First Data Introduces New Beacon Technology to Enhance Mobile Loyalty

10/27/2014
First Data has enhanced the Perka mobile loyalty solution with the Perka beacon, a small, low-powered device that communicates wirelessly with the Perka app, enabling increased customer engagement and a faster, more personalized retail experience.
 
The Perka solution enables even the smallest store to design a customized marketing and loyalty program. The Perka beacon is now an important component of the Perka solution and puts a professional-grade, presence-detecting technology directly into the hands of thousands of unique local merchants. These merchants will have the ability to check-in customers as soon as they walk in the door and create a smoother, faster experience inside their stores.
 
Once Perka merchants place the beacon near the store entrance or point of sale, they can sync the beacon with their Perka mobile loyalty program within minutes. Powered by Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communications technology, the Perka beacon wirelessly checks customers into stores automatically as soon as they are within range of the beacon (typically about 50 feet). Customers no longer need to launch the Perka app on their smart phones, allowing merchants to instantly greet their customers by name and award perks for confirmed purchases.
 
Beacons: A Driving Force in the Future of Retail
According to Business Insider’s BI Intelligence report, only three percent of retailers have customer recognition technology in place today.  But that number is expected to skyrocket to 72 percent within five years, especially among large retailers.
 
Continuing First Data’s five-decade tradition of providing secure transactions for merchants and customers around the globe, the Perka beacon is among the first in the industry to use rolling-code technology, which provides an encrypted check-in each time the customer enters the store.  This feature makes it much harder for malicious hacking and spoofing activity to occur.
 
The Perka beacon supports both Apple iOS and Google Android mobile devices. All current Perka subscribers will receive a free beacon, and all new subscribers will receive a beacon in their activation kit when they sign up.
 
Perka operates loyalty programs for businesses ranging from neighborhood coffee shops to ultra-modern retailers and supports merchants across the U.S. and the United Kingdom.
 
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