With Lecy, the gesture that gives the point is the gesture of payment: the customer holds their phone to the tag, placed next to the terminal, at the moment they pay. It does not take a second more, and the team does nothing. That is not a detail: six French shoppers out of ten find it unacceptable to wait more than five minutes at the till, 76% say they have already given up a purchase once at the till, and eight out of ten have given up entering a shop because of the queue (Harris Interactive for StrongPoint, 2017). This article looks at what the gesture is worth where the flow forgives nothing, the bakery at noon, and where there is time, the salon, where one might think a gesture from the team costs nothing.
What the gesture really is
Watch a customer pay today: they take out their phone, hold it to the terminal, put their phone away. Mobile payment already accounts for about one in ten in-person payments in France, and it nearly doubled in 2023 (Banque de France). With Lecy, the tag sits next to the terminal. The customer holds their phone to the terminal, then to the tag, in the same movement, before putting it away. There is no second step, no “and now your loyalty card”, no screen to show anyone. The hairdresser takes the payment and suggests the next appointment; she has done nothing more. The tap does not consume the time available in a salon: it consumes none.
In a bakery, every second has a price
In a bakery at noon, every second at the till is one more person in the queue, and the queue has a measured cost: six French shoppers out of ten find it unacceptable to wait more than five minutes, three out of four have already given up a purchase once at the till, eight out of ten have already walked past a queue that was too long (Harris Interactive for StrongPoint, November 2017). A programme that asks the assistant to scan a code, look a customer up on a tablet or stamp a card adds seconds to every transaction, precisely at the hours when the most customers come through; it ends up no longer being applied during the rush, which is to say when it would be useful. With Lecy, the customer makes their gesture while the assistant hands back the change or serves the next person; the queue noticed nothing.
In a salon, it is more elegant, and safer
A salon has time, true. It also has a relationship to protect: the moment of paying and booking the next appointment is a moment of attention to the customer. Slipping in “show me your code” or “wait while I get my phone out” is not dramatic, but it is one more small handling, done by the team, that can be forgotten or done wrong. The tap leaves that moment intact: the customer holds up their phone, their point is there, and the conversation carries on. And since the point comes from their phone on the tag, nobody on the team has to award or check anything.
Why a programme should never depend on the team’s time
A programme that depends on a gesture from staff depends on their availability, their memory and their goodwill. Hospitality and retail are among the sectors where teams change the most: every recruit has to be trained, every Saturday extra is unaware of the instruction. The day the salon is full, the new assistant has not been briefed, or minds are elsewhere, the gesture is skipped, and the customer leaves without their point. The programme then loses its most precious asset: the confidence that the point will always be there. Lecy removes that risk by removing the gesture. That is what we mean by “nothing for the team to do”, and it is true in a quiet salon as in a bakery at noon.
Frequently asked questions
What if the customer pays in cash?
They still hold their phone to the tag; the gesture takes a second. The point does not depend on the means of payment.
Does the tag have to be right next to the terminal?
It is the best place, because the phone is already there. On restaurant tables, one tag per table works too.
Does the team have to remind the customer to scan?
They can; they do not have to. The tag is visible at the till, and a customer who has earned a point once repeats the gesture on their own.
Sources: Harris Interactive for StrongPoint, “Les Français et l’attente en caisse”, November 2017; Banque de France, 2024. Read next: zero staff intervention. To see the tap for real, the contact page.