WASHINGTON — Mobile barcodes and direct mail will drive retail sales this holiday season, so marketers looking to boost revenue while saving money should consider the 2012 Holiday Mobile Shopping Promotion — now open for registration at the RIBBS website, according to the U.S. Postal Service.

The 2012 Holiday Mobile Shopping Promotion is designed to drive online product purchases by putting mobile-optimized promotional offers, coupons and catalogs into consumers’ hands in time for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the busiest shopping time of year. The promotion will offer online merchants an upfront 2 percent postage discount on Standard Mail and First-Class Mail letters, flats and cards (presort and automation) that include a mobile barcode or print/mobile technology — such as a Quick Response (QR) code — that can be read or scanned by a mobile device and leads the mail recipient to a mobile-optimized shopping website. The promotion will run Nov. 7 – Nov. 21.

“Direct mail has always been an effective way to reach consumers with product information,” said Gary Reblin, vice president, Domestic Products. “And direct mail combined with mobile technology is a really convenient way for consumers to do their holiday shopping, a convenience that will continue to grow.

“This is the third promotion we’ve offered to demonstrate the effectiveness of integrating mail and mobile technology, and we’re convinced that once marketers try it, they’ll make direct mail and mobile technology a regular part of their marketing mix,” said Reblin.

Mailers may also qualify for an additional 1 percent postage rebate on their discounted mailings if a portion of their product orders are fulfilled via Priority Mail between Nov. 9 and Dec. 31.

“With no extra charges for Saturday delivery, Priority Mail provides added value that our customers can pass along to their customers,” said Reblin.

For additional information on the 2012 Holiday Mobile Shopping Promotion, go to RIBBS. Program registration continues through Nov. 21. Participants must agree to participate in a survey about the promotion.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

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A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation — 151 million residences, businesses and Post Office™ Boxes. The Postal Service™ receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com®, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500. In 2011, Oxford Strategic Consulting ranked the U.S. Postal Service number one in overall service performance of the posts in the top 20 wealthiest nations in the world. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for six years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.

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