High street fashion retailer Oasis has launched what is thought to be the first peer-to-peer SMS gift voucher service that will allow customers to purchase gift vouchers through the chain’s website to be sent to the mobiles of friends and family and redeemed in store. If successful, the company’s parent, Aurora Fashions, plans to roll it out across all its brands, including Karen Millen, Coast and Warehouse later this year. The company has also rolled out v2.0 of its iPhone app which now features a shopping bag and one click check out.

Run by leading m-vouchering company Eagle Eye Solutions, the service allows web to SMS distribution and in store redemption using a unique PIN that is sent to the recipients phone. This can then be keyed into the existing chip and PIN infrastructure in store.

The move comes ahead of Oasis rolling out an updated version of its iPhone app, built by No Need For Mirrors,  that now allows users to not only look at the retailer’s product range, but also now to collect goods in a shopping bag in the app and then buy them at an in-app checkout.

“This feature enables the user to ‘build’ a bag of products as they travel through the application and then from any point in the application select the bag and go to the checkout,” says Rod Anthony, eCommerce R&D Manager, Aurora Fashions, Oasis’ parent company. “The checkout is a custom built interface in the application that provides a smooth and enjoyable purchasing journey that makes the checkout simple as it should be in a mobile environment.”

Card details can be saved on the phone for simple recurring use of the application to provide a more streamlined checkout process, says Anthony. “The whole checkout process moves significantly closer to make a purchase in ‘one click’. As an extra security measure, the user will be prompted for their unique three digit number on the back of their credit or debit card for authentication.”

The new payment section also retains billing and delivery addresses, together with the ability to use promotional codes to take advantage of special offers.

The app also offers multi-currency support, multiple images of products and has the ability to receive push messages, aiding the company in tying together its mobile marketing and apps offerings.

“The application has the ability to receive messages (similar to text messages) so that the user can access the application in a number of different ways; they can be sent as a notification of a new product for example and when opened the application will go directly to displaying that product,” explains Anthony. “They can also be used to send notifications of a new newsletter or promotion.”

Oasis can also select a particular location around which to send a notification, for example send the following promotion to all users that have been within 10 miles of the Oxford Street store in the last four weeks.

Users can select which ‘push’ messages they would like to subscribe to and activate/unsubscribe in real-time.

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