What retailers send
| Message | Type | How it is sent |
|---|---|---|
| Promotions, flash sales, payday offers | Marketing | Campaign to an opted-in group, A/B tested, scheduled |
| Order confirmed, dispatched, ready for collection | Transactional | API from the shop or POS system |
| Delivery windows and driver on the way | Transactional | API or upload from the dispatch list |
| Restock and back-in-stock alerts | Transactional / marketing | Group per product interest |
| Loyalty points and reward reminders | Transactional | Personalised upload from the loyalty database |
| Distributor and outlet notices | Broadcast | Contact group per region or route |
| Feedback and keyword responses | Two-way | Keyword on the shared short code, inbox |
Promotions that people act on
A retail SMS list is a list of people who have already bought from you, which is why it converts. Keep the message to one offer, one action and one deadline, and personalise where you can — the customer's name, their nearest branch, the category they last bought:
Use A/B testing to try two offers on a split of the group before sending the winner to the rest, and schedule sends for the hours your customers shop. The SMS marketing guide covers consent, timing and measurement.
Order and delivery updates from your system
An online shop or POS with a customer number can send status updates automatically: one call to the SMS API at each stage, with the order number and the next step. Customers stop phoning to ask where their order is, and the message ID stored on the order tells support exactly what was sent.
Loyalty and repeat purchase
Export the loyalty database with each customer's points balance or last visit date and send a personalised nudge: points expiring, a reward unlocked, a "we miss you" after 60 days. Contact custom fields can hold those values so the list does not need re-uploading every time.
Distributors and wholesale
Distributors use contact groups per region or route to reach outlets: price changes, new lines, delivery schedules, promotional support. A keyword on the shared short code lets an outlet text ORDER or STOCK to be called back, with the message routed to the sales team's inbox. Larger distributors can offer messaging to their own outlets as a reseller.
Building and keeping a consented list
- Collect the opt-in at the till, on the receipt or by keyword ("Text DEALS to 388 for weekly offers"), and record when and how.
- Put an opt-out in every promotional message and route STOP replies to your inbox.
- Blacklist opt-outs promptly. The blacklist suppresses those numbers on every future campaign, whoever sends it.
- Keep transactional and marketing separate. An order update must not carry a promotion.
Sending as your brand
Request a sender ID with your trading name (up to 11 characters) and an authorization letter on your letterhead. Customers recognise QUICKMART; they ignore or distrust a bare number.
Paying for SMS as a retailer
Create a free account with trial credits, buy credits by mobile money at volume rates, and see the credit cost of each campaign before it goes out. Chains with several branches can share one balance across staff logins through an organisation.