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E: enquiries@ackltd.co.uk
ACK News
Sharing pinPAD's
Roving PinPAD, many to few
A new feature added to the ACK product range allowing a single pinPAD to be shared between many tills or a single till being accessed by many pinPAD's. Great for use in applications where the transaction numbers are low but the sale value high or perhaps the reverse scenario in hospitality sites where a single till could support a number of pinPAD’s distributed around table waiting staff for example.
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Don't touch, contactless is on its way >More
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ACK work with The Works >More
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IFSF standard now supported for simple integration in fuel forecourt
market >More
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Windows CE support announced for ACKTerm >More
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Musgrave Group switch to ACK >More
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IP Connectivity, the ACK view
Increasing numbers of Merchants are now looking to take advantage of their investment in broadband technology. Adding EFT to this investment can pay dividends in speed and running costs. >More
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ACKnowledge
Our regular newsletter with updates on ACK and industry information. >More
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ACK work in partnership with Smart Voucher to bring gift and loyalty card solutions to the retail community
Even during development the Smart Voucher Payment Solution was recognised as having much broader business applications than initially envisaged, extending well beyond the gifting market and into the wider areas of money transmission and information gathering. A solution suitable for a variety of markets, providing a unique and flexible platform that allows the creation, purchase and redemption of your Smart Voucher supported products both at retail outlets and online stores - all in real time.
Gift Cards
Smart Voucher provides the plastic card replacement for the traditional paper gift voucher scheme.
Client Benefits
Drive increased sales from a more openly merchandised and displayed product. These cards have no value until they are presented for ‘loading’ and can therefore be displayed around the store at any location.
Proven to increase gift scheme turnover. The retailer benefits from a large float value; typically 6 weeks on average pass between purchase and redemption. This brings the obvious cash flow benefits to the retailer since they have in effect received cash for goods they have yet to supply.
Unspent value remains on the card locking value into the scheme. Any purchase for less than the full value originally placed against the card remains within the retailers accounts
Expiry dates can be used to increase breakage, the unredeemed value on a card. Gift card schemes can have an expiry date after which the consumer loses any value remaining on the card.
Secure dispatch, ongoing distribution, in store logistics and destruction costs are mitigated. The old, paper based gift voucher system is like handing out cash, all be it that it can only be spent in one store. With the ACK Smart Voucher system the gift cards themselves have no value and can therefore be distributed to stores as with any other product. When the gift card is redeemed there are no paper vouchers to be destroyed.
How it works
The Smart Voucher cards are held in the store and have no value recorded against them until the consumer is ready to purchase. At the time of purchase a ‘blank’ gift card is ‘loaded’ with the value. What actually happens is each card has a unique account number loaded at time of purchase of the cards by the retailer. When a consumer purchases a gift card to a give value, this can be fixed or variable, the transaction is entered on the EPoS system and the ‘blank’ card read through the existing credit card mag stripe reader. These two pieces of information are then passed onwards to the ACK gift card module which will running alongside the existing ACK credit and debit card application. Details of the account number from the card and value to be allocated against that number are then communicated through to the Smart Voucher host for registration. Note that the card holds no record of the value added, only by presenting the account number stored on the card, via the ACK gift card module, to the Smart Voucher host can the value be obtained.
When it comes to redemption the gift card is used in much the same way as a credit card. The sale is made and recorded on the EPoS system, the gift card is offered in payment. The card is then swiped through the mag stripe reader and a connection is made to Smart Voucher. At this point the value of the transaction is deducted from the account and the remaining balance details are relayed back to the EPoS application for printing out on the receipt.
Loyalty, Promotions, Tokens and Coupons
The Smart Voucher system as you will now understand from the above is not based on cash passing into their system. The ‘value’ placed on a Smart Voucher card can be points or a promotional voucher to a given value. In this way customers can be rewarded with points for loyalty, increasing footfall numbers and return or preloaded cards can be sent for redemption against a specific promotion. It is also possible to use the Smart Voucher system based on paper based vouchers using bar code or keyed number entry.
How it works
In the same way as with gift cards. The EPoS system allocates points or whatever other value type against the sale. The card details are read and the Smart Voucher host updated accordingly. Depending on the scheme these points could for example be used by the merchant in issuing paper passed vouchers based on points recorded. Alternatively in store promotions could be set up to redeem the points against special purchases. The key is that whether you call them Pounds or points to the Smart Voucher system it’s just a digit and can therefore be used in any fashion.
What’s the cost?
In addition to the ACK Gift Card module per PoS, which is a one time
only payment, the retailer needs to purchase a quantity of cards with
the appropriate over printing. The cost of each card can be as low as
10p. The cost of running the scheme are then based on a fee per
transaction. These fees are volume based and range from 5p to 8p.