Stampt hopes to replace paper coupons with digital loyalty cards

San Francisco based startup Stampt today unleashed its digital loyalty reward card program across the US.
The service, which aims to swap out paper coupons of the “buy-10-get-1-free” variety with a smarter, digital version has been running trials of its service in San Francisco, Cincinnati, Chicago, and New York and is now apparently ready to take its service coast-to-coast.
While social deal firms like Groupon and Yelp offer customers one-time special offers, Stampt believes it will score big on getting customers to come back to the same retailer over and over again, by placing a premium on loyalty.
The way it works is relatively straightforward for customers and retailers alike. Merchants simply sign up for Stampt on the firm’s website (for free) and customize their loyalty cards with whatever offer they please.
At point of sale, shoppers just scan the Stampt “Quick Scan Card” with their phones (it’s a free app) and their visit and reward-eligible purchase gets etched onto their digital loyalty card. If they so choose, customers can even share their progress with Twitter or Facebook, though we’re not convinced everyone needs to know that you’re just two packs away from getting a free box of Tampax.

“The Stampt app allows consumers and merchants to take full advantage of the capabilities of smartphones to move traditional ‘buy 10 get 1 free’ cards from paper to a wireless device,” Brian Kelly, co-founder and CEO of Stampt told RCR.
“Hundreds of merchants have already signed up and we are seeing tremendous momentum for the service from all parts of the country,” he added.
The app, he said was a “tremendous tool” for merchants as it provided them with stats and analytics about their customers’ shopping behaviors to boot.
Stampt’s revenue will come from offering merchants premium services like special offers, advertising and advanced analytics, the firm says.