Imagine retail customers no longer fumbling at a billing queue to drag out a crushed (or even half-torn) discount coupon, or a sale notice. Instead, visualize the same customers handing their iPhone or Android smartphones over to the store clerk to scan their new Digital Pass! That is no longer a sci-fi element, because the technology is here and now.

Now, a retail customer can be informed of a new location of his favorite store, the offers available, special events and sale timings. And to avail a sale voucher, the customer only needs to show the Pass at the billing counter, where the store clerk can scan the bar-code and process the offer. Technology has made the entire transaction, the whole process in fact, that much simpler, personal, engaging and efficient!

With this advancement, people can save information of their favorite offers or special sales, or get digital discount Passes on their phones . Passes and Passbook are, arguably, the next step in evolution of customer outreach.

Additionally, there is an option for retailers to send an image of the pass that the customers are receiving. The latter can get them via email, SMS, MMS, the web, social media, an app, and as QR codes (using the built-in Passbook scanning app).

Historically, Apple first introduced the concept of Digital Passes in 2012. Passbook is an application in iOS that allows users to store coupons, boarding passes, event tickets, store cards as well as financial information.

How Passes Work?

The Passbook displays Aztec, PDF417 and QR 2D barcodes, which can be triggered by location, localization, and the time of pass (validity). Being a Digital Pass, up to 10 locations can be added to each Pass, as in once a customer stores a Pass in his iPhone/Android Passbook, a location is programmed via GPS coordinates and/or iBeacon UUID. And another advantage of being digital is that up to 35 languages can be stored per Pass.

The 2D barcode in Passes can easily be recognized by a terminal POS barcode scanner, thereby removing the need to issue (and lug around) traditional passes. Going local to woo customers was never so easy!

Changes/modifications in the Pass can be pushed via the Apple Push Notification Service by the pass provider, or manually updated by the user themselves.

Geo-fencing feature in iVend Passes

iVend Passes utilizes the geo-fencing feature to specify different retail store locations. They can specify different stores coordinates while designing the template of the digital passes (it can be a gift card, coupon, or a loyalty card). The tagging of stores on the Digital Passes ensures a notification is received on the customer’s locked phone as soon as he reaches the vicinity of stores tagged in the digital Pass.

Besides the ‘valid-until’ dates of coupons, points and currency balance in Loyalty and Gift Cards are some more notifications that a customer can receive on his/ her phone.

So, what does the customer get out of this? He/she doesn’t have to check the validity on the Passes anymore. The Passbook feature automatically remind the phone owner when the due-date is near. When the customer is near a store, the relevant Pass will automatically put itself on the notification panel. So, the customer actually gets to enjoy the many benefits extended by the retailer.

The edge in going Digital

The information given above outlines what the customer gets out of iVend Passes. And in usual cases, the retailer is content with making it easier to reach out to the customer. But with Passes, there is a whole host of information that can be gleaned out of this avenue.

For one, the retailer gets comprehensive dashboards. A density map allows the analysis of the highest concentrations of Passes and where they are/have being used. That also gives the retailer an idea of where is the highest concentration of his customers. Plus, the iVend Dashboards can be configured to see the Usage Ratios. The management can see graphic evaluations to measure their Return on Investment (ROI). The retailer can see who has viewed their enterprise’s Passes, who has opened, redeemed or deleted their Passes. And this is all possible in real-time.

Integration Woes- No More!

So now, many retailers have installed third-party loyalty and Passes applications on top of their legacy software systems. In some cases, the sales till gets a new machine, adding to the clutter. And even then, there is no guarantee that the separate software can ‘talk’ to each other, easing hassles for the store employees and customers alike.

With the iVend Enterprise Retail Suite, a retailer can go beyond installation and integration issues. The Passes application is one of the complementary application in the software suite, and provides unmatched performance, safety, utility and data for the retailer.

iVend Passes is a platform for retailers to deploy Digital Passes on Apple Passbook, and Android devices as well. This gives retailers a cost-effective, long-lasting solution to engage customers with a digital Loyalty Card, digital Coupon or a digital Gift Card. It is a cloud-based application integrates seamlessly with iVend Enterprise Retail Suite to empower retailers to use the service at their point of sales, whether they be terminal or

Then, with iVend Retail, it becomes as easy as anything to design Passes, using the template designer to layout the design for a gift card, coupon or a loyalty card. The Email Designer enables the sending of customized email messages, along with your Passes.

And of course, customers would prefer the ‘greener’ version of retailer rewards, wouldn’t they?