Loyalty cards: an app or Apple Wallet?

Where do customers find their loyalty card?

With a Wallet card, customers open their phone's wallet to present their loyalty card. This format suits a card you want them to find alongside other saved cards. The service provider manages how that card and its updates work.

With Oktapus, customers find cards from several shops in the same app. They see their progress and the reward on offer. That is the approach of an app shared between shops: one place to view cards and show a code. Web access also lets them find cards after signing in by email. These ways of finding a card explain the product's approach and the journey at the counter.

Is a contactless card a Wallet card?

The Oktapus contactless card is a physical object for the shop. Customers bring their phone close to it with the Oktapus app to receive a stamp. The card therefore belongs to the shop's stamping action, whereas the phone wallet is a place where a customer stores a digital card.

The other Oktapus action is scanning: customers display their code and the shop reads it with Oktapus Pro. The code on the window poster is used to join the shop. Knowing where each card sits and who presents which code helps explain loyalty, for example while a salon takes payment for one appointment and prepares to welcome the next customer.

What do an app and a Wallet card cost per month?

Oktapus pricing lists €0 per month for up to 100 registered customers, with unlimited visits and stamps. The €14.90 monthly plan adds unlimited customers, a contactless card and more detailed statistics. There is no commitment. Subscription and delivery terms are specified on the pricing page.

For the Wallet category, this guide establishes no single price. Setup, included cards and their management define the scope of a quote. An app developed for just one shop adds development and maintenance costs. The monthly amount therefore tells only part of the comparison between these formats.

Which loyalty card suits a hair salon?

At a salon, the moment to introduce loyalty might be payment or booking the next appointment. Customers need to know what they earn and how to find their card when they return. With a rule based on visits, staff can show the expected code and explain progress without describing a spending scale.

A shared app suits a salon that wants its card kept among other neighbourhood cards. A Wallet card suits one that prioritises the wallet already on the phone. The practical criterion is the journey customers will accept repeating after appointments, with the same simplicity for whoever takes their payment.

When should you choose something else?

If adding a card to Apple Wallet and Google Wallet is a starting requirement, a service specialising in those wallets is the right choice. Oktapus web access requires an account and connectivity each visit, without notifications or use of the contactless card. Contactless needs the customer app. Paper remains useful for someone without a smartphone or who refuses an account.

Loyalty automatically tied to the amount paid calls for a till or payment system offering that function. Format alone does not settle that need. A salon whose rules depend on treatments, amounts or tiers needs a system able to express them, then can consider where the card lives.

Practical questions

Why does Oktapus use a shared app?

It brings several shops' cards together, displays the customer's code and progress, and delivers notifications they have accepted.

Can a customer show their code without an internet connection?

The Oktapus app displays the code even offline. The shop scans it with Oktapus Pro.