News from the Wire

Pay By Touch delivers first personalized marketing solution for the retail environment

Wednesday, January 17, 2007 — 12:17:42 (EST)

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – (January 11, 2007) –%%N%%NPay By Touch, the leader in biometric authentication, personalized marketing and payment solutions, today announced the general availability of its SmartShop™ service. SmartShop combines Pay By Touch's patented biometric technologies with its data-driven marketing services to provide the first truly personalized marketing solution for retail environments.%%N%%NSmartShop, powered by Pay By Touch, gives shoppers customized offers on the products they buy most when they enter the store – before they shop. It provides merchants and consumer packaged goods companies (CPGs) with an unprecedented return on investment (ROI) by enabling them to deliver the right offer to the right shopper at the right time – both in-store and online.%%N%%N"Together, our biometric and personalized marketing technologies will fundamentally change the way the world shops," said John Rogers, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Pay By Touch. "SmartShop offers unparalleled targeting based on shoppers' known preferences and established buying habits in that particular store. There is simply no better way for merchants and manufacturers to reach their targets."%%N%%NResearch shows that 70 percent of buying decisions are made in the store, and that less than one percent of grocery store coupons are ever redeemed.[1] As a result, millions of marketing dollars are wasted every year.%%N%%NSmartShop turns every shopper into a uniquely qualified marketing lead and offers unprecedented value to consumers, merchants and manufacturers alike. It provides shoppers with highly relevant offers and saves them from hours of sorting through mass media and clipping coupons. Here's how it works:%%N%%N1. When shoppers enter the store, they simply scan their finger at the SmartShop kiosk to get personalized offers based on their purchase history.[2]%%N%%N2. Shoppers receive an 8 ½ x 11 print out with 12 to 16 customized offers for the products they buy most, and then head into the aisles to shop.%%N%%N3. Shoppers scan their finger again at check-out to automatically redeem their offers. They do not need to bring the print out; no paper coupons are required.%%N%%NOne of the country's most innovative grocers, Green Hills Market of Syracuse, New York, was the first to test the SmartShop service.%%N%%N"The SmartShop service has been extremely popular, and shopper participation is already impacting 50 percent of store revenue," said Gary Hawkins, CEO, Hawkins Strategic and Proprietor of Green Hills Market.[3] "We have seen offer redemption rates exceeding 20 percent. Of the customers enrolled in SmartShop, who also shopped last year during the same period, their shopping visits have increased by 10% per week."%%N%%N"Most importantly," Hawkins added, "SmartShop is driving a significant increase in revenue in a time of new market competition from big box stores. It has given us the tools to compete more effectively and not only retain customer loyalty, but attract new customers."%%N%%NSmartShop provides merchants with customer-based metrics and accurate data that improves the efficacy of marketing efforts. It is easy to implement, with a Web-based management system for algorithmic campaign creation and real-time targeting. Best of all, SmartShop's sophisticated targeting engine 'learns' from each shopping trip to generate the next set of rewards. It provides robust analytics to make reporting and account settlement easy and accurate.%%N%%NPay By Touch has been developing and acquiring personalized marketing technologies since early 2005 when it acquired 7th Street Software and Convena – two loyalty technology providers – and Capture Resource, which offers turnkey solutions for card-based loyalty programs.%%N%%NThe final building block for SmartShop came through Pay By Touch's acquisition of technology partner, S&H Solutions in December, 2006. Many years and more than $200 million dollars have gone into developing S&H's retail marketing technologies, including a sophisticated algorithmic offer engine that enables retailers to deliver personalized offers in-store through multiple platforms.%%N%%NAvailability: SmartShop, powered by Pay By Touch, is available now. For sales inquiries, contact Sarah Cole at (415) 371-5620 or sarah.cole@paybytouch.com.%%N%%NSee SmartShop at NRF: An interactive demo of the SmartShop service will be available at the Pay By Touch booth, #2313, at the National Retail Federation's 96th Annual Conference & Expo, January 15-17 at the Javits Center in New York, New York.%%N%%NAbout Pay By Touch%%N%%NPay By Touch (www.paybytouch.com) is wowing the world one touch at a time as the global leader in biometric authentication, personalized marketing and payment solutions. To date, patented Pay By Touch™ biometric services enable 3.5 million shoppers to quickly and securely access personal accounts using a finger scan to identify themselves, make purchases and cash checks at 3,000 locations nationwide. The company also provides robust payment processing solutions for ACH (electronic checking), card-present and card-not-present debit and credit transactions for retail clients. Founded in 2002 and headquartered in San Francisco, Pay By Touch employs 800 professionals and holds more than 50 patents worldwide on secure, convenient and cost-effective transaction solutions.%%N%%N[1] CMS Inmar, Inc., 2006%%N%%N[2] A one-time enrollment is required.%%N%%N[3] Hawkins Strategic, LLC. is a paid consultant to Pay By Touch. Hawkins is the CEO of Hawkins Strategic.%%N%%NSource: Company press release

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Source: Company press release.