IPhone app could replace plastic loyalty cards
A new iPhone application has been launched by Wirelesspark, allowing members of loyalty programmes to have their membership cards stored on their mobile phone instead of taking up space in their wallet.
Recent research in the loyalty market has shown that an average customer in the US keeps between 5 and 7 loyalty cards in his wallet, while European customers participate in an average of 4 card-based loyalty programmes. In both cases, the space available for plastic cards in the consumer's wallet is limited.
The new 'Cards on Mobile' application is Web 2.0 based, and initially covers more than 300 loyalty programmes from around the world. The application uses the mobile phone to display a almost visually identical version of the original loyalty card, fully personalised with the cardholder's name and membership number. It also displays the most common barcode formats, including EAN13, EAN8, UPCA, UPCE and QR Code.
The key advantages for loyalty programme members are that:
- They can keep less plastic in their wallet;
- Their loyalty cards always available;
- Points earning opportunities are maximised by the card's permanent availability.
The Cards on Mobile application allows access to more than 300 large scale loyalty programmes covering America, Europe and Asia. Being an open platform, all users are invited to co-create the application's built-in library of loyalty cards and, with the help of its growing user community, Wirelesspark hopes to cover some 1,000 loyalty programmes worldwide by the end of 2010.
The application gives users access to any 2 cards for free, while a premium paid-for version (costing US$5.99 per year) allows them to add more loyalty cards. The launch promotion (up until 23rd July 2010) offers all users a 1 year premium subscription for only US$0.99.
During the four weeks leading up to its launch, the beta test version of the application was downloaded more than 500 times, with the most interest being shown in America (40% of the downloads), Europe (30%) and Asia/Oceania (30%).
"This is a winning applicaiton for loyalty programme members who don't want to leave cards at home due to limited space in their wallets," said Luca Paioni, CEO for Wirelesspark.
Interestingly, from Q3 2010, the Cards on Mobile application will also be made available to the B2B channel, allowing loyalty programme providers to directly offer mobile cards to their members with minimal production and distribution costs, and to make use of additional promotional features offered by the platform.
Sources: Wirelesspark / The Marketing Factbook.
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