Japanese media and retail behemoth Tsutaya has a well-known loyalty program with over 35 million members. Shoppers can earn “T Points” at any of the over 46,000 participating retailers and redeem them for an equally diverse array of rewards. Recently, they added a new variety of retailer to the mix: Kirin beverage vending machines. Thirsty patrons need only swipe their loyalty cards when they buy a drink to earn points.
Vending machine loyalty programs have been done before, but hooking them up to a larger network is definitely new news. It seems there is no end in sight for loyalty programs, and it will be interesting to see what opportunities emerging technologies such as NFC could allow in the future for this space.
Contributed by Integer Asia-Pacific
Photo source: ubergizmo
