Near Field Communications World » Ergosum

NFC city pilot to go live in Nice on 21 May under ‘Cityzi’ banner

Sarah Clark — Fri, 14 May 2010 08:38:16 +0000

France's mobile network operators and banks, along with Visa and MasterCard, the local transport operator, the city council and others will take part in Europe's first pre-commercial NFC pilot — which will be identified by the new Cityzi brand.

CITYZI: The new brand name for NFC services in France

The pre-commercial NFC pilot in Nice, first announced in June 2009, is to officially launch on Friday 21 May. The project, coordinated by the Association Française pour le Sans Contact Mobile (AFSCM), brings together mobile network operators Orange, Bouygues Télécom and SFR plus the Nice region's public transport operator Veolia, French banks Crédit Mutuel, Société Générale and BNP Paribas, the Nice city council and others in a bid to discover how French businesses and consumers will react to the availability of a real-world NFC service.

The pre-commercial pilot is going ahead without a firm plan for how revenues and costs would be split between the players in a future commercial rollout. It is hoped, however, that the information gathered during the pilot — on the popularity of the services offered to consumers in particular — will provide the partners with the information needed to work together to develop a long-term business model.

Extensive field trials of near field communication technology have been taking place in France for a number of years. The difference with the Nice pilot is that it will see NFC phones going on sale to the general public for the first time.

A second key difference is that the AFSCM has put substantial resources into creating the consumer and business proposition for NFC services — to the point that the term 'NFC' will not actually be used at all.

Instead, the service will be marketed under the Cityzi brand name. A comprehensive set of technical specifications, built around the concept of an open platform, have been published and a detailed marketing pack, including a set of Cityzi logos that will be used to indicate the availability of standards-compliant services, has been produced for businesses wishing to offer services.

Four logos are available in all:

A logo which shows a service or a contactless mobile device is compatible with AFSCM specifications.

A 'ici Cityzi' ('Cityzi here') logo displayed prominently — in doorways and on cashtills, in the same way as card acceptance logos — in all places where Cityzi services can be used.

A target mark, to show consumers where to hold their device when interacting with a Cityzi service via a poster, billboard or other NFC-enabled object.

An icon displayed on the consumer's mobile device, allowing quick access to the list of Cityzi applications stored on the handset.

A dedicated consumer-facing website, Cityzi.fr, has also been put together which explains the services on offer in clear, simple language. To make the offer as easy to understand as possible, these have been grouped under four headings:

Payments. Consumers who purchase an NFC phone will be able to make payments at any merchant equipped to handle contactless payments.
Transport. Purchase of transport tickets and access to real-time travel information for all services calling at each bus and tram departure point in the Nice region via 1,500 NFC and 2D barcode-enabled information points being installed across the local transport network. As well as travel information, the information points will also provide access to information services provided by the city council, events listings and the latest news articles from Nice Matin, the region's daily newspaper.
Information services. As well as the travel services, additional information services will be available, including an NFC tag-based tour of the old city of Nice.
Loyalty points. Consumers will be able to collect loyalty points automatically when they use their NFC phone to make a purchase.

Despite the lack of a clear business model, further expansion of the system to other parts of France is already being planned. "Many stakeholders have expressed their interest for this project or indeed for a rapid development of new services using NFC technology," says the AFSCM. "Following their initial pilot experiments, the cities of Caen and Strasbourg are planning a wider development of contactless mobile services in their regions. Jean Paul Huchon, president of the local council for the Ile-de-France region (Paris), expressed the desire to launch a mobile NFC solution in the local transport sector. Finally, the retail sector — through the Ergosum project which aims at harmonizing the mobile NFC customer point-of-sale experience — is also investigating the development of this technology with a view to offering new customer services and to reducing costs."

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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The NFC Report: Retailers begin to seize the initiative with NFC coupons and loyalty programmes

Sarah Clark — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:17:56 +0000

Issues remain to be resolved for retailers in terms of the costs and benefits of equipping themselves to accept contactless cards. However, the ability of NFC to enable consumers to store discount coupons and loyalty cards on their phones, as well as to make payments, could change the proposition altogether.

THE NFC REPORT: A comprehensive, in-depth and international research report expected to weight in at more than 300 pages when it is published at the end of this year

With NFC, it's no longer just a case of simply improving checkout speed, it's also a means to improve the overall customer offering, to build customer loyalty and, of course, to increase spend.

Indeed, Juniper Research's latest NFC market forecast puts retailers at the heart of the expansion of NFC services, predicting that the application of NFC as a mobile retail marketing tool via coupons and smart posters will support the growth of NFC mobile payment transaction values from US$8bn in 2009 to $30bn within three years.

And Ergosum's newly published specifications and use cases, setting out how NFC could be smoothly introduced for payments, mobile coupons and loyalty card applications at the point-of-sale, should add momentum to this drive, too.

When retailers see a business opportunity, though, they are not generally slow to act. Once aware of the opportunity, they are unlikely to wait for NFC handsets to become widespread, as a rash of recent announcements of retailers testing and adopting NFC and RFID sticker-based solutions proves.

In just the last few weeks, Irish coffee chain Insomnia has signed up with Zapa for its new sticker-based loyalty programme, Airtag has signed up La Croissanterie, France's largest fast food chain, and SMS/sticker-based loyalty system supplier Taggo has been picked by a major loyalty systems provider based in Singapore, whose clients include Ikea.

In the US, MocaPay has completed a $3m funding round for its SMS based loyalty system, which the company plans to migrate to NFC in the future, MoLo Rewards launched its NFC solution at DemoFall and Tetherball, currently on test with Dairy Queen, is claiming coupon redemption rates of up to 50%. Meanwhile, Starbucks has taken a different route, launching a 2D barcode-based payments application for the iPhone.

With many of the world's largest retailers also operating their own banking services and their own MVNO services, meaning that they already have an installed base of SIMs under their own control, there's also the potential here for major retailers to create some seriously interesting new business models that could seize the initiative away from banks and mobile operators.

The Business Proposition for NFC in Retailing is the first in a series of sector-specific business cases for NFC that we are producing for The NFC Report. Full details on each of the products, services and applications mentioned above, plus others in Japan and elsewhere, will be posted on The NFC Report website in the next few days for purchasers of the report to read.

• The NFC Report is a comprehensive and definitive guide to the technology, applications, suppliers, business and market potential of near field communication around the world. Face to face and telephone research is now well under way and the report is scheduled for publication towards the end of 2009. Clients who order now qualify for a substantial pre-publication discount and are able to stay a step ahead of the game by accessing each section as it is completed on The NFC Report's private website.

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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French retailers, operators publish NFC adoption plans

Sarah Clark — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 16:37:57 +0000

The Ergosum consortium of French retailers and operators has published its specifications and two use cases, for both traditional points of sale and self-checkout scenarios, ahead of planned large-scale testing of NFC in the French retail sector later this year. The use cases provide detailed explanations of how the consortium expects to see NFC being used for both payments and for marketing purposes, including promotional coupon campaigns.

The members of Ergosum include many of France's largest supermarkets and other major retail chains as well as France's mobile operators — Auchan, Banque Accord, Bouygues Telecom, Carrefour, Castorama, Cofidis, E Leclerc, Finaref, Fnac, Groupe Casino, Groupement des Mousquetaires, Jules, Kinepolis Cinémas, LaSer-Cofinoga, Leroy Merlin, Printemps, Orange, SFR and Système-U.

Full details of Ergosum's plans will follow on the main Near Field Communications World website once we have had a chance to talk with Ergosum to find out more.

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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Carrefour announces major move toward contactless — and NFC

Sarah Clark — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:29:01 +0000

The world's second largest retailer, part of the French Ergosum consortium aiming to launch a large scale NFC project by the end of this year, will begin converting its own brand credit/loyalty cards to contactless next month...

RETAIL GIANT: The world's second largest retailer will start to issue contactless credit/loyalty cards next month

Carrefour, the French retailing giant that is second only to Wal-Mart in the world's leading retailer stakes, has taken a significant step forward in the march towards the introduction of NFC in France.

From February 11, it will begin issuing a contactless MasterCard version of its own brand credit/loyalty card, known as 'Pass'. At the same time it has also signed a deal to install between 1,000 and 1,500 self-checkout machines from Wincor Nixdorf, who this month also launched the world's first SEPA payments compliant checkout solution, incorporating the ability to handle a wide range of advanced payments technologies including NFC.

Later this year, Carrefour is due to take part in a large-scale NFC test with other French retailers including Auchan, Castorama and Fnac who have all signed up to join the Ergosum consortium aiming to manage the introduction of near field communication technology at the point-of-sale.

"We believe the Pass MasterCard card, an innovative card with improved consumer benefits, will help not only to build customer loyalty, but also attract and retain new cardholders to our network," says Gauthier Durand Delbecque, general manager of financial services at Carrefour Group.

"Customisation of services, flexibility in use, and the very latest in card technology including the MasterCard PayPass 'Tap & Go' contactless functionality has been combined into this new card programme designed specifically for the Carrefour consumer," the company says. Features include:

A card at the cutting-edge of technology enabling cardholders choice in how they pay for their purchases; either immediately from their bank account or by credit thanks to the card's joint debit/credit functionality. As well as enabling the cardholder to choose their individual PIN number, the card is also one of the first in France to offer the MasterCard PayPass technology. As of 3Q2008, already available on nearly 44 million cards and devices across the world and as a safe, speedier and easier way to pay, cardholders simply Tap & Go for purchases up to 25 Euros.
A customizable card which extends guarantees up to five years for electrical-product purchases such as televisions and washing machines with an additional benefit of an enhanced insurance package designed by the cardholder via an exclusive webportal provided for and operated by MasterCard.
A loyalty card which enhances the existing Carrefour and Pass advantages such as the doubling of some discount benefits for cardholders making at least one monthly purchase in a non-Carrefour group merchant.

"Throughout the development of this programme we've tried to rise to the very specific retail challenges of Carrefour and refine for their customers in France the best technologies and services available," says Emmanuel Petit, president and general manager of Mastercard France.

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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French retailers commit to large scale NFC trials in 2009

Sarah Clark — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:34:57 +0000

France's largest retail chains have agreed to work together with the country's leading mobile operators to put in place a series of large scale near field communication trials that will see consumers using NFC phones to make payments and manage their loyalty cards.

SUPER MARKET: France's leading retailers and mobile operators have agreed to trial NFC for payments and loyalty by the end of 2009

France's largest retail chains and its three mobile operators have joined together under the name Ergosum to push forward the date that NFC-based mobile transactions arrive in France.

Auchan, Carrefour, Castorama, Fnac, Kinepolis, Jules, Leroy Merlin and Groupement des Mousquetaires (which includes supermarket chain Intermarché) as well as most of the retailers' financial services arms (including Banque Accord, Cofidis, Finaref and Laser) have joined the Ergosum initiative, along with mobile operators Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom.

By Christmas 2009, the group says, customers of the three mobile operators will be able to participate in large scale trials that enable them to use their mobile phones to pay for purchases in the group's stores, to store and to redeem mobile coupons and to replace their existing store cards with virtual loyalty cards held and updated on their phone.

"We are all sitting down together around the table because we want to move fast," Laurent Jullien, director of mobile payments at Bouygues Telecom, told Le Figaro. "To do that, the system needs to be as simple as possible for the customer and to function in all the shops and with all the operators." The goal is to enable the customer to pay with one simple touch of his phone, he explained, and to ensure that he no longer needs to carry any change, payment cards or loyalty cards.

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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