First local communities in Lower Austria near Vienna rely on an innovative card solution by exceet to leverage customer loyalty

• Links between retailers and urban and public services via city or community cards
• Vouchers, discount coupons and customer-specific regional marketing
• Rapid, low-cost system rollout

exceet Card Group AG, a member company of exceet Group and a specialist for all types of plastic cards, will be on location at the Vienna Kommunalmesse in September 2015 to showcase an innovative system for keeping consumer spending close to home. The solution is based on a city or municipal card offering a wide range of benefits when using local services. Importantly, the card can be used at any EC or credit card terminal.

Like a cash card, the city or municipal card is topped up with a credit balance. This credit can be used to make payments when shopping or using other services provided by participating partners in the region. This lets the region develop attractive combinations of commercial and public services, including e.g. retail sales outlets, public transport, car-sharing services, recycling yards and many others.

Each time a card is used, the community and the participating partners receive immediate feedback, giving them valuable marketing information. If, for example, a customer uses the card to purchase a bus ticket, the partners can immediately SMS or email that person a variety of discount coupons for use at outlets near the destination.

High acceptance rate thanks to use at EC and credit card terminals

The new solution is based on the ValueMaster system developed by exceet’s strategic partner and IT specialist Brain Behind Ltd. All a card carrier needs to make a payment via the exceet community card is an EC or credit card terminal. Partners don’t require any additional hardware. These features ensure a high acceptance rate among participating partners and community card users.

“Several communities around Vienna have already gone live with the innovative system and the exceet community card”, says Andreas Korger, Vienna Sales Director at exceet Card Group. “exceet not only produces the individual community cards, but also installs the clearing platform that manages the financial transactions. The system comes complete with an e-money license, meaning that real cash flow is generated at the EC or credit card terminal via a clearinghouse – and it’s all fully automatic, with no need for action on the part of the community. It will turn your local community into a Smart Town – quickly and at low cost.”

exceet will showcase the innovative solution at the Vienna Kommunalmesse / Sept. 09-11, 2015 / Booth 260/261