New York, NY, January 13, 2013 – Today at the NRF (National Retail Federation) 102nd Annual Convention & EXPO, Retail Pro International, a leading provider of Point of Sale (POS) and retail management solutions, and AppCard, a developer of a next-generation customer loyalty platform, announced the availability of the AppCard customer loyalty service with Retail Pro® POS solutions family.  Until today, customer engagement was a phrase echoed by brands and retailers in their quest of attracting and retaining customers. Today, retailers seek to know their customers and engage each one with personalized offers, rewards and free gifts, accessible across all customers’ touch points.  Paired with any Retail Pro® 9 and Retail Pro Prism™ retail software, AppCard provides a powerful, effective cloud-based customer loyalty platform that requires no integration with the POS and needs only a minimal setup time – at a lower cost than traditional loyalty programs on the market today.

Retail Pro Prism™ offers any retailer the benefit of the proven, time-honored Retail Pro® software that boasts agility, data security and accuracy. However, it also explores pivotal new attributes such as: thin-client architecture, reduced maintenance and acquisition costs, and, most importantly, ability to take a platform and hardware agnostic approach and operate on mobile and desktop POS hardware of choice. Retail Pro Prism POS brings a coherent approach to operations enabling retailers to deliver better customer service. Addition of AppCard’s cloud-based loyalty platform to the retailer’s operations running on Retail Pro® provides real-time reports, deep analytics, and business intelligence that enable merchants to engage each customer with personalized offers that enhance loyalty and drive repeat business. Through the AppCard smartphone app or Web account, shoppers receive personalized offers, earn rewards and free gifts, and get live digital receipts.

”Our customers are focused on success, and today that means growth of consumer relationships by the virtue of delivering consistently exceptional shopping experiences” said Alexandra Frith, Director of Marketing at Retail Pro International. “Addition of the AppCard loyalty solution to the foundation of Retail Pro® software gives retailers on-demand information about the performance of their loyalty programs, so near-real-time tailoring of offers and campaigns can guide the business to greater efficiency and profits.”

“Retail Pro has been an industry leader and forth runner in innovation in the apparel and specialty retail segments for more than 25 years” said Yair Goldfinger, CEO and Co-founder of AppCard. “The Retail Pro/AppCard combination provides large and small retailers with an integration-free way to implement a loyalty program that enhances the shopping experience, increases customer retention and optimizes revenue.”

The AppCard platform offers the following benefits:

Easy access to powerful analytics: Cloud-based reports are available for all of a store’s locations or selected locations and are accessible anywhere and anytime. Retailers see the most relevant data on a single dashboard or drill down to over 90 reports, each delivering in-depth analyses and recommended actions.

Five-tier loyalty program: The more money that customers spend at a store, the higher they climb on the loyalty ladder. With every dollar spent, customers earn rewards that are redeemable on the customers’ next visit to the store.

Personalization: Retailers can personalize offers based on customers’ purchasing history, age, gender, buying preferences, geographic location, and more. These personalized offers aim at driving customers back to the store again and again.