‘Thanks for shopping With me’

International company Flexkom International is aiming to improve how business is done in the local economy with digital discount loyalty cards that could see both customers and businesses benefiting not with traditional points but with cash instead.
Flexkom national director and United Kingdom country manager Ian Driscoll visited this country recently for the company’s first business conference. He told the Business Express Trinidad and Tobago had lots to gain from Flexkom’s presence in the local market.
“Basically the world has changed and any business that does not have a mobile marketing strategy does not have a plan for success in the future. Flexkom is the first mover of m-commerce and Trinidad and Tobago has been given the very unique opportunity, because of Anderson Goddard, Trinidad and Tobago development manager, to be one of the first countries to implement the Flexkom system to generate more revenue for local shops, the economy and the people.”
“We are offering the shopkeeper a method whereby he can look after his own loyal customers by offering them a cash back in rewards system. He is saying to his customers, ‘thank you for shopping with me, I want to give you a little reward and every time you come back I’ll give you a cash back, ranging anywhere between 0.75 per cent to ten per cent’,” Driscoll said.
The amount rewarded through the digital cards is up to the shopowner and “the brilliance” of this is that the shop which provided the oroginal card gets cash back when a customer visits another shop that has the Flexkom system. 
“So the customer wins and the shop that deployed that card gets a 1.2 per cent over ride on his customer shopping in other local shops and on-line.”
He said it was really circulation of money within the economy.
Driscoll noted that businesses worldwide poured thousands of dollars into advertising and there were no recognisable results at times.
“But people do it because they think they ought to, but we are providing them with a mobile marketing system, back office and an on-line presence, so we are merging on-line with off-line to protect off-line.”
Driscoll pointed out that the Flexkom system was for any business and could benefit the country’s tourism industry.
“When tourists come into the country the shops can offer these cards to them and when they go home, which can be anywhere in the world where Flexkom is set up and shop, that money is generated back into Trinidad. So you maximise your tourist trade. 
Every business needs to generate more bottom line profits and although Trinidad and Tobago is a different demographic to the UK, because of population size and the number of shops, the countries are intrinsically very much the same. 
So the shopowners locally need to move into the future and if they don’t they will die just like everywhere else because of on-line sales,” Driscoll said.
He pointed out that last Christmas, 50 per cent of all Christmas presents were bought on-line in Europe.
“So where does that leave the shops? It is a dying market. Since 1994 on-line has gone up and off-line has plunged. With Flexkom everyone wins including the customers because they get an added bonus so you can go to the restaurant that has the Flexkom system, gain cash rewards there and spend it at the barber for a haircut.
There is nothing like what we do, we are three years ahead of any opposition because there are millions and millions of Euros that went into the development of the Flexkom system,” he said.
At the push of a button the Flexkom shops can contact customers, letting them know that they have sales on.
“All the shopkeeper really needs is a little vision for the future and to use the advertising budget a little more wisely with a one-off purchase of the Flexkom system without ongoing costs.”
Asked why Flexkom had chosen to set up in this country Driscoll said: 
“Because we are looking for the right people to partner with and Goddard stepped up to the plate. He heard about Flexkom, did his research and had the vision to see the brilliance of Flexkom and its implementation for this country. 
So he asked me if could we do this country, I spoke to the directors and we got the green light. So we have pre-launched at the showcase event at the Signature Hall (in Chaguanas) which was a success where at least 400 people came out to hear more about the system. 
And now we are moving into phase two which is the launch of the Flexkom app for the mobile phones on August 25 at the Signature Hall in Chaguanas. This is not an ongoing opportunity because we only want 600 franchise partners’ licences in Trinidad and Tobago so when they are gone that’s it. But I feel honoured to be able to give assistance to this market which we view as an important market.”
He added that Flexkom’s long term goal over the next four years was to develop the system in 40 countries.

Company background
Flexkom is the brainchild of the founder and president Cingiz Ehliz who launched the company in Turkey mainly because IT costs are lower in Turkey
It started in 2010 with the idea and started putting it into action, with the system up and running in 2011. 
The system is now fully operational in Turkey with about 40,000 partners there and continues to grow with around 13,000 point of sale systems or terminals for shops. 
Driscoll said participating shops in the Turkish market have increased the number of customers with over four million carded customers in Turkey.

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