CMA Finalists 2012: Loyalty

What could be a better sector just waiting for Contactless / NFC technology than the loyalty industry? With so many loyalty cards out there today – all waiting to be integrated into a mobile phone – surely this industry sector is the one embracing new technology the most?

The 2012 finalists are:

• Kadona – NFC Retail Platform (Austria)
• Adelya – “Carte Magique”: Loyalty card for Nice residents (France)
• K-Plus – K-Plussa card for use in the K-Group of stores (Finland)
• SAS – “SAS Smart Pass”: NFC solution for frequent flyers (Sweden)

Up first is Vienna-based Kadona with their NFC Retail Platform.

With its NFC Retail Platform Kadona provides the single point of contact for retail businesses to access their customers independently of a customer’s MNO subscription, independently of NFC phone equipment and independently of a customer’s NFC wallet. The scalable White Label Cloud Platform enables retailers to enhance their customer relations via NFC based promotions, special offers and coupons. The solution can easily be integrated into the current IT backend infrastructure and all POS systems. All NFC based data are managed on a highly secure level. Retailers benefit from cost savings and higher customer satisfaction.

For customers the NFC Retail Platform is convenient and easy. They now get new coupons as push notification on their mobile handsets, they can browse through all available and personalized offers and select those which they want to use at their next purchase by simply tapping on them. Furthermore they don’t need to carry their plastic card with them anymore and can check the current status of their bonus points any time by opening the app. Kadona’s field trials have shown that NFC equipped customers use their NFC loyalty app in 97% of their shopping. Users also appreciate the support line, as well as the Facebook and Youtube integration, a shop finder etc.

The NFC readers at the cash register are connected to the POS system which in turn sends the transaction data (activated coupons, customer id, bonus points used) to the merchant’s online customer database (merchant backend). The customer database informs the Kadona backend about redeemed coupons or bonus points and the Kadona server pushes this information to the end-user’s handset.

The Kadona NFC retail platform has been implemented in field trial with REWE Group daughter BIPA, the Austrian market leader for cosmetics, body care and household products with more than 570 stores all over the country. Test users received NFC enabled phones (Samsung Galaxy Mini, Samsung Galaxy S, Samsung Galaxy S2, Sony Xperia X10 and Apple iPhone, NFC-enabled via NFC microSD cards). An Android application displays coupons and bonus points earned, which are stored on the Secure Element (SE) of the microSD card.

The next step for Kadona is to introduce NFC payment functionality complementing the loyalty solution with a leading credit card provider as partner. Customers will then be able to authenticate themselves as loyalty program members and pay – all with just one single tap of their NFC phone.s

From France we have Adelya with their “Carte Magique”: Loyalty card for Nice residents.

The Nice Commerce Association (OCAN) has launched its NFC multi-store loyalty card and deployed ADELYA’s Loyalty Operator Platform at 200 independent shops to encourage customer loyalty and engagement. Nice being the first NFC-enabled city in France, OCAN’s loyalty card is available on all cityzi NFC mobile phones through ADELYA Loyalty Avenue, a mobile web application dedicated to store location, deals and offers, and loyalty management.

Nice is the first city in France to introduce new mobile contactless services to consumers with support from AFSCM: with a contactless phone, consumers can pay, check in, get rewards and deals, and take public transportation. In partnership with AFSCM, ADELYA has developed Loyalty Avenue, a contactless mobile app enabling consumers to check in, consult stores, and get points and rewards in every store using ADELYA loyalty solutions. Natively, OCAN’s loyalty card is available on Loyalty Avenue mobile app.

The OCAN Commerce Association has provided the Loyalty Operator SaaS Platform to 200 stores so that they can post their store profile as well as their deals, private sales and loyalty programs. All information is instantly posted on Loyalty Avenue web and mobile applications, and pushed via newsletters. Loyal consumers get alerts with all the good deals and offers around their city. And OCAN is also going to post a multi-store loyalty program to reward consumers with movie, concert or car park tickets.

Over in Finland we have K-Plus and the K-Plussa card for use in the K-Group of stores.

K-Plussa’s customer base has more than 220 million receipt entries every year. The K-Plussa card provides benefits at K-Group stores (grocery, hardware, sports good, home electronics, furniture, shoes, etc.) and from several business partners, such as service stations, restaurants, spas and hotels. Benefits are also offered on magazine subscriptions, car rental, electricity, insurance and mobile phone services.  Their new NFC solution has been launched in February 2012 and they have decided to only deliver contactless cards from now on.  They estimate that by the end of 2012 there will be over 300.000 contactless K-Plussa loyalty card in use.

The K-Plussa loyalty programme is the most extensive and diverse customer loyalty programme in Finland. More than 3.7 million K-Plussa customers belong to K-Plussa loyalty programme (over 84% of Finnish households) and K-Plussa points can be gained from more than 3,000 outlets and over 40 business partners (covers over 70% of customers daily consumption needs). K-Plussa loyal customer card has its own loyalty application in its own card platform.

And finally, from sweden we have a brand that everyone has heard of – SAS  with their “SAS Smart Pass”: NFC solution for frequent flyers.

SAS say they are constantly working on simplifying processes for their customers and providing innovative and time saving Self Service solutions throughout the travel chain. SAS have developed a new product, SAS Smart Pass, which they say will make the flow at the airport even faster and more hassle free for their passengers.

At the moment the availability of mobile phones equipped with NFC is low in Scandinavia and so they offer their most frequent travellers (EuroBonus Gold members) a SAS Smart Pass; an NFC-sticker that the customer easily can attach on their mobile phone.

SAS Smart Pass contains an antenna with a transmitter that is activated when it comes in the proximity of the reader. The EuroBonus number and expiry date is integrated in the SAS Smart Pass and to access a touch point (e.g. start the check in dialog, enter Security or Boarding) the customer only needs to place the Smart Pass close to the reader. SAS Smart Pass will be introduced on all SK operating flights within and from Scandinavia to the Schengen countries.

SAS Smart Pass offers a convenient and easy way for customers to identify their trip at all access points at the airport, for instance at the Self-Service Kiosks, Security, Lounge and Gate. Many passengers use their Frequent Flyer (EuroBonus) card today to identify the trip at the airport, with the NFC sticker on the phone they don’t need to take out the card from the wallet. The mobile phone is always at hand. This is the real benefit for the customer.

So these are the finalists for the Loyalty category. As I said earlier – if there was every a category that would embrace contactless and NFC, this is it. The winner will be announced at the Gala Dinner on the evening of the 26th April. We would love our loyal readers to be there!