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NTT Communications Corporation (NTT Com) has developed 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. In addition, Gyazapo has a "Green" ecological element: it helps to save natural resources by eliminating the need for multiple traditional plastic cards.
Key-Shuttle (for which Japanese and international patents are currently 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 unauthorised 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 programmes.
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.
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