NTT Communications Begin Their Gyazapo Reward Card System in Japan

Japan is a reward point card wonderland, most shops have a system for reward stuff heavy users, and you can save some bucks… The major problem with the point card system (that stores read with an optical pen), is the huge number of them, and this morning NTT Communications came up with a life saving solution, Gyazapo.

Thanks to the Felica, the electronic wallet installed in many mobiles phones or cards, you can register up to 100 reward point cards (almost 100 different store reward cards) and use your mobile phone to handle all of them for you.

When one or more of these cards are in your mobile phone, you only have to present your phone to the cashier that will display your bar code on LCD that the cashier will read with an optical pen and either deduct or add points to your card…

Today was the first trial of this system with a inaugural launch at BicCamera.

System Combines Reward Cards into Single Mobile Phone

TOKYO, JAPAN - NTT Communications Corporation (NTT Com) announced today the development of a system that can securely integrate the reward cards of more than 100 retailers into a single mobile phone. Users can easily register, access or overwrite membership and loyalty data just by waving their mobile phone, equipped with a contactless IC chip, over a terminal in a retail shop.

The system, named "Gyazapo" (pronounced "gah-zah-poh"), frees users from carrying and searching through multiple rewards cards while shopping. By simply waving their phone over the terminal, they can enjoy the convenience and benefits of shopping with membership services, including customer rewards and discounts.

Gyazapo is also a green system that helps to save natural resources by eliminating the need for traditional plastic cards.

Key-Shuttle (Japanese and international patents pending) is the NTT Com-developed technology that integrates the information in the phone. Once a dedicated application is downloaded into the phone, Key-Shuttle enables loyalty points, ID photos and other membership information of multiple retailers to be registered under a single platform.

The system includes features for security and privacy, such as unauthorized access detection and user-required permission before a retailer can share membership information with other retailers. Reward cards registered in Gyazapo are more difficult to duplicate or falsify than traditional plastic cards, making this a more secure system for loyalty programs.

NTT Com will test the Gyazapo system in a trial from February to June 2009. Participants will include major Japanese retailers Bic Camera Inc., Nojima Corporation and Runsystem Co., Ltd. click source