Japan’s M-Payment Players Discover That Points Count

www.consultingsmart.co.uk

By

Dan Balaban

Without points programs, coupons and other incentives, mass adoption of contactless-mobile payment will not happen in Japan.

That’s one of the main conclusions of a report released Monday by U.S.-based research and consulting firm Celent on Japan’s contactless-wallet rollout.

According to veteran Japan-watcher Red Gillen, author of the report, major backers of the contactless-mobile payment rollout in Japan, including dominant telco NTT DoCoMo, acknowledge they should have emphasized promotions and other reward programs a lot earlier than they did.

“Payments are a commodity; they (consumers) want points,” Gillen told NFC Times. “If it weren’t for points or promotions, adoption would be drastically lower.”

Moreover, Japanese merchants haven’t been “particularly interested in......to read the full report 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

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

Football Clubs and Councils Collaborate with Smartcards

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

Part 1 of 8

BACKGROUND
Our fan, Sam, is a typical family man looking to improve his future prospects. He is thirtysomething and married with two young children. He lives with his family in rented accommodation with the local council appointed housing association. He works full time 9-5 with the local council as HR officer and is also a part-time mature student studying Business Management two evenings per week.

Sam goes to almost every home game and around 5 away games per season, but he is not a season ticket holder, he cant afford the one off cost and does not know about the budget plan payment terms. He usually meets friend before home games at a local pub as he believes it is too expensive to eat and drink in the stadium.

Sam Has a “Residents and Supporters” smart card issued by the local football club but as a Joint venture with the local council. The card is a Football Club Membership Card with a closed purse for use in the stadium and the club shop in the town centre. It also has a Europay / MasterCard / Visa (EMV) payment and is Local Authority Smart card Standards e-Organisation (LASSeO) & Integrated Transport Standards Organisation (ITSO) compliant, so it can be used to gain access to council provided services and on local transport. The card has also been developed and encoded in accordance with the emerging Football Association standards for smartcard technology in stadia.

MONDAY
Sam logs on to www.yourfootballclub.co.uk and checks the fixtures for the coming month, decides to purchase two tickets for tomorrow nights cup game, he will take a friend from work who has never been before. Sam keys in his “Residents and Supporters” card number into the purchase screen. Sam then chooses to pay for the ticket with the EMV payment. Once the purchase is complete Sam check his Loyalty points balance and it have increased by 200 one for each ticket. Then he chooses the “print at home” option and prints both barcoded tickets, then sets off for work.

The bus arrives and Sam gets on and presents his “Residents and Supporters” card, which stores his ITSO compliant monthly bus ticket to the reader.

On arrival at work Sam presents his “Residents and Supporters” card to the access control reader at his office building to open the door, because the card is Sam’s staff pass it allows him access to his office and it also has his photo on it. At lunch time Sam is busy so decides to have something quick at the staff restaurant. Most of the staff have council issued cards for Access ID and to pay for food but Sam’s can use his “Residents and Supporters” card in the staff restaurants of which there are three across the whole council. The e-purse used in the council restaurants, unlike the prepay e-purse used in the football club, is not part of the loyalty programme at all and thus Sam’s spending in any on the three restaurants do not accrue any loyalty points. However both e-purses reside on the “Residents and Supporters” card.

At 17:00 Sam leave the office and travels home on the bus again using his “Residents and Supporters” card, which stores his ITSO compliant monthly bus ticket.

Monday is one of Sam’s two nights at college so Sam drives to the football club where the course is being held in the conference facilities. 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. 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 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. (9)

Part 2 of 8 due very soon

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.