Big data analytics startup ERN has signed the first client up to its Looop Big Data Analytics Platform, six months after unveiling it at the Finovate Europe 2013 conference.
The Retail Data Partnership (TRDP), which supplies a network of some 1,500+ independent merchants in the UK with EpoS systems, has signed a three year agreement with ERN and will use the full end-to-end big data analytics and loyalty capabilities provided by Looop to create maximum value from every transaction that member customers make across its network of merchants.
Looop, which will run in parallel with the existing EpoS systems, is a fully-functional big data analytics and loyalty platform that enables merchants to analyse transactional data, using it to create compelling relevant and timely offers that can be sent to customers through a mobile app in real-time.
Merchants will be able to log in to Looop's merchant portal to see how offers are performing and to see which customers are redeeming the offers. SKU-level data analysis enables merchants to see which customers are buying which items, when and how often in real time, in order to create offers that boost long-term loyalty among their customer base.
Customers can receive these personalised offers through a smartphone app, which also stores detailed information about all purchases made at participating TRDP (www.retaildata.co.uk) merchants. However, customers will still be in full control of their data, with the system operating on an opt-in basis.
"We are delighted to be working with TRDP as a technology partner for their 1,500+ merchants and wholesale clients," said Dan Brassington, CEO and Co-Founder of ERN. "The Looop platform will give a competitive advantage and help these merchants get a much better understanding of their customers by using transactional data in real-time which will enable them to boost loyalty by creating targeted, timely and relevant offers the customers will really appreciate," he continued.
Stephen Burnett, CEO of The Retail Data Partnership, said: "We have chosen to work with ERN due to their superior advanced technology and offer optimisation from their shopping basket analysis capabilities provided by the Looop platform, as well as its vast scalability and real-time elements."
"Real-time analysis of the items customers are buying and building profiles of individual customers is an incredible boost to our merchants that want to create compelling, highly-targeted offers that customers will actually redeem," Mr Burnett continued.
The Looop implementation with participating TRDP merchants will start to roll out and go live from October, and customers will be able to download the mobile app soon thereafter.
Looop is capable of processing thousands of transactions per second and is designed to run alongside existing IT infrastructure used by banks and merchants - meaning deployment costs are kept to a minimum. It is a cloud-based system running on secure, bank-grade servers hosted by Tier 4 global hosting provider Savvis. The solution is fully PCI and ISO 27001 compliant.