ELECTRONIC COMMERCE UPDATE

September/October€1996

Tracking Buying Habits and Improving Relationships

SSDS Inc. (Englewood, Colo.) (www.ssds.com) has integrated Inter-Act Systems' (Norwalk, Conn.) Coupon Kiosk into ICL's (www.icl.com) ISS400 point-of-sale system. This new electronic kiosk system allows retailers to identify the buying habits of their local customers, select savings on the customer's preferred items, and generate targeted electronic "coupons" that are scanned into the point of sale terminal at checkout.

The new system incorporates a free-standing unit with a full touch-screen, similar to an ATM. It communicates with the in-store client/server via RF transmission over a wireless LAN, so that kiosks can be easily moved. The client/server stores one year of purchase history. Shopper profiles are updated after each transaction, enabling the system to customize offers to individual consumers based on the segment they fall into for a specific category or brand. Appropriate offers and receipts are then presented to the shopper on a series of interactive touch screens.

SSDS has integrated Inter-Act's shopping list software to allow it to convert manufacturer and retailer incentives into "clipless coupons" in the store by electronically storing the incentive offers selected at the kiosk to the shopper's frequent shopper card. The shopper receives one piece of paper listing all the offers selected and the aisle in which they are located. At checkout, the shopper simply presents their card to the cashier. The purchased items are verified, processed and cleared and an "instant discount" is delivered automatically via the store's POS scanning system.

Electronic Commerce Update Search Engine

Click here to return to Table of Contents for the Electronic Commerce Update September/October issue.