Loyal began with a concrete request: a client contacted us to create a digital loyalty card solution. Our first conversations quickly raised other questions. How does a merchant find their customers? Which information is actually useful? How can they prepare a campaign and understand what happened afterwards? Together, we started thinking about a more complete product.
The project started in August 2026. Aymeric and Romain are working on it in close collaboration with the client. Conversations, demonstrations and initial prototypes help us test ideas against practical uses. Each step informs the next: a question about the card can open a discussion about campaigns, data or the interaction at the counter.
Start with the card, then look at the merchant's daily work
The digital loyalty card remains the product's starting point. We expanded the discussion to what surrounds it: building a customer database, structuring it and making it usable through a management interface. A card becomes more meaningful to a business when it forms part of a relationship its team can follow and understand.
Our work therefore also covers how that interface will be used. How should a merchant consult the available information, prepare a campaign and find its results? These questions guide the design of the management tools. Push notifications also have a place in this picture: they offer a way to stay in touch with customers and share an offer or a reason to visit again.
Where does Loyal stand today?
The project is in development, from initial prototypes to preparations for its introduction to merchants.
Completed: presentation website, visual design, demonstrations and initial prototypes.
In development: Wallet cards, merchant interface, campaigns and NFC validation using a phone.
Exploration: AI-assisted marketing recommendations based on anonymised data.
Bring AI, marketing and privacy together
What interests us about AI is its ability to connect observations and help a merchant take action. Visit frequency, visiting habits and campaign results provide a basis for understanding what works and suggesting relevant marketing actions. Web research, including automated collection, can enrich this understanding with context from outside the business.
This thinking goes hand in hand with our work on privacy. We are designing Loyal around Wallet cards with anonymisation of the data used for marketing analysis. The focus is on behaviours and results, without exposing customer identities in that analysis. This choice shapes how we organise the data and envisage its use by AI.
That combination is what appeals to us: giving merchants a detailed understanding of visits and the impact of their actions while preserving customer privacy. The best of both worlds, in a sense. This gives AI a clear purpose: turning anonymised observations into practical ideas for nurturing the relationship with customers.
The realisation: the NFC device was already in their pocket
At first, we planned to build our own NFC device to validate loyalty points and record visits to the shop. Ready-made equipment was expensive. We began exploring a device of our own, designing circuits and building the first prototypes. The project was taking us into electronics, with hardware to manufacture and install at each business.
As we progressed, we had a realisation: the merchant already owns an internet-connected device with NFC that they know how to use, their mobile phone. Why add another device? We chose this approach to validate loyalty points and visits. The change simplifies the equipment needed at the counter and makes Loyal easier to get started with. Building the prototypes ultimately helped us find a much simpler solution.
Prepare deployment with personal support
We are also preparing deployment and initial contacts with merchants. Onboarding is part of the experience we are building. It includes support on site: we visit to install the materials, explain the solution and help the team get started. The way the tool is introduced into the business matters as much as the clarity of its interface.
That support continues afterwards. We remain available 24 hours a day to assist merchants, answer questions and address the difficulties they encounter. Conversations in the field should also inform product adjustments and help us identify what needs to be simpler.
Build the next steps with the client
Starting from a digital loyalty card, Loyal now brings together digital design, data, marketing thinking and the experience at the counter. Decisions are made with the client through conversations and practical trials. Moving from a dedicated device to a phone captures this approach: start with a need, explore an idea, then simplify. These discoveries and the daily needs of merchants give the product its direction.