In-store integration
Creating an offline-only or omnichannel loyalty program requires EpisXperience to communicate with your point-of-sale (POS) system. Depending on your infrastructure, this integration can take multiple forms. EpisXperience offers APIs to support connecting the POS system of your choice. These APIs enable you to:
Enrol customers in the loyalty program.
Seamlessly identify customers at the register.
Automatically process transactions.
Manage discounts in real time.
Reward in-store transactions.
Infrastructure
To successfully integrate and send transaction data from your Point of Sale (POS) system to the EpisXperience platform, you'll need a robust infrastructure on your end. This setup collects purchase data and other relevant information from POS devices and transmits it to the EpisXperience platform, where transactions are registered as calculate-sale-informally and complete-sale events.
Your infrastructure can be built using either cloud-native or mainframe solutions. Let's break down both options:
Cloud-Native Infrastructure
A cloud-native setup is typically more resilient and efficient. In the event of an outage or maintenance, cloud-native systems often have built-in solutions to automatically queue and resend data once the connection is restored. This ensures minimal data loss and a smoother integration experience.
Mainframe Infrastructure
While a centralized mainframe solution can also be used, it requires more manual handling. If there's a network outage or the mainframe undergoes maintenance, you'll need to implement mechanisms to queue the transaction data and send it to EpisXperience later. This approach can be more complex and less resilient compared to cloud-native solutions.
Regardless of the chosen infrastructure, it's important to note that purchases will be registered in EpisXperience with the timestamp when they are sent, not the original transaction timestamp.
POS system integration requires significant input from the following people:
POS System Expert: Individual(s) with detailed knowledge of the target POS system.
Integration tester: Team member(s) capable of fully testing the integration between the POS and EpisXperience platform.
Store assistants: Personnel who will operate the POS system in-store.
Loyalty enrollment
Customers may conveniently enrol in the program by accessing a mobile-friendly site where they sign up instantly after providing the necessary details and confirming the registration.
There is an option for deep integration with a POS system, enabling cashiers to enrol new loyalty customers directly.
Customer requests should be then sent via the EpisXperience Display API.
Customer data management
EpisXperience constructs a 360-degree customer profile enriched with loyalty data for each customer, allowing Sales associates to create unique and personalized interactions across all stores.
Customer identification
Customers can be identified either by searching in the POS system or by scanning a loyalty membership card. This card can be assigned to customers in EpisXperience’s audience module. The loyalty membership card contains an encoded form of the customer’s unique identifier or membership number. Scanning the barcode or QR code on the membership card results in the identifier of the customer which can be used to authenticate and access customer data in store.
Customers API
The customer profile can be accessed at the POS by calling the EpisXperience Audience API following a successful customer identification.
Rewarding purchases with incentives
EpisXperience assigns loyalty benefits for purchases by processing purchase information submitted through the POS API. Each POS system is unique, but there are two general scenarios for integrating with the Events API:
Real-time purchases: The POS or its related subsystems have an internet connection and send API requests directly to EpisXperience, notifying the loyalty program about purchases in real time.
Asynchronous purchases: In this scenario, the POS does not have a real-time connection with any external system, and transactions are processed at fixed intervals, such as hourly or daily. EpisXperience can still be notified about these purchases through batch API calls and/or daily feeds.
In both cases, ensure that the Complete-sale event is submitted via the POS API.
Using loyalty program benefits in-store
Customers can use earned benefits (points, coupons, offers) to receive discounts on their purchases. The available benefits can be retrieved from EpisXperience via API and displayed to the cashier at the register. Usage information can also be forwarded to EpisXperience by sending API requests from the POS.