Coupon Nation
NACS Show tech wrap up: Mobile payments, loyalty
By Angel Abcede
CSP Daily News | October 22, 2011
CHICAGO -- As technology becomes more accessible in terms of price and capability, suppliers on the trade show floor at the NACS convention earlier this month were focusing on helping retailers access their sales data, spot meaningful trends and entice customers with relevant promotions and loyalty offers.
That's not to say data mining and business intelligence ruled the floor. Mobile payment concepts, ads flashing atop cooler doors and "line-busting" point-of-sale (POS) handheld devices were also making impressive statements.
Regarding loyalty offers, Catalina Marketing, Chicago, along with Outsite Networks, Norfolk, Va., is coming to retailers with a system that produces coupons to customers based on their buying habits. The strategy is to offer retailers the "plug-and-play" devices for free, but approaching the larger chains in its initial push.
Darren Moss, vice president of c-store marketing for Catalina, said initial tests have shown higher-than-average redemption rates, volume lifts in brands promoted and no slow down in the payment process. Anton Bakker, president and CEO of Outsite, said the system has benefits for manufacturers too. Now that the partnership has provided scale, Bakker said they can offer manufacturers branded loyalty programs tied to their signature products.
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