During the last two years, smart card-based retail and loyalty applications have taken off in various parts of the country. While Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) has launched a petro card called Petro Bonus, Singh Motors, a petrol pump near New Delhi’s Nehru Place, has implemented its own pre-paid smart card for 1,000 of its regular customers.

The Singh Motors’ smart card carries cash value pre-paid by the customer. As and when the cardholder drives in to refill his vehicle, the cash value is calculated and reduced on the smart card. BPCL’s Petro Bonus on the other hand is part of the company’s loyalty program. The petro card is a stored-value card that can be used to buy fuel and lubricants at the company’s retail outlets as well as other products and services like purchases at the bazaar outlets in some petrol pumps. Also, the card can be used at fast food outlets, dhabas, restrooms, automated teller machines and internet kiosks and earn loyalty points in the course of making purchases. The card, costing Rs 250 initially, can be loaded with amounts of higher denominations too.

On the retail front, stores like Akbarallys in Mumbai, and Snowhite and Home Saaz in Delhi have also launched similar cards. All these companies are using these cards to offer loyalty programs where the customer gets additional mileage points for using the card. The purchases are recorded on the card itself and customers can redeem the accumulated points to get gifts and discounts thus promoting repetitive buying habits among customers.