New shopping technology was ahead of its time as Zapa goes into liquidation

By SIOBHÃÂN HOLLIMAN TWO years after it received a spectacular launch, Tuam's efforts to embrace Zapa technology have failed. While the techno-loyalty scheme endeavoured to boost local trade and encourage more shoppers to the town, those involved accept that it just hasn't worked as a concept. [private] The Zapa tag scheme has been wound down over the past year and the company responsible for the tag â€â€ Zapa Technology â€â€ has gone into liquidation in the past week. The company used technology known as near field communications (NFC) to develop an electronic tag that could be used to make payments, collect loyalty points and receive vouchers. It had hoped that mobile phones would have the technology built-in within a short time and until then, tags were stuck on to people's phones to communicate with units installed in shops and retailers. Love Your Town Tuam's Love Your Town launched its NFC tag-based loyalty scheme in November 2009 and received significant media coverage locally and nationally. It was pitched as the first NFC-enabled town and those involved hoped it would be the beginning of a new service and perhaps another technological industry for the town. At the time, founder of Zapa Technology John Nagle was very enthusiastic about Tuam's use of the Zapa tag and saw it as the largest commercial deployment of the emerging technology. Zapa approached Tuam, which was enjoying success with its own town loyalty card, whereby shoppers received a stamp on a paper card for every €10 they spent in participating shops. When the card was full, shoppers received a discount on goods. Interest declined While the initial weeks after the tag was launched in Tuam were a success, interest in the tag from retailers and customers declined. Speaking about the Zapa initiative at the time, the then chairperson of Tuam's Love Your Town Sarah Roarty said she was confident that the people of Tuam would quickly see the benefit of getting all of their loyalty bonuses all of the time. She believed that the scheme would be a huge success for retailers and customers alike. Speaking to The Tuam Herald this week she said that unfortunately the Zapa tag was a great idea that probably came about too early. 'It's a real shame that it didn't work out. I think it was a bit of technology that the town or the people were not quite ready for. 'I think the final nail in the coffin was that the latest iPhone 4 isn't NFC enabled and I'm sure they hoped it would be. The tag was only to be an interim solution until the technology was inbuilt in smartphones,' added Ms Roarty. One of those involved in developing the Zapa tag was manager of Tuam Shopping Centre Ray Collins who said a huge amount of time and effort was put into promoting and developing the tag over a number of months. He said Zapa Technology were very much behind the project and funded a shop and helped put terminals in shops around the town. 'It got off to a very good start but it wasn't sustained and eventually it just petered out. 'Everyone had the best intentions in driving business forward and we got great support from local businesses but it just wasn't enough,' commented Ray Collins. Alan McGrath of Tuam's Healthstore on Bishop Street was also involved in one of the promoting groups of Zapa, Energise Tuam. Learning experience He said it was a real learning experience but doesn't believe traders regretted getting involved in the project. 'Looking back at it, the decision to charge for a loyalty tag was a mistake. We had thought it would be offered to shoppers for free and the idea to charge for it came from Zapa themselves,' he remarked. He also felt that the technology was ahead of its time, particularly for what it was being used for. 'The success of the technology has yet to be proven or disproven. I think Zapa jumped the gun a bit and they didn't manage to quite pull it off. 'A community loyalty scheme is very difficult to run on its own and we were trying to get 50 retailers and businesses to get involved and embrace new technology at the same time. I don't think anyone feels let down by it. It was a genuine attempt to do something different. I feel sorry for Zapa that it didn't work out better,' added Mr McGrath. [/private]