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18th July 2011

RewardLoop Expands Transaction-Based Restaurant and Retail Loyalty Programs

RewardLoopVancouver’s RewardLoop has announced a universal Point of Sale (POS) adaptor that enables restaurants and retailers of any size to simply and cost-efficiently deploy a secure, transaction-based mobile loyalty program. The patent-pending RewardLoop Connect adaptor connects easily to merchants’ existing Point of Sale (POS) systems and can be set up in minutes.

RewardLoop is also pleased to announce it has recently closed a seed financing round led by Canadian angel investor Boris Wertz (W Media Ventures) with the participation of prominent executives from leading online and offline retailers.

RewardLoop’s turnkey mobile loyalty programs are ideal for independent and chain merchants alike, including coffee shops, restaurants, retailers, local service providers, and other high purchase volume – frequency categories. RewardLoop differentiates itself from an ever-growing number of mobile ‘check-in’ -based loyalty programs by offering a first-of-its-kind transaction-based mobile loyalty platform that offers a level of security comparable to traditional card-based programs.

“For a mobile loyalty program to deliver value and be successful in our business, it needs to be transactional and secure. RewardLoop is the only solution we’ve seen that meets these criteria,” said Tim Kraus, Interactive Marketing Manager at Quiznos USA.

Through its RewardLoop Connect device, RewardLoop prints transaction-identifying QR codes on merchant bills and receipts. Consumers scan these secure, one-time-use QR codes with their mobile phones to earn and redeem merchant-defined loyalty rewards through RewardLoop’s cloud hosted platform. RewardLoop’s mobile-rendered stamp cards show users their earning progress towards each reward.

With its groundbreaking innovation, RewardLoop Connect is a device that sits between the merchant’s POS system and receipt printer. It intercepts the print data stream, adds a RewardLoop QR code, and then passes the print command to the printer. The printer prints the receipt exactly as delivered from the POS system, but inserts an extra footer that includes the merchant’s secure, one-time-use, RewardLoop QR codes. The device also prints QR codes for secure reward validation and redemption. When these codes are scanned by a customer the customer is delivered to a hosted, merchant-branded mobile application optimized for the user’s mobile phone.

RewardLoop Connect is universally compatible with the world’s leading POS platforms. “The universal compatibility of RewardLoop Connect across a deeply fragmented global POS ecosystem is nothing short of groundbreaking,” says RewardLoop CTO, Jeff LaPorte. “This innovation provides unmatched reach across the merchant landscape for rapid scalability of our merchant network by RewardLoop and its strategic partners.” RewardLoop is ‘plug & play’ compatible with any POS system that prints to Epson or Epson-compatible receipt printers, which comprise an estimated 85% of the worldwide receipt printer market.

In addition to QR code-based consumer transactions, RewardLoop Connect has been designed with ports for Near Field Communications (NFC) scanners that will be enabled when market penetration of NFC-enabled devices reaches a tipping point. “We view QR codes as a strategic, transitional technology between physical cards and NFC,” says RewardLoop CEO, Nigel Malkin, “Those who leverage QR code-based technologies to mass-transition their users onto mobile phones today, will have a strategic advantage in winning the NFC races of tomorrow.”

In contrast to new mobile merchant offerings billing themselves as replacements for legacy POS systems, RewardLoop Connect has been designed to secure the role of POS platforms in the payments ecosystem. RewardLoop Connect enhances the value and relevance of existing POS infrastructure while helping POS platforms accelerate their evolution into mobile.

Forward-thinking POS platform vendors and service providers are readying to distribute the device. “The POS industry is embracing the RewardLoop Connect device and platform as a simple way to accelerate their evolution into mobile under a common set of standards,” says Malkin. For merchants whose POS vendors or service providers are slow in adopting the new standard, merchants can easily self-deploy RewardLoop Connect in a matter of minutes.”

RewardLoop Connect devices will be available exclusively on a rental basis for $19.95 per month. As a special introductory offer, merchants who order their RewardLoop Connect units on, or before July 31, 2011 will have their monthly RewardLoop Connect device rental fees waived for 6 months. Merchants can try out the benefits of RewardLoop for free for up to 50 customers before transitioning to RewardLoop’s performance-based pricing model.

Beyond the company’s core focus on secure, transaction-based mobile loyalty programs, the RewardLoop Connect network, device and intellectual property (IP) have been designed to solve challenges faced by several parallel industries. These solutions and IP are available under license to market-leaders in these industries.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 18th, 2011 at 9:42 am and is filed under Business News, National News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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