The Cell Phone As Loyalty Card
by Joshua Tretakoff | VP, Account Management
In the “I wish it were here, but it’s only in Japan” front, NTT, Japan’s dominant cellphone service provider, has announced a service that puts over 100 different retailer’s loyalty cards on the cell phone. No more wallet problems; instead, the cell phone has an application that stores all of the key loyalty card info, and communicates via a contactless system:
“Key-Shuttle (for which Japanese and international patents are currently pending) is the NTT Com-developed technology that integrates the information in the phone. Once a dedicated application is downloaded into the phone, Key-Shuttle enables loyalty points, ID photos and other membership information of multiple retailers to be registered under a single platform.
The system includes features for security and privacy, such as unauthorised access detection and user-required permission before a retailer can share membership information with other retailers. Reward cards registered in Gyazapo are more difficult to duplicate or falsify than traditional plastic cards, making this a more secure system for loyalty programmes.”
