Downtown Evanston to Launch Mobile Coupon Application

Within a week, shoppers strolling the streets of downtown Evanston will be able to find, sort and use digital coupons for nearby businesses at the push of a button thanks to a soon-to-be-launched smart phone application.

The mobile app, which will be available for download May 26 on Android and iPhone operating systems, was announced and demonstrated to the public for the first time at Downtown Evanston’s annual meeting held Thursday night at the city's recently-closed Borders, 1700 Maple Ave.

The program is the resulting effort of a five-month-long partnership between the nonprofit management and marketing services organization Downtown Evanston and a group of Northwestern University business and engineering students who created the app, dubbed SweetPerk, as a student project for their NUVention: Web course.

Last December, Downtown Evanston launched a saving program called “Passport to Downtown Evanston,” which used a typical coupon booklet to promote the business district. The new application essentially acts a digital version of the discount program.

Carolyn Dellutri, executive director of Downtown Evanston, said that collaboration resulted from an unrelated conversation between the Northwestern students and Lulu’s owner Daniel Kelch, but that once the possibility of collaboration presented itself, the organization jumped at the serendipitous opportunity.

“We’re really excited about it,” Dellutri said, “because it makes us greener by not having to print so many [coupon books]. It gives us direct access to [Northwestern] University students, because they’re going to help us market it throughout the university. It helps build brand loyalty to Downtown Evanston and it keeps the money local, which helps the tax base. All around it’s a great program.”

Kelch said he anticipated the app would increase awareness of downtown businesses.

“It benefits simply through exposure,” Kelch said. “If this could get picked up as a default app by [Northwestern] students to look at downtown Evanston, and not just students but even residents, and here is the default app to go check out what’s available there, how do you argue with that kind of exposure?”

Once downloaded, the app will allow users to browse downtown businesses categorically or alphabetically. Users select a business from various lists, view current discounts and promotions and can even choose to locate the selected business on a map. Once in the store, customers will use their smart phone cameras to scan on-location QR code matrix barcodes to redeem the deal. Business owners can limit the number of times a single user can use a coupon, and will likely be able to track usage through data, as well.

As part of the NUVention course, the students involved will have full ownership of the created company. Students at Thursday’s event said that though their current business model has yet to be solidified, in the future SweetPerk might be an ideal application for destination commerce areas such as business districts and shopping malls.

Downtown Evanston also in December to serve 110 downtown businesses.

Other new ideas discussed at Thursday’s meeting included the proposed instillation of bike corrals in the downtown area, a potential series of pop-up art galleries to take place in vacant downtown storefronts and a public rent-a-bike program similar to the ones that have been implemented New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles.