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Loyalty cards

M

mortias

Newbie
So i had this idea to "androidize" loyalty cards, i know there are some apps already available but i would take it a little but further.. because at the end you still have a ton of cards which only solves the space in your wallet..

Now you have a lot of different cards for each store. The idea would be that you have only one sort of "mac-address" id (/account) which is valid for all stores. Like a personal passport who gives you access to a list of all shops who uses the same system.

The app would interface with a server where your id is stored with all your loyalty points, when you enter a store and you get some credits, somehow the store would interact with the central server to upload them so you get them back on your app. (so the app only pulls data from the server / stores pushes credits) In the app itself you could be able to see what you can purchase, or get discounts for the store you are in(localization)

Also a nice feature could be to edit your account settings. Each time you need an invoice (for companies) i have to provide all my data, it would be fun if you can upload a sort of visit-card which they can use to create the invoice / add it to their database for all stores linked to the system.

I'm sure you can come up with other idea's linked to the same functionalities. I only don't see how to convince stores 'worldwide' to use the 'uber' loyalty card system. At the end you can sell this to google who likes to profile users ;)

This could also work to whatever other card systems like the sports club, library, etc. etc.
 
Wouldn't want it. I have one loyalty card - mostly for gas discount.

The other companies send coded coupons by email. I don't need a card.

I get newsletters with sales offers from companies I do want to deal with.

I pick and choose who I deal with and no pests from another site.

I do everything possible to screw up those who profile. According to former workers in marketing, I do manage. I don't fit my demographic.

Since some of the mdse I do want cannot be sold online, there can be no price advertising except for flier or email from local store. The other mdse is not mainstream enough.
 
in the non "virtual" world alot of people are still going out to the stores itself :) and they have tons of cards, escp. women, just to clarify one thing, it's not about advertising however this could be an idea but mainly to show the products or discounts that can be "traded" for your points, so you don't need a folder to choose from..
 
mortias said:
So i had this idea to "androidize" loyalty cards, i know there are some apps already available but i would take it a little but further.. because at the end you still have a ton of cards which only solves the space in your wallet..

Now you have a lot of different cards for each store. The idea would be that you have only one sort of "mac-address" id (/account) which is valid for all stores. Like a personal passport who gives you access to a list of all shops who uses the same system.

The app would interface with a server where your id is stored with all your loyalty points, when you enter a store and you get some credits, somehow the store would interact with the central server to upload them so you get them back on your app. (so the app only pulls data from the server / stores pushes credits) In the app itself you could be able to see what you can purchase, or get discounts for the store you are in(localization)

Also a nice feature could be to edit your account settings. Each time you need an invoice (for companies) i have to provide all my data, it would be fun if you can upload a sort of visit-card which they can use to create the invoice / add it to their database for all stores linked to the system.

I'm sure you can come up with other idea's linked to the same functionalities. I only don't see how to convince stores 'worldwide' to use the 'uber' loyalty card system. At the end you can sell this to google who likes to profile users ;)

This could also work to whatever other card systems like the sports club, library, etc. etc.
Click to expand...

Sorry to burst your bubble, but there are already dozens of these in the play store. This isn't anything new.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/...JpbmcuZ29vZ2xlLnp4aW5nLmNsaWVudC5hbmRyb2lkIl0.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/...lt#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImZyLnNuYXBwLmZpZG1lIl0.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/...51bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5maWRhbGwubm92YWN0aXZlIl0.
 
This sounds a little like passbook to me. But I like the idea.

If you are asking the stores to give up their info with no added benefit, it will not happen. They clutch on to those like you wouldn't believe. They believe that there is some kind of intrinsic value that only they have and they want to be the only ones to commoditize it. Not that they can.
 
@ExtremeNerd Not true :) i know about these applications, there you need to scan all your cards into one wallet. That's why my idea is not to scan anything, actuall you don't have any cards anymore, you would only own an account on a server where all stores connect to to upload there credits, the app would only visualize (pull) the data from the server and then you would see it divided by store, you see? Each "card" in your wallet comes from the server, and when you click it you would see your saved credits and maybe you could purchase some items from the "credit" store or how do you call this.. the challange isn't to make the app, ofcourse it needs to be secure, but actually to convince local stores to use that server, however cash systems should interact directly to it like they do now with thier local credit system..
see it as an administrative simplification..

Example
you go to the pharmacy, you buy some aspirine, you earn 5 credits because they are on a loyalty program (like you do right now with your card), but instead of asking your card their cash register interacts with the loyalty program server
then you go to the store to buy some clothes, they also have a loyalty program and you get 5 mexx credits (same thing) they don't put it on your loyalty card but thier cash register system interacts with the server and grants you the 5 credits
you go home and want to see if you can have some discount cheque already or you want to know if you could do something with your credits, no problem, you connect with your app to the server and he gives you all data from the pharmacy, the clothes store, etc.. with some additional info on what and when you can do something with your earned credits.

@gtbarry i don't know passbook but it isn't the idea of uploading your own data like in the example, there has been a research and a lot of these stores don't even use this personal data linked to loyalty cards, what i do know is that they check what you bought and send you some promotions by post linked to what you have bought. (example you drink a lot of coke, and hey, by post you get some promotion about coke on the first page..) this is what colruyt is doing. The hardest thing is that they create some sort of link to the customer with this card, so you need to go to the store with your card, like a hardware link or just to give something fysical to the customer as a token of a connection to the client. anyway i'm sure this system is ready for an upgrade but not yet the people or companies
 
stores will use their database as a marketing tool. They will promote themselves as having xxxxxxx registered members or xxxxx active users or xxxxxxx members on an emailing list. This will allow them to establish better partnership deals, cut better deals with a vendoe (i.e. Pepsi will sell pepsi to them at a cheaper rate if the store highlights pepsi in the next three newsletters. etc.).

They guard and protect there users for these reasons. Though the dirty secret that everyone kind of knows is that once you register not that many people care that much about the program.
 
The biggest problem I see (unless I'm not understanding your idea), is that they won't want to share credits. In your example I now have 10 credits, if I can get a candy bar for 10 credits I could use the 5 from the pharmacy and the 5 from the clothing store to buy the candy bar from the pharmacy. Now the clothing store lost out on my business and I don't have any credits left to spend at the clothing store.
 
sorry maybe that wasn't clear
the idea is not to merge credits between shops, however it could be nice to share credits within your family from the same shop, because they all go to the same pharmacy and you don't want a card for each person

actually it so simple but hard to explain..
now you have cards for everything, pharmacy, clothing, etc.

so i install a server with user accounts (the cards-repository)
if i buy something my credits go from that store on my user account but each store has a seporate counting system record on my account, (because indeed you don't want to merge them for commercial reasons, it's the same structure as your cards in your wallet but only digital and with only one account.)

the app would only visualize them seporate to give you the idea of having multiple cards in your "wallet"
 
There's a huge security risk here and potentially higher costs. Since the store uses those loyalty cards to also employ directed marketing - "You've bought this before, we think you'll like this other item also" - they either risk that kind of information with a 3rd-party (and entrust that 3rd party to keep it secure) or they have to still maintain a server for that information in their server farm. If they have to still maintain a server for it, why not just maintain it themselves, then they control the security of the information themselves.

From the consumer point of view, you're not putting all your loyalty "eggs" in one "basket". If one store is compromised, only your data for THAT store is compromised. If you centralize it there's a risk that your data for EVERY store is compromised.
 
true, but then there is also a risk with online banking, however the data mining from their cash system isn't linked with the point you earn, i see this as a external service, but probalby they don't care about the fact you have tons of cards, actually they probably also have a margin where they count on the fact that you can loose it so they win two times
 
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