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by fookyong
5062 days ago
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This looks a lot different to the others out there. Most of the startups you mentioned are trying to retrofit the loyalty card paradigm to smartphones. I'm not sure that's the right approach - time will tell. It looks like FiveStar simply works with a business' existing POS / magnetic scanner - and is enhanced by social / mobile. I think that's a smarter, more frictionless approach. The winner in this space will be the one that's easiest for a business to integrate. Both on a technical level via integrating with POS systems but on a human interaction level: if you're Starbucks you can't tell 17,000 stores that they have to faff with iPhones every time a customer wants to stamp their card. |
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One thing though about Level up. It sits right on the counter and is a big ad for Level up. The reason I know about Level Up (don't use it just mentioning) is that I walked into the local coffee shop one day (in the middle of nowhere) and it was sitting plop on the counter with a smartphone lighted up in a cool color. It totally got my attention. So there is at least some value to that hardware in that it gets you "counter space" to promote Level Up.. That's not the same as a door label or cash register label (which is flat and doesn't really stand out much) which Five Stars will probably use. Of course nothing to prevent them from offering a gizmo to do a similar thing if they want (are you listening Five Stars?)