Mobile payment technology company Billfold POS has been providing RFID-based payment solutions for events throughout New York for many years. Currently, the company is expanding its business throughout North America. The company's RFID payment system consists of an RFID-enabled wristband and payment terminal. Click on the wristband to get the user's ID number and credit card access.
According to Stas Chijik, co-founder and CEO of Billfold POS, the system can reduce the typical credit card transaction time from 1 minute to less than 5 seconds for users wearing wristbands. Martin Nouton, head of food and beverage at Avant Gardner, one of Billfold POS's customers, said that they have been using the technology in three venues in Brooklyn, and their per capita beverage and food sales have grown by about 40%.
The RFID payment solution includes a self-service kiosk, a personal wristband that can be directly connected to a personal bank card or credit card, and a point-of-sale screen for customers and suppliers, so that transactions can be made quickly without cash or credit cards. It is reported that the RFID tag built into the wristband is provided by Australia's 4ID Solution Company.
Billfold POS was founded by the owner of One Stop Beer Shop, a mobile catering company that sells food and beverages at major events in New York. One Stop Beer Shop notes that credit card payments reduce service efficiency and result in revenue impact; if the active participant queues and waits too long, the source will be lost. So they started looking for solutions and found that RFID technology can speed up the payment process. Chijik pointed out: "A lot of time is not wasted in the payment process, but wasted on participants groping their wallets, taking out cash or credit cards."
According to Chijik, once the company builds an RFID solution and deploys it to the POS trading system, the per-capita spending of the event can increase by 45.2%. He said, "At that time we learned that this is not only good for us, but also beneficial to all event planners in the country." Billfold POS's focus is on venues and activities involving 5,000 to 10,000 people and has developed SaaS. Subscribe to the solution. Through this solution, the company can provide rental services for self-service terminals and POS readers, as well as software for cloud management data.
Avant Gardner first deployed the Billfold POS system at its open outdoor venue in the Brooklyn Mirage summer. Since then, the company has promoted the system in all three of its venues. Avant Gardner has been established for three years. Nouton said that the company's founders initially operated large warehouse sites, launched a flexible summer event venue as proof of concept in 2015, and then permanently opened the venue in 2017. Later, the company quickly hosted a party of more than 4,000 people at a rate of two to three times a week.
Avant Gardner operates three event venues in a complete block in Brooklyn. They used to offer both cash and credit card payment models for this flexible party venue. However, due to the large number of participants and the slower transaction speed, the company began to research the Billfold POS solution.
Many wristband payment solutions include a recharge system. In the recharge system, the event participants must first pre-store a balance they wish to spend on-site, such as $50 or $100. When they spend more than the pre-existing amount, they must use a credit card to make up the difference; but if they have the remaining amount, they can apply for a refund. This process will make some participants more cautious in spending money. The Billfold POS connects the participant's wristband directly to the credit card. If the participant does not purchase anything, it has no effect on the participant's credit card account; once the participant has made a free purchase, the consumption is only limited by the credit card account amount.
Participants can purchase concert tickets on Avant Gardner's website or at the entrance of the venue. With both purchases, participants can get a wristband with a built-in 13.56 MHz HF RFID tag that complies with ISO 15693 and 14443 standards. Then, when the participant wears a wristband through any of the self-service stations installed with high-frequency RFID readers at the door, the reader captures the ID of the wristband. Participants can also swipe credit cards, provide emails to receive receipts, and create a four-digit PIN code for authentication each time they are purchased.
When a participant purchases food, beverages, or merchandise, the system terminal displays the merchandise details on the screen for the supplier and the participant. Participants scan the wristband and provide a four-digit PIN, and the staff prepares the item to complete the transaction.
The Billfold POS app links the wristband ID obtained through the POS device to the credit card information it belongs to. After the payment transaction is completed, the funds are deducted from the credit card account and received by the payee in real time. The receipt can be emailed to the payer.
This can be done before the participants receive the purchased items, reducing the time spent on transactions and queuing. In fact, Nouton said, “It’s only five seconds in the whole journey. After the bartender has finished drinking, the money has already been paid. And once the system is deployed, people find it interesting. Guests no longer need to mess around with credit cards or cash. And there is no longer a need to worry about spending more than the pre-existing amount."
Nouton said the company quickly discovered that with the Billfold POS solution, per-capita sales of food and beverages jumped from $28 to $32 to $44. By reducing the queuing time and waiting time for ordering, the Brooklyn Mirage Hotel can also make room for the venue. The event can usually be serviced by up to 6,000 participants by 25 bartenders, with almost no queuing.
Nouton explained that when Avant Garner deployed the Billfold POS system, he expected sales to increase by 20% to 25%, but found that the increase was between 40% and 50%. In the future, the company plans to expand its deployment to open access to the back office or other areas that may require VIP access. The system deployed at the point of sale itself includes a POS terminal so that when an individual wishes to access a secure area, they can pay for VIP access directly at the point of sale.
Nouton pointed out that the technology also provides an advertising platform. First, half of the pages for shoppers are dedicated to advertising. This allows Billfold POS to display branded advertising or use the system to accelerate sales of certain products. It is understood that the Brookfield Phantom Hotel's bar area uses 80 to 100 screens.
Nouton believes that the data obtained can also promote marketing. Participants connect their ID numbers, email addresses, and wristbands, so companies can collect their historical spending records and send them targeted ads. For example, if a person wants to regularly purchase a particular brand of wine, then the person's location and habits can be pushed to the product brand that wants to target them. In addition, the system can also query the performance of specific employees because the software stores information about each transaction, including who made the transaction, what service was offered, the sales situation, and the percentage of the tip.
Chijik said that in the past three years, Billfold POS has provided this solution for 400 events. Billfold POS is working with a number of ticketing partners to develop an integrated solution that allows ticket purchasers to choose to pay by credit card when purchasing tickets. Billfold POS also offers a hybrid version of its system, with wristbands using 4ID Solutions' dual HF and UHF RFID tags, so HF functionality can be used for payment, while UHF can be used for access or location tracking with longer read range .
For example, Billfold POS is talking to a resort in Utah about using a hybrid system to track personal activities throughout the resort—whether they use towels in the pool or gym, or just open locked doors. Another application scenario might be a stage where concert audiences gather to determine which people are attracted to which bands or genres (such as hip hop or electronic music) and then compare that data to the fans' drinking preferences. This information makes cross-promotion possible.
Billfold POS has seven developers scheduled to release software updates once a week. Chijik said that working with smaller venues can immediately test the distribution, so that "we can improve service capabilities and develop features faster than those that offer stadium-sized venue services. We are not waiting for the next grand event." Festival. We have small festivals every week."