Contactless payments – just hype or the real deal

www.consultingsmart.co.uk

By Steve Beecroft

Regulars to this blog, our clients and my peers within the payments industry will know only too well how positive I am towards contactless technology. Having designed and implemented several contactless schemes including NFC I consider myself an advocate of this now fully emerged, technology.

However, like any professional I always look to deliver the the most appropriate guidance to our clients and sometimes that means recommending clients do not to adopt a particular technology. This is something we did through our sporting venues division 'Smart Stadia Ltd, when a football club from West Yorkshire asked for assistance in defining the best next steps in their modernisation project.

Do we regret doing this ...... NO, it was what the client needed but not necessarily what they wanted to hear but is was absolutely the right thing for them. That was back in March this year and I have since had a call from the clubs Chief Executive thanking me for our ethical approach and inviting Smart Stadia Ltd to lead the next phase of their modernisation project for multi-application season ticket. Even if we had not had that call we would still be very happy that we had given appropriate advice that was in the best interests of the client.

It is our unshakable belief that we all need a balanced view, with this in mind I attach below an article on www.mobile-financial.com

Research from Datamonitor, a market analyst firm, suggests that the much hyped contactless payment market may be a long way off from becoming the norm in the UK despite trials by various retailers.

The research* from the independent market analyst has revealed that despite the huge potential market open to contactless payments the economic downturn has delayed issuers other than Barclaycard from investing in the technology as they just haven’t been able to spend money on it. Meanwhile many retailers are not sure yet if contactless is worth the investment.

Gilles Ubaghs, financial analyst at Datamonitor said: “Retailers could likely find the cash if they were convinced it was worthwhile, but many don’t seem sure there is any real point. Essentially it is a catch 22 as many consumers aren’t interested in having a contactless payment card when there are still so few places to use it and retailers don’t want to install the technology as so few people have a card.”

However, Datamonitor does believe that there are promising long term signs that the technology could take off but it won’t be as soon as many analysts predict.

Mr Ubaghs continued “Although contactless payments have been around for nearly 10 years, Barclaycard and London’s Oyster travel card remain the only two high profile companies to offer contactless cards. Investment by other issuers is needed, not only in the technology itself but in educating consumers as well. Consumers will need to be convinced that it is worth their while to use the new technology”

“Importantly, for consumers to be sold on using contactless payments retailers and issuers will need to work together and as this is yet to happen on a large scale. It will be a good deal of time before we’re able to walk into any shop and buy a chocolate bar in the same way as London commuters tap their Oyster cards.”

For the original article click here

Consulting Smart Ltd provide specialist consultancy on the design and deployment of smart card and NFC technologies. For more information on how we can help your organisation realise the full benefits please see www.consultingsmart.co.uk or email us at info@consultingsmart.co.uk

How Pre-paid cashless can significantly improve your profit every year.

www.consultingsmart.co.uk

Almost £30m has been left unused on Oyster pay-as-you-go (PAYG) for at least a year, the BBC has learned.

A total of 16.5m PAYG cards sat idle during the year from April 2009 to April 2010. The average amount on each card was £1.80.

Transport for London (TfL) says no card is deemed as expired and users can always claim the balance back.

The smart cards are used to pay for travel in London. There are plans to roll out similar schemes across the UK.

Oyster cards can be topped up for use on buses, tubes and trains across the capital.

Last year alone, 31,000 PAYG cards were issued and topped up but never subsequently used, even though they held............Click here to read the full article from the BBC News website

Consulting Smart Ltd provide specialist consultancy on the design and deployment of smart card and NFC technologies including PrePaid and other payment applications. For more information on how we can help your organisation realise the full benefits please see www.consultingsmart.co.uk or email us at info@consultingsmart.co.uk

Football Clubs and Councils Collaborate with Smart Cards

Week in the Life of a Football Supporter with a Residents Smart Card.
Part 3 of 8

Wednesday
Sam follows his usual routine into work using the “Residents and Supporters” smart card on the bus and to access his office building. Today is Sam’s birthday and direct from the football club CRM to his mobile phone via text he has received a 2-4-1 offer to eat in the restaurant at the stadium so at lunch time Sam meets his wife for lunch. The offer also states that if he pays for the meal with the closed purse on his “Residents and Supporters” smart card he will receive treble loyalty points. Sam tops up his e-purse on his “Residents and Supporters” smart card by text message. Sam redeems the 2-4-1 offer and pays for the meal with the closed e-purse on his “Residents and Supporters” smart card.

When Sam returns to work he uses the “Residents and Supporters” smart card to access his office building.

After work Sam decides to go to the gym he uses the “Residents and Supporters” smart card for the bus journey and once at the gym, which is a council leisure centre, Sam uses the “Residents and Supporters” smart card to gain entry to the centre as it is also his membership card for the leisure centre. Sam also uses the “Residents and Supporters” smart card inside the leisure centre to register his use of the gym and again use of the swimming pool. Sam then travels home on the bus using the “Residents and Supporters” smart card for the journey home.

At home Sam logs on to www.yourfootballclub.co.uk and checks the balance on his loyalty account and discovers that he has an additional 350 points for topping up, paying in the restaurant and also a bonus for his birthday. Sam has also been given additional points for participating I physical activity at the gym, this is an PCT initiative to promote healthy living and combat obesity and help reduce the pressure on the local NHS. The scheme is supported by the Local council and the football club. (14)

THE END

If you want to see what Sam can do with the "Residents and Supporters" smartcard during the rest of his week follow, then us on Twitter http://twitter.com/SmartStadia and you will get a tweet when each day goes live.

Football Clubs and Councils Collaborate with Smart Cards

Week in the Life of a Football Supporter with a Residents Smartcard.
Part 4 of 8

Thursday
Sam follows his usual routine into work using the “Residents and Supporters” smart card on the bus and to access his office building.

At lunch time Sam goes to town and buys a CD from a local music store and some accessories for his car from a national motor factors retailer using the EMV payment on his “Residents and Supporters” smart card.

Sam has study leave in the afternoon and travel home on the bus using his “Residents and Supporters” card, and collects his Business Management course books and course work . At home Sam logs on to www.yourfootballclub.co.uk and checks the balance on his loyalty account and discovers that he has an additional 160 points for the EMV transactions at the local music store and the national motor factors retailer. As these transaction are using the EMV payment facility they attract a slightly lower rate than transactions using the pre pay e-purse on the “Residents and Supporters” card.

As Sam is registered as a mature student studying at the stadium he is allowed free access to the WiFI within the stadium conference suite. Sam drives to the stadium early, for his second study night of the week, as he is meeting a study buddy there. On arrival at the stadium Sam presents his “Residents and Supporters” card to the parking barrier which opens as it knows from the CRM that Sam is studying tonight and is entitled to free parking. Sam uses the “Residents and Supporters” card to log on to the network using dual factor authentication and the system recognises Sam is registered with a sight impairment and has stored visual preferences to help him read the text. The system is set to Sam’s preferences. This same function could be used to change language for those whose first language is not English.

Once the evenings study is over Sam leaves the car park again using the “Residents and Supporters” card to open the exit barrier.

When Sam gets home he again checks his Loyalty Points balance and sees that, just as he did on Monday evening he received 50 point for attending college, this is part of a local “back to work” programme run by the council and supported by local businesses. (12)

THE END

If you want to see what Sam can do with the "Residents and Supporters" smartcard during the rest of his week follow, then us on Twitter http://twitter.com/SmartStadia and you will get a tweet when each day goes live.

Football Clubs and Councils Collaborate with Smartcards

Week in the Life of a Football Supporter with a Residents Smartcard.
Part 2 of 8

TUESDAY
Sam follows his usual routine into work using the “Residents and Supporters” smart card on the bus and to access his office building. At lunch time he goes in to the local library and borrows a book relating to his Business Management course. He uses the self service desk and presents the “Residents and Supporters” smart card to register the loan of the books, the card is also acts as his library card.

Sam decides to go straight to the football club from the office and meets his friend outside the stadium, where Sam realises that he has forgotten his ticket. However Sam is not concerned as he simply goes to the club shop where they read his card and confirm he was issued with a valid ticket and validate the access control system to accept the card. (In reality Sam did not need to do this as when he used the card to ID himself online the previous day when purchasing the tickets, the card and the barcoded ticket were automatically added to the access control system as valid for entry for this game. The system however would only accept the first form i.e. card or ticket for entry, once one form had been used the second would be automatically rendered void this is for security and revenue protection purposes.)

Sam’s friend arrives and they both enter the stadium Sam with the “Residents and Supporters” smart card and his friend with his own barcoded ticket. In the stadium Sam and friend both get a drink and something to eat. As Sam has the “Residents and Supporters” smart card he goes straight to the cashless payment queue which is shorter than the cash queue and to boost take up of the new “Residents and Supporters” card there is a discount on all product when paying by the pre pay e-purse. Sam pays using the closed e-purse and he is served quicker than his friend who is paying with cash and saves money. Sam then receives a text message from the football club Events Team thanking him for entering the stadium early and offers him a bogoff offer on the new line in pasties from a local bakers if he uses his closed e-purse for payment.

Sam and friend watch the first half during which Sam tops up his e-purse on his “Residents and Supporters” smart card by text message. Then at half time he takes advantage of the bogoff offer.

After the match friend Sam uses the “Residents and Supporters” smart card for the bus journey home. At home Sam checks his loyalty account and sees a total of 125 new points from the purchases and entering the stadium early. (10)

THE END

If you want to see what Sam can do with the "Residents and Supporters" smartcard during the rest of his week follow, then us on Twitter http://twitter.com/SmartStadia and you will get a tweet when each day goes live. Alternatively if you would like to find out what the costs and benefits associated with multi application smartcards in a football club or local authority environment would be please click >http://www.smartstadia.com

Real-time technology could revolutionise loyalty schemes

Customer Loyalty has advanced a long way in the past few years, but there are even more significant changes on the horizon for loyalty programmes and their operators. The debates about the benefits of loyalty programmes are over - and now widely accepted - with nearly half of UK retailers running a programme, and the rest of Europe (and indeed the world) catching up quickly. The latest developments revolve around ways of differentiating loyalty programmes from their competitors, and making refinements that make them even more effective.

Simply swiping a plastic card at the point of sale and waiting for a quarterly statement to get a points balance have become a thing of the past. The more advanced loyalty schemes operate in real time with personalised responses and offers being presented at the point of purchase, with the aim of providing members with instant gratification - and of course greater engagement.

EPoS systems can communicate with central loyalty databases to instantly deliver relevant messages based on past and current purchasing behaviour, as well as providing an up-to-date points balance. Real time analysis of loyalty and purchase data is now also feasible, thanks to increasingly powerful software and ever-faster hardware. Real-time technology also enables quicker and easier redemptions for goods while the customer is still in the store. In the past, retailers had instead created barriers to minimise redemption rates. But while that helped reduce programme costs in the short term, it also diluted the consumer benefit of the programme, resulting in lower take-up rates and lower revenue increases.

But, according to Chris Jacobs of Business Assyst, the next generation of customer loyalty programme will see the tracking of customer location as well as purchases. This can be achieved through the adoption of RFID or NFC-based cards or even mobile GPRS tracking (a technology for which consumers currently have to opt-in via their mobile network). These technologies can potentially record when a customer enters or leaves a store, enabling 'dwell time' to be calculated and non-purchase visits to be logged. More impressively, the store manager can be alerted immediately when a top-tier, VIP customer enters the store... Imagine being personally welcomed by the store manager whenever you go to the supermarket.

This and hundreds of other recession-critical topics are addressed in detail in 'The Loyalty Guide III', The Wise Marketer's latest 923-page global guide to customer loyalty programmes, techniques, practices and theory. The report is available now, worldwide, for £1150 (approx. US$1995 or Euro 1495). See TheLoyaltyGuide.com for the free executive summary, downloadable chapter samples, table of contents, online searching, and online ordering.

Consulting Smart advising a Championship Football Club

Consulting Smart and now advising a Championship Football Club on the integration of customer centric services and their delivery through a single token.

When interviewed Steve Beecroft Consulting Smart's Smart Technologies Consultant, Founder and Managing Director said "This is a very positive step forward for the stadia environment and even more important for the fans and supporters or as we prefer to call them customers. Customers want convenience and value for money, by enabling them to access many services through a single token this is exaclty what our client is providing them. This is the future of stadia as has been proven by the level of interest we are receiving from all types of sports clubs and arena managers across the UK and Europe."

For further information on the services that Consulting Smart can offer your club and the financial & operational benefits that can be realised contact sbeecroft@consultingsmart.co.uk

END

Note to Editors

Consulting Smart Ltd is a privately owned company established in 2006, working mainly with Local Authorities, Holiday Villages, Schools and Universities dwsigning and implementing multi-application multi-supplier smart card schemes.

Cashless Stadia Survey

Consulting Smart Ltd are conducting a short survey about football stadia on behalf of a client.

The survey is just 5 questions mostly multiple choice and will only take 2-3 minutes to complete. It is also completely anonymous but if you do choose to provide your email address in the last question it will only be used for the purpose of updating you on the survey result.

The survey can be found at http://www.eSurveysPro.com/Survey.aspx?id=b13e688c-281b-401a-8b97-a5453a2d88d0

We hope that you can find the time to help us and complete this survey which could help select the type of technologies you will see in Football stadia all over Europe in the coming years

Thank you in advance