Chris has been involved in implementing loyalty systems for many well-known organizations. An increasingly frequent demand from retail clients, usually at the initial meeting to discuss the concept of a loyalty scheme, is for a Smart Card loyalty system. However, the final system is almost always based on magnetic stripe card technology. The Smart Card has become a generic term for electronic points collection schemes but the benefits of using (genuine) smart cards is questionable.

This paper considers whether smart cards really do have a role to play in loyalty systems or whether they are simply being promoted by the suppliers of smart card technology into what they see as a fast growing, profitable marketplace.