/* ---- Google Analytics Code Below */

Thursday, December 06, 2012

Midsize Loyalty Biometrics For Retail

I have been looking at both engaging and value adding  plays for the midsize business in loyalty systems.    I was pointed by the IBM Midsize group to the work by the 355 year old German clothing fashion retail firm Gewandhaus Gruber to their use of a biometric, fingerprint method for identifying, engaging and converting customers.     See their explanatory video here,  in German, with English subtitles.

We had done some work in understanding a number of biometric methods of consumer identification, including fingerprints.   We were particularly interested in how the North American consumer would react to the fingerprint ID method.  We were not interested in loyalty systems at the time, but rather in the actual reaction of the consumer to a method associated with police work.

The article is interesting in position the method and the data gathered for promotion and rewards recognition.   " ... The company's latest innovation is a customer rewards program that uses fingerprint technology to distribute savings and rewards. Customers scan their finger at the register to pay for their purchases without cards or cash, plus they instantly earn loyalty points and discounts.... " 

Instructive read and I am looking at this further.

This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines  of a smarter planet. More here.  

No comments: