RFID Is TOP Priority for Store Loyalty Cards

Thus far, says Accelitec's president, Peter Gruman, the system offers three elements. The first is a low-price guarantee that automatically provides customers with a credit whenever an item's price is reduced within seven days after that purchase is made; the credit is then applied to the shopper's next purchase cost. The system also allows for automatic refunds in the case of purchasing a spoiled item. If, for instance, a customer takes a gallon of milk home and discovers it has gone bad, he or she can call the store, provide his or her card ID number and receive credit automatically. The third element, automatic recall notification, involves sending an alert to all customers who have purchased a product that has been recalled, and warning them that the specific item does not meet store standards, or that is being recalled by the vendor and should be discarded.

TOP also initiated a promotion in which the retailer sent some of its customers an e-mail stating that if they visited the store within 48 hours and spent $25, they would earn an extra $5 discount at the point of sale.

Accelitec has been working on several solutions for store loyalty at a variety of retailers, Gruman says, but while the software firm initially considered bar-code or mag-stripe options, it determined RFID to be the best solution. RFID provides greater security than mag-stripe technology, he explains, because personal data is never exposed, and remains in the back-end system, with only the encrypted ID number transmitted. As such, he notes, more options are available to customers, such as paying for purchases by presenting only the loyalty card, as well as connecting other customer data to that card, based on information input by the patron on his or her personalized Web page. Product vendors have shown an interest in this system, Gruman says, as have retailers, because they could then use it to provide coupons to loyal customers, or to entice those who would not be considered loyal shoppers.

In the future, TOP plans to allow customers to input information such as a shopping list. If the store then installs a monitor and RFID interrogator near its entrances, Gruman says, a customer could utilize that service to access his or her shopping list upon arrival, and receive details such as where needed items are located, along with which brands are on sale. The system can also enable customers to instruct it to automatically deduct a transaction cost from a credit card or debit card, thereby enabling them to pay for transactions with the loyalty card alone. To date, Mallahan says, guests have not shown interest in this service, so it has not been included.

Approximately 60 percent of the four TOP stores' customers have signed up to use the card since September, Mallahan says, with several hundred new applicants added each week. "We feel the program has been very successful," she states, noting, "I think we've just scratched the surface as to what we can do with it."

In addition, Accelitec has plans to modify and expand the system as new technology becomes available. In the future, for instance, Gruman says he would like to provide the system on NFC-enabled cell phones. The widespread use of such phones within the United States, however, may still be several years out, he estimates.