Narian launches low cost NFC platform for retailers

NFC4Retail, which provides merchants with a suite of NFC apps designed to improve the in-store shopping experience, is now available in 21 countries. The service costs US$20 per store per month and is free of charge during an initial public beta period.

Narian Technologies
NARIAN: NFC4Retail now in public beta

Narian Technologies has launched a new service for retailers that is designed to provide a low cost way for merchants to use NFC to improve the in-store shopping experience.

NFC4Retail is based on Narian’s NFC4All platform, announced in August 2011, and includes four customer service applications — Narian Service, Line, Entrance and Communicator — plus a fifth, custom application that can be used to create NFC-enabled social media, multimedia, web content and third party apps.

Narian Line
NARIAN LINE: How it works. Click to enlarge.

Narian Line, for example, is an app designed to spare customers from having to queue for in-store services. The company describes it as “a modern, smarter upgrade” of “the dreaded take-a-number system”. Consumers touch a tag with their Android NFC phone to reserve a place in line, and then they continue with their shopping. When they can be served the customer is paged, with a built-in time buffer so they don’t have to abandon what they are doing and rush back across the store. “Waiting in line is now smarter,” says Narian.

Retailers interested in testing out the new platform can sign up for the service today on the NFC4Retail website. No charges are payable during the current public beta phase. Later, Narian plans to charge US$20 per month per store plus a five cent fee for each interaction with its platform.

Further apps and support for additional smartphone operating systems are also in the works, says CEO Einar Rosenberg.

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