Comments on: Swipely hits its stride combining payments, analytics and loyalty http://gigaom.com/2012/12/17/swipely-hits-its-stride-combining-payments-analytics-and-loyalty/ Sun, 19 May 2013 12:42:28 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Chip Hotle http://gigaom.com/2012/12/17/swipely-hits-its-stride-combining-payments-analytics-and-loyalty/#comment-1268491 Wed, 19 Dec 2012 18:24:17 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=595385#comment-1268491 That image is false. It’s clear he got a $4 cash back, and yet the “cash back” portion of the loyalty progress on the right is not checked.

]]> By: Amanda MacArthur http://gigaom.com/2012/12/17/swipely-hits-its-stride-combining-payments-analytics-and-loyalty/#comment-1268475 Wed, 19 Dec 2012 18:13:18 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=595385#comment-1268475 Awesome service for small businesses who otherwise can’t afford big data. Seems like a no-brainer when you could use a payment processor who gives you nothing, or a payment processor that gives you data.

]]> By: Thomas Bass http://gigaom.com/2012/12/17/swipely-hits-its-stride-combining-payments-analytics-and-loyalty/#comment-1266928 Tue, 18 Dec 2012 23:56:36 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=595385#comment-1266928 Most of the information that swipely is giving the retailer should be coming from the POS. Not sure what POS these retailers are using but the analytics coming from modern POS software will be much more helpful to the retailer and will give the retailer the information that the above comment mentions like profit from customer. Any retailer looking at swipely should be looking at upgrading their POS to something like NCR Silver.

]]> By: Anttila Store http://gigaom.com/2012/12/17/swipely-hits-its-stride-combining-payments-analytics-and-loyalty/#comment-1264775 Tue, 18 Dec 2012 06:06:57 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=595385#comment-1264775 Sounds like United MileagePlus Dining, only instead of miles for airline trips, people get discounts for items they’ve already decided to buy, and are at the cash register to purchase.

Anyways, I don’t know. Asking for information about my customers from a credit card processor is like going to my business banker and asking him the same thing. He’ll tell me how much money I have in the accounts, maybe the checks that cleared instead.

I guess an additional unintended discount at a store I go to frequently is ok. I’ll never turn it down.

Also, what happens if I don’t like my MasterCard or have several credit card accounts? Seems pretty scary.

The issue is that Swipely only tells you how much they’ve spent, and not how much profit you’ve made or if that customer is limiting themselves to buying loss-leaders in your store.

I know people who go to BestBuy every week to get the new video releases. They’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars on videos, are BestBuy Rewards Members, and BestBuy always looses money when they walk in the door. They buy their electronics from Amazon.

They used to buy actual products at BestBuy, and joke that they were keeping BestBuy in Business. Well, then they found Amazon, and now they have money left over to buy two copies of the new-release videos.

I guess the point is this- the customer already committed to buy it. They know what your charging their card, and if the credit card processor is setup to apply a discount, it better make sure the transaction is still turning a profit. Otherwise, saying “Hey Wait, Visa says you get a discount” is probably how this system works, and the customer then appreciates Visa.

I guess the point is that 200 sales of a $10 item with a 50¢ profit is a $100 profit over the customer lifetime.

One sale of a $500 item with a $300 profit is a more valuable customer, but you can’t figure that out based on gross receipts, and if you forget to get the customer’s email address you can’t get them back into the store.

Also, what exactly do I tell a customer when he’s standing there to get a picture of him similar to the mockup? I think saying “Swipely, my credit card company, wants your picture” is a little creepy. I really doubt they’d return.

]]>