New Technology Briefing: Smart cards
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New Technology Briefing
Chris Potts, now CEO of Citria, joined Mondex International in early 1995 as head of commercial development and marketing, and became deputy chief executive in 1996. He is responsible for the development, support and sale of products and services globally, covering Mondex e-cash, MULTOS, Loyalty and their supporting services. With a degree in physics and maths, Chris worked internationally in the oil exploration industry for three years before undertaking a PhD in geophysics at Cambridge, where he was also a postdoctoral researcher. He holds an MBA from Cranfield School of Management, winning the Booker McConnell Marketing Prize.
Keywords: Smart card, electronic cash (e-cash), loyalty, branding, e-commerce
Dr Chris Potts, Chief Executive, Citria, Scriptor Court, 155–157 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3AD, UK Tel: +44 (0)20 7841 8800 Fax: +44 (0)20 7841 8844 E-mail: [email protected]
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Smart cards Chris Potts Received (in revised form): 16 November 1999
Abstract
The combination of the Internet, wireless communications devices and digital interactive television is rapidly changing the relationship between companies and their customers. In order to survive this revolution, companies must adapt to an economy that never sleeps by understanding their customers better than ever in order to provide the best service across an array of delivery channels. This paper examines how marketing professionals can leverage smart cards, and in particular electronic cash, to establish and/or maintain a strong brand and build and retain a customer base in the connected economy.
Introduction
Smart card technology has been around for more than two decades. And, unlike so many other technologies, smart card development actually originated in Europe. With the support of certain industries (eg banking and telecommunications), smart cards have enjoyed a much higher rate of acceptance and usage in Europe than in any other region in the world including the USA. In 1997, Europe represented 70 per cent of global smart card market revenues. That share is expected to fall to 50 per cent by 2000 (though it will be a smaller share of a much larger overall market). In spite of their having been around for a while, smart cards are a burgeoning technology on the verge of mass acceptance, thanks to the increasing mobility of people and the new rules for business dictated by the Internet. Some estimates place the worldwide use of smart cards as growing at 38 per cent annually. In terms of units shipped, the global chip card market is going to reach four billion in 2002 (up from one billion units shipped in 1997). According to Gartner Groups Dataquest, revenues from this market will more than treble from approximately US$2bn in 1999 to US$6.8bn in 2002. In fact, some estimates indicate that there are going to be as many smart cards on the planet as people by the year 2003.
Extending your brand
But how can a seemingly old technology help you as a marketer? At the heart of it you are responsible for retaining curr
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