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January-February, 2006 Idea Forum
CREDIT CARDS? ON A DELIVERY?
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Way Systems has developed a wireless credit card terminal with excellent coverage in a unit the size of a cell phone. The company, founded in 2002 in Boston, is the country's premier wireless transaction platform provider of mobile phone-based point-of-sale solutions, worldwide. Their new equipment allows the customer to actually swipe the card through the terminal at their door as the pizza is being delivered. This new technology lowers the cost of "swipe" transactions to a rate of approximately 1.59 percent, versus keying in the transaction over the phone at a rate of approximately 2.50 percent.
Rick Kovacs is vice president for North American Bancard, a Troy, Michigan-based merchant services provider dedicated to serving the credit card processing needs of businesses nationally. Rick expects this new wireless product with its economic and technological advantages to prove very popular with pizza operators.
"This is the first unit to come out using the GPRS wireless platform," Rick says. "That is the most advanced wireless data network there is. As a result, businesses will achieve much better wireless coverage than the predecessor wireless networks.
"This unit also has an optional infrared printer," Rick continues. "If you want a printer, this one is the size of a deck of cards, it's infrared and it too is wireless. These are the smallest products of their type, they can fit right in your pocket."
Rick says these advances in wireless technology not only offer lower costs and financial safety, but his company provides the wireless terminals free of charge.
"For signing up an account with us, we're giving the unit away for free as long as you process with us. Pizza owners can now go from paying $1,500 for a wireless unit or leasing one for four years, to acquiring one for free." The new system has another attribute that Rick says operators will embrace- the new unit can handle tips.
"There is a tip functionality to the unit's software," Rick says, "also there is a feature called "store and forward." What this function does is store any data if you happen to travel out of a coverage area and goes ahead and completes the transaction once you are back in an area where there is coverage. You can also program these units to tie in to a specific driver. So if you have more than one driver, you know which transaction went through which driver."
Another function Rick says will appeal to anyone who operates the wireless unit, is there's no need for "batching out" the transactions in the unit at the end of a shift.
"In a typical POS environment, at the end of each day, somebody has to go through and audit/balance their credit card transactions and then batch out their terminal," Rick points out. "With these wireless units, there's no batching out, the transactions are automatically processed."
For more information, contact 1-866-404-0881 or email newaccounts@nabancard.com.
A STICKY SOLUTION
If you're like most pizza marketers, door hanger and box-topper coupons are a consistent ingredient in your marketing mix. These are great tools for new and repeat business. The use of Post-itŪ Notes or 'Sticky Notes' as coupons also emerged as a convenient way to draw attention to special offers. Let's face it, a well-placed coupon on a customer's door or pizza box is hard to miss. Unfortunately, these sticky notes proved to be very limited in their use because they didn't stick well enough to coated pizza boxes or to most door surfaces.
Significant improvements have now been made to "outside the box" advertising. Enter the new Super Sticky Post-itŪ Notes. 3M has been working to make a better repositionable coupon that is more aggressive and will stick and then re-stick to almost anything from glass to Styrofoam to metal and even coated pizza boxes. The new notes' sticking ability is the result of years of research and testing. 3M eventually changed the entire chemical formula of the adhesive material and came up with a much stronger "grip."
The new material is thicker than in the past and is raised up over the rest of the pad. To ensure its reliability, the new adhesive has been tested on doors, windows, and cardboard pizza boxes and left for days. Not only did the notes stay put, when they were finally removed, they left no scars or tears on anything they adhered to. This "no-residue" aspect was particularly crucial. Consumers use Post-itŪ Notes every day at home and at work so when they see a Post-itŪ Note, they know they can take it with them as a reminder and place it next to the phone or on the refrigerator.
Now you can take better advantage of the ad space on top of your product packaging with a Post-itŪ Note Ad, which is a great way to drive traffic back to your restaurant. Post-itŪ Note advertising puts a new twist on the everyday box-toppers, they are a familiar reminder and will cause your customer to read and react to the ad or offer. And now the super sticky adhesive will stick better on more surfaces such as, cardboard, reinforced glossy stock, or Styrofoam boxes.
Many restaurants also have ads and discounts on their fast-food or take home bags. The advertisement on the bag is likely to be thrown out with the bag itself. By placing a Post-itŪ Note on the outside of the bag, the consumer is prone to remove the note upon first receiving the bag. Post-itŪ Note coupons can even be stuck to the dash of the vehicle to be used for the next drive-thru visit! The new super sticky adhesive material is guaranteed to stick even on bags treated with anti-grease agents.
Using Post-itŪ Notes to replace conventional door hangers allows you to place the ad at eyelevel. Many consumers assume conventional door hangers are "junk" and don't even look at them before throwing them away. By using a Post-itŪ Note, customers are sure to read the note out of habit. Consumers have to look at the ad in order to peel it off their front door. Super sticky adhesive will not blow off in the wind or leave residue on surfaces. Post-itŪ Notes will also stick to glass making them effective as windshield leaflets.
For more information contact Customer Service at NoteAds, Inc. (800-309-7502) or visit their website, www.noteads.com.