done with a single phone call from the user, a text message is sent to his or her cell phone daily for the next 60 days.
Early retailer feedback suggests the Faith card will get the most positive response. But Lifestyle Wireless vice president of marketing Gregg Makuch believes the leading Text-a-Day SKU will differ by store type and geography.
Text-a-Day cards, according to the company, benefit from the cross-section of two explosive trends: prepaid gift/stored-value cards and text messaging. Nearly non-existent five years ago, gift and stored-value cards are practically ubiquitous and generally available in stores run by most major retailers.
Text messaging, meanwhile, is the No. 1 non-voice mobile phone application by far, with nearly 80 million users in the country already, according to the 2007 CTIA Semi-Annual Wireless Industry Report 2007. Furthermore, according to the CTIA, also known as The Wireless Association, more than 90% of the more than 243 million U.S. wireless subscribers have phones capable of receiving text messages.
Text-a-Day cards retail for $9.99 and have a margin that 's more in line with traditional c-store merchandise—“above 30%,” Lifestyle Wireless founder and CEO Greg Lambrecht told CSP Daily News—than other types of prepaid items, such as third-party gift cards.
Lifestyle Wireless is currently in negotiations with “a large c-store chain,” said Lambrecht. He also said the cards received a “phenomenal response” from convenience retailers in their debut at the 2007 NACS Show in Atlanta.
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