Scan a loyalty card without a network: how it works
Market, food truck, basement shop or Wi-Fi outage: keep scanning digital loyalty cards offline. Included in Cartia Pro at €29.90 a month.
By business type
Digital loyalty card by business type
The journey is the same everywhere: the customer scans a QR code at the counter, fills in a short form on their phone, and their card installs in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. What changes from one business to the next is the counter (stamps per visit or points on spend), the threshold before the reward, and the moment the QR code is presented.
The 17 pages below are grouped by the customer’s return rhythm, because that is what decides the setup. If your business isn’t listed, pick the one whose rhythm looks most like yours: the reasoning carries over.
Free plan: up to 50 customers, no credit card.
Daily or very frequent visits
The customer comes back several times a week and doesn’t linger. Anything that lengthens the visit will be dropped by the team before the month is out: the program has to fit within the time of checkout.
- Bakery loyalty cardStampsThe only criterion that matters is how fast people get through at peak hours.
- Coffee shop loyalty cardStampsThe strongest repetition on the list, and the simplest program to run.
- Greengrocer loyalty cardPoints or stampsVery high visit frequency, very variable basket: both counters are defensible.
- Grocery store loyalty cardPointsFrom a €3 quick stop to a full restock: the basket’s range is structural.
Served counter, variable basket
The customer is served and advised, and what they spend can jump tenfold between weekdays and weekends. This is the group where points on spend are almost always fairer than the stamp.
Food service
The scan moment is the check or the order pickup, never the arrival. The counter depends on the real gap between your smallest and your biggest check.
- Restaurant loyalty cardPoints or stampsRegular lunch, neighborhood, occasion: three uses, one well-set program.
- Pizzeria loyalty cardStampsEven ticket, but only orders paid at your own register credit the card.
- Food truck loyalty cardStampsReturn to a recurring spot, and a network prerequisite to check before service.
Appointment-based services
The return follows a biological or upkeep cycle, not a whim. This is the group where a client’s absence reads most clearly — and where winning clients back, reserved for Pro and Business, is worth the most.
- Hair salon loyalty cardPoints or visitsThe five-to-eight-week cycle makes a client’s absence readable.
- Barbershop loyalty cardVisitsUpkeep every two to three weeks, uniform services: a simple counter.
- Beauty salon loyalty cardPointsAn empty treatment-room slot can’t be made up: winning clients back is worth more here than elsewhere.
- Nail salon loyalty cardVisits or pointsRegrowth itself sets the date of the next appointment.
Spaced-out purchases and occasions
Repurchase follows the collection, the season or a personal date. A customer who comes back three times a year can be excellent: don’t build a threshold on a weekly frequency.
- Retail shop loyalty cardPointsThe rhythm isn’t the week but the collection, the season or a personal date.
- Florist loyalty cardPointsNo frequency of its own: the calendar is your customers’ occasions.
- Dry cleaner loyalty cardPointsTwo visits for a single purchase: you have to choose which one credits the card.
Going further
Guides and comparisons
Drive-to-store: 7 campaign ideas with your Wallet loyalty card
Win-back, weather, previews, product of the day, reviews, events, rewards: 7 drive-to-store campaigns to bring customers in with a digital loyalty card.
Digital loyalty card: how to switch from a paper card to Wallet
A stamp card in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet: what changes for you and your customers, five steps to switch from paper, and what France’s CNIL expects.
Apple Wallet and Google Wallet: why your independent business should get on board
No app to install, a card that updates at every visit, messages on the lock screen: what Apple Wallet and Google Wallet change for a local shop.
How to increase your average basket with loyalty tiers
The average basket + 20% rule, progressive tiers and impulse purchases: how to use loyalty tiers to lift what customers spend per visit in your shop.
5 Simple Ways to Bring Back Occasional Customers to Your Shop
Frictionless sign-up, a 30-day win-back, a date-of-birth message, off-peak offers and Google reviews: 5 ways to turn one-time visitors into regulars.
How to Create a Profitable Loyalty Program for Your Small Business
Margin math, points rules and reward costs: a step-by-step method for designing a profitable loyalty program for your shop.
Paper vs Digital Loyalty Card: A Practical Comparison for Independent Shops
Hidden costs, lost cards, win-back notifications: compare the paper stamp card with a digital loyalty card in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet.
Cartia compared with other solutions
Listed prices, free plan, setup fees and the customer-side app, solution by solution. A summary, not a ranking.
Good to know before choosing
What Cartia doesn’t do
These limits apply to all 17 business types. Better to read them now than after installation.
No integration with your register
Crediting is done from the browser or the home-screen icon, alongside your checkout. Nothing flows up from your register software, and nothing flows down to it.
No text messages
Messages go through the Wallet notification, from Pro. The card also shows when the customer passes near the shop (about 100 m): it’s the phone that shows it, not a text message.
No app to download
Neither for your customers nor for you. The customer scans a QR code and fills in a short form; you scan from your browser. On the Pro and Business plans, the counter keeps working without a network: visits go out when the network returns. On the Free plan, the counter needs a connection.
No revenue measurement
Cartia counts visits and rewards, not your revenue, your average basket or your return on investment. The simulators on the business pages are estimates based on assumptions you replace.