Ponti’s Italian Kitchen has achieved this global first, appealing to smartphone owners.
This year, QR codes have finally come into their own, after having struggled for a while as consumers remained unaware of what they were and how to use them for a long time, leading marketers and mobile industry experts to wonder if they had any real value at all.
Now, the zappit SmartBox on tables at Ponti’s Italian Kitchen feature barcodes to improve CRM.
This restaurant is only the first of nine locations in London, which also include bars and hotels, which will now use the SmartBox technology. It functions by allowing patrons who have smartphones to scan QR codes in order to improve their overall experiences and interact with the businesses as they enter into competitions, join loyalty programs, and consume more related content.
The SmartBox sits on the tabletop in a restaurant or bar, or within a hotel room, and functions as a data capture device in those locations, as it provides customers with communications that are carefully tailored to their tailored to what they want, encouraging a larger number of transactions.
All the customer needs to do is scan the SmartBox QR codes in order to be redirected to a mobile site that offers information about current and upcoming competitions and promotions, and simple registration for loyalty programs.
Ponti’s Italian Kitchen is running a pilot program for the technology and its 1,000 daily customers.
According to the marketing manager of Ponti’s Group (the company that owns the restaurant), Jennifer Payne, “With its assistance, we are looking to further expand our CRM database, social following, acquisitions and customer feedback responses; whilst capitalising on the huge loyalty we’ve cultivated with our Grazie Loyalty Scheme.”
Payne explained that Ponti’s has worked with the team at Zappit very closely in the time up to the launch of the technology in the restaurant, and that they believe that the mobile engagement it offers will help to increase the company’s marketing potential. She also stated that one of the primary elements of this campaign will be the use of the staff to help customers to use the QR codes and to help them understand the benefits of doing so.
