Britain’s largest high street WiFi provider The Cloud launched location-based vouchers to its WiFi app FastConnect

Krispy Kreme, Orchid Pub Group and Spirit Pub Group amongst first brands to run offers through The Cloud’s WiFi app, FastConnect

25-7-2013 — /EuropaWire/ — The Cloud, Britain’s largest high street WiFi provider and part of BSkyB, has added location-based voucher offers from its venue partners to its WiFi app, letting users see promotions near them when they are out and about.

The offers are available to The Cloud’s eight million registered users via its free FastConnect app. The app, which launched in April 2010, auto-connects users to The Cloud hotspots after one-time registration.

The offers will be available as a trial, initially from outlets such as Krispy Kreme and select Spirit Pub Group and the Orchid Pub Group venues. Together the participating companies have over 680 venues on The Cloud’s nationwide network. Other venue offers will be added over time.

The offers can be uploaded and changed by the venue owners themselves in real-time through an online portal. This will allow venues to potentially attract more customers at quieter times and react to factors such as footfall and stock availability. It also ensures WiFi users can get access to the most up-to-the-minute deals in their location.

The Cloud’s network of over 18,000 hotspots in busy locations makes it by far the largest high street WiFi network in the UK. Venues on The Cloud’s network include PizzaExpress, Caffe Nero, EAT, Pret A Manger, Wagamama, WHSmith, Greggs, JD Wetherspoon and Greene King pubs and Network Rail stations nationwide. Users spent over 1 billion minutes on The Cloud’s network in April 2013 alone and 200 hotspots are being added to the network every week.

Vince Russell, Managing Director of The Cloud, said: “Our aim is to digitise the high street in a way that helps shoppers and venues alike, and this new feature does that. We constantly look at extra ways to provide value to our millions of users. Location-based offers will be very popular because WiFi users are savvy people, digitally and financially, and research has shown that 75% of shoppers take action after a location-based message*.

“For our venue partners, this new feature helps them reach potential customers nearby and respond to local conditions with offers that are tailored specifically to their venue. It’s part of a range of innovations we offer including the ability to advertise on the WiFi landing page when users log on, allowing brands to capitalise on the huge power of mobile marketing.”

Judith Denby, Chief Marketing Officer from Krispy Kreme UK, which deployed The Cloud’s WiFi in 2009, said: “Since we rolled out The Cloud’s WiFi we’ve noticed the positive impact it’s had on customer engagement and satisfaction at our venues. Now we want to explore ways of using it to reach people outside our venues but still close enough to be attracted by promotions. The amount of time people spend looking at their phones when they’re on the high street is considerable and this new service on The Cloud’s network is about tapping into that.”

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*http://www.jiwire.com/sites/default/files/JiWire_MobileAudienceInsightsReport_Q42011_2.pdf

Press contact details:
The Cloud
Lorna Hughes or Hugo Deacon
Harvard PR
020 7861 2800
TheCloud@harvard.co.uk

About The Cloud 
• The Cloud (www.thecloud.co.uk) builds and operates Wi-Fi networks across the UK and Europe to provide the mobile media experience that consumers want. The service delivers simple, fast and cost effective broadband to millions of Wi-Fi enabled smartphones, laptops and entertainment devices. The Cloud has exclusive commercial partnerships with retail, leisure, hotels, sports, transport, and entertainment and content partners to deliver its longer-term vision of a connected society.

• The Cloud has over 8 million registered users connecting for over 200 million minutes a week at over 18,000 live locations such as the Emirates Stadium, Silverstone Race Track, the City of London, Wetherspoon, PizzaExpress, Caffe Nero, Eat, pubs, leisure facilities, restaurants and mainline stations.

• Approximately 7 million people pass through The Cloud network everyday by visiting one of its partners, including major outlets such as WHSmith, PizzaExpress, Greggs, Pret and Wagamama, as well as First Great Western and Network Rail stations.

• The Cloud is a BSkyB Company.