soulcreation

Image by joelogon via Flickr

First. We Belgians adore coupons and loyalty cards. Almost every inhabitant in Belgium has at least 3 or more cards. Not even to mention the coupons we receive by daily mail, tens or hundreds.

So the other day when I had to visit several stores – stores or gas stations I very often frequent – I thought about taking my loyalty cards. Normally I keep them in the car or in my wallet but I left them at home on the cupboard. But it made me think while I was driving to get my things.

Why can’t we have just 1 card?
I agree when people say that 1 card can’t be brand related, do not have the corporate identity printed on it. But who cares? Once you collect your points, an text message can, for example be sent, thanking the person for his purchase. Or send an e-mail with an overview of the collected points (some already do). Or like most of the stores have a myStore section in which you can customize settings and get an overview of your recent purchases and collected points.

How is this technically possible?
RFID? Bar code?
Maybe it already exists but wouldn’t it be a great opportunity to have a solution like OpenID which has a solution for single sign-on purposes. Why can’t this idea be used? On ID per person to collect loyalty points and have the opportunity to send targeted coupons (coupons that will be used). This way users can easily connect to a store, a brand or service for which he wants to collect his valuable points. This shouldn’t be hard to accomplish, is it?

YOOSE
Via some stumbling and going from profile to profile on Twitter I came across YOOSE. YOOSE has a mobile solution to collect loyalty points and coupons. I think this is a great solution. Only will not every one be able to use this service unless MMS would become suddenly very popular I guess. Else a PDA with extra features such as an internet connection would be essential to get your lists from an online service (a service such as the great Evernote). Then again 3G is very expensive in Belgium. Surrounding countries are manageable. But in-store free WIFI can be made available at low cost to get your coupons, shopping lists and send and get your loyalty points.

Then again, I think this could work. Here I have my ‘1 loyalty card’ solution. All available on my mobile which I carry along at all times. YOOSE is still in under development and I even don’t know when and where they will launch.