Contactless payment technology has become increasingly important to small businesses as they struggle to serve customers during the health crisis. It was already growing before the health emergency hit. Now, its adoption is accelerating.

In the US, 37% of retailers have seen an increase in contactless payments during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey of 361 companies this month by the Electronic Transactions Association. Merchants are putting up signs encouraging customers to pay this way as a means of protecting themselves and employees.

Until now, the most popular form of contactless payment has been near-field communication (NFC). This is…

Last month, I mentioned that COVID-19 would change people’s behavior long after we’d flattened the curve. At Perk Labs, we believe this crisis could pave the way for a more functional, equitable online services landscape for partners and customers. We see this as the beginning of a third wave in internet commerce.

The first wave saw the birth of the online marketplace. Companies like Amazon and eBay united suppliers and customers to make transactions more convenient. A thousand home businesses bloomed and scaled. The second wave of marketplaces evolved to focus on the gig economy. …

Being a CEO is always a dynamic job with plenty of challenges, but never more than during a crisis like COVID-19. All companies must adapt quickly to cope with the evolving challenges during a global crisis. Perk Hero’s advantage is that we’re small and nimble enough to dodge and weave, adapting our strategy to cope with new threats.

In my last blog, I explained that Perk Labs would be making its ordering and payment solution available to the growing number of Canadians who are working from home during the health crisis. …

I wanted to provide an update on Perk Labs’ operations amidst the current Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Our top priority is our employees, merchants, and partners. We have altered our operations to accommodate staff by allowing them to telecommute and participate in Web-based meetings through Slack and Zoom. As an advanced technology company, we were already well-positioned for work-from-home: every team member has remote access to our corporate network and resources and we do not expect our AWS hosted infrastructure to be materially impacted by the current situation.

In addition to changing our policies to allow our employees to work from…

This summer, the smartphone app market will be twelve years old. Things are a lot different for app developers and users now than they were when Apple first launched its mobile app store in 2008. Back then, there was thin competition and well-written apps had a good chance of making it big. Today, users have many apps to choose from, which makes it harder for an app to stand out. After their initial fast growth, the rate of app downloads is leveling off. US downloads grew just 5% between 2016 and 2019. Users who do download an app might not…

Should your business invest in a digital loyalty program?

First, consider the research on customer loyalty.

Acquiring new customers can be up to 25 times more expensive than existing customers. (https://hbr.org/2014/10/the-value-of-keeping-the-right-customers)

The findings of Frederick Reichheld of Bain & Company (the inventor of the net promoter score) show that increasing customer retention rates by 5% increases profits by 25% to 95%.

A study by RJMetrics found that loyal customers that purchase from you frequently are much more profitable than your average customer. …

Recently we decided to change the name of our company to reflect our new strategic direction, which has expanded beyond mobile payments to include customer loyalty, engagement, and personalized marketing. As the payments industry evolves, so too must we if we want to not only remain competitive but leapfrog the competition.

Five years ago, mobile payments was a nascent industry where fast, convenient mobile payment was more than adequate as a value proposition. Today, we view payments as a linchpin that triggers other value-added services.

Our new mission is to make shopping and dining experiences more engaging, convenient and rewarding…

Software applications are a lot like buildings. Just as buildings need sturdy foundations, reliable software needs a strong technology platform. Software differs from buildings in one key way, though: whereas buildings stay put, applications evolve. That’s why at Perk Labs, we’ve taken a hard look at the underlying technologies powering our service and made an important decision. We’re rebuilding from the foundations upward.

When Perk Labs first started out as Glance Technologies in 2016, the company had a clear destination in mind. Glance wanted to be the mobile payments company of choice in the restaurant space. …