Article

Rewarding loyalty at the touch of a screen at Meadowlands

For the past three months, four kiosks from Pearlson Development Corp. have been available to frequent customers.

January 29, 2004

Patrons of the Meadowlands Racetrack in New Jersey have a fast, new way to earn rewards for their loyalty.

For the past three months, four kiosks from Pearlson Development Corporation have been available to frequent customers, according to Connie Knapp, player development manager for the Meadowlands.

"There is a touchscreen with a message prompting them to touch to begin. They swipe their Big M club cards, enter a PIN and receive a number of choices," she said. These include betting vouchers, programs, daily racing forms, and special seating in the tele-theater. Soon, hosted dining will be linked to the system.

Before the kiosks were in place, customers had to go to the customer service center to redeem loyalty points. They had to talk with a customer-service representative and show a form of identification. Often, Knapp said, there were lines of customers waiting to talk with a human. With the kiosk and secure network, customers need no more than the Big M club card and their PIN.

"The kiosks make things much faster for our guests, and we've been able to cut back a little on the number of employees needed each day," said Knapp.

Meadowlands Racetrack loyalty kiosk

Nuts and bolts

The Meadowlands deployment comprises Pearlson's Treeosk(TM) Model TR-23. According to Pearlson Chief Executive Officer Douglas Pearlson, the Treeosk is the first modular kiosk design that can be re-assembled into a sit-down or various stand-up configurations. Similar to other models in the Treeosk family, this model shares a very small 17-by-21-inch footprint.

The base price of the stand-up version Treeosk Model TR-23 is $1,745, according to Pearlson. The company's "Just Add Content" kiosk bundle starts at $4,300 with a network-ready, multimedia, touchscreen system.

The Meadowlands is not the only establishment using the new kiosk. Pearlson said the kiosk is also used for HR applications at Capsugel, a division of pharmaceutical company, Pfizer; and at Eastern Maine Medical Center. Pearlson deployed a loyalty program application for The Philadelphia Park Player Rewards program.

SmartButton Associates has developed the loyalty program application. Not only does the kiosk software keep track of loyalty points, but it also builds a database of customer demographics to help companies learn more about the makeup of their main audiences and their purchasing behavior.

Tracking fans

Pearlson pointed out that there is much more to customer-loyalty programs than making visits more fun and convenient for customers. There is a real business strategy to this data, according to SmartButton.

Companies cannot market to their fans unless they understand them. A rewards or loyalty program can:

• Increase revenue
  
• Fill empty seats
  
• Turn periodic event goers into season ticketholders
  
• Bring back lapsed fans
  
• Customize targets promotions
  
• Sell more merchandise
  
• Build fan loyalty
  
• Entice corporate sponsors to commit to event sponsorships
  
• Forecasts ROI for the technology

Printer power

A highly reliable kiosk printer is essential to printing out data and customer receipts in such as system.

The new Treeosk units feature small-footprint thermal printers from Swecoin US Inc. Pearlson selected Swecoin's TTP70x0 and TTP8200 thermal printers for the Treeosk models.

The thermal printers use a with 4-inch wide media to securely print out loyalty coupons.

Elaine Bresnick, vice president of sales and marketing at Swecoin US Inc., said, "Pearlson has now implemented several of our printers into their kiosks. The Meadowlands is the first end user to benefit from the integration."

Bresnick said she is excited by the possibilities of being a Pearlson partner. "They are one of the granddaddies of this business. It's a real sign of support that they've chosen us for the Meadowlands deployment."

[Editor's note: Info Touch Technologies became Tio Networks in April 2006.]