The journey that ends at the till starts on the phone
I see customer uniqueness as the conceptual structure that gives transactions meaning, and QR transactions as the concrete content of that structure. When the two come together, customer knowledge emerges and an anonymous action turns into a meaningful customer relationship.
Önder TellioğluFounder & Business Designer
In the projects I have been part of so far, I have seen businesses use a wide range of different technologies to keep daily operations flowing: to take orders easily, to let customers personalise their product, to track tabs and to produce all kinds of reports. I believe one of the most valuable of these processes is getting to know the customer and building an accurate profile of them. But when we also expect a system that handles everything from financial transactions to stock and performance management to offer a personal approach during the transaction itself, I have seen many times how the operation slows down instead of speeding up. I have often come across duplicated profiles, hundreds of records opened under the same ID or name, customer cards that can never be reached again, and information scattered across different channels. Whatever the sector, I observe that the first step towards knowing the customer is usually taken in the field, right at the POS terminal. The mobile number, e-mail address or customer number we collect in order to identify the customer sometimes is not even enough to tell us whether that information really belongs to that person. Of course, we should set apart those employees with a strong memory who recognise a customer on their second visit and build a profile of them in their own minds. I see them as the organic CRM specialists of the business. But when those people are not in the organisation, or cannot be there to greet the customer, we see the whole process fall back on the system. In my experience, a mobile app can significantly reduce that burden: it lets current information flow into the central system, prevents the same data from being collected over and over, and makes it possible to recognise the customer in every channel. That way the customer can feel the benefit of their loyalty to the brand at every point of contact. This is why I see the mobile app as a memory in which a person carries their whole relationship and history with the brand. At the restaurant you always go to, do they take your details again every time you ask for an invoice? After seven coffees, do you get the eighth on the house? When you have neither cash nor a card on you, can you pay from the app? Can you see the campaigns, the points you have collected and the benefits you can get with them? Can you order without walking up to the till, and share your satisfaction, your comment or your complaint instantly? While you are running errands in the shopping centre, do you get a notification when your order is ready? Does the brand remember your birthday, recognise the friends you invite, and let you benefit from its partnerships with other brands? I believe all of these experiences can be carried effortlessly from the field to every other channel through a single app.
The relationship is not built at the till — it is built in every channel, through the app
In the customer journeys I observe, the process usually starts on the phone and is completed at the till. I think what shortens that 40-second interaction at the till appears exactly at this point: when a customer who is identified in the app arrives at the till, a single QR code can be enough. Their identity, the campaigns they are eligible for and their points balance can all be displayed at once. In a measurement we ran at one chain, we saw the average interaction time at the till drop and the number of questions the cashier had to ask fall. I do not think the gain here is only speed. Every question that is not asked at the till leaves the store employee more time to actually talk to the customer. To my mind, the job of technology is not to replace the person at the till; it is to give them time and to let the customer feel recognised.
The QR code, developed years ago in the automotive industry to track parts, today provides that same traceability and speed in the moments when we make contact with our customers. Named after the initials of “Quick Response”, in our projects this technology sometimes represents the customer in the store, and sometimes the relationship between a product and its owner. Of course, I do not think the QR code is a magical technology. On its own it does not create a customer relationship. In my experience, when transactions are matched with a persistent and unique customer identity, anonymous actions turn into behavioural history, and behavioural history turns into personalisation and loyalty management. Put differently: customer uniqueness converts the technical value of a QR transaction into relational value. I believe a QR transaction that is not tied to a customer produces nothing but an anonymous action; and a customer uniqueness that is not fed with transaction data remains an abstract classification. To my mind, a loyalty relationship can only be built by bringing together a customer’s unique identity and their behaviour over time.
In short, I see customer uniqueness as the conceptual structure that gives transactions meaning, and QR transactions as the concrete content of that structure. When the two come together, customer knowledge emerges and an anonymous action turns into a meaningful customer relationship.
I believe the value of the QR code comes not from its technological novelty but from the bond it forms with customer uniqueness. My experience in projects shows that this simple, mature technology becomes a powerful catalyst for progress when it is combined with the right identity structure.
The aim is not to get the app downloaded, it is to make life easier
In my experience, one of the traps brands fall into most often is reducing the mobile experience to a download target. I do not believe a customer who downloads the app and never opens it a second time creates lasting value — either for the brand or for themselves. That is why our priority is not the download count alone; it is the second-open rate and the share of visits that happen through the app in total visits.
We see that what drives the second open is usually not a campaign but a function that genuinely works: seeing the remaining points, reaching past purchases, starting a return or changing the next appointment… These may not look like exciting features at first glance; but I believe it is these online services, offered by the brand in an easy and accessible way, that bring the customer back.
I observe that when customers know how to reach the brand at the moment they need it, and experience no uncertainty in doing so, their trust in the brand grows stronger. To my mind, this predictable and effortless experience also helps the brand become one of the first options that comes to mind. I think transacting with the app at the till has one more quiet benefit: data errors and unauthorised use decrease. When the customer is recognised through the app on their own phone, problems such as a cashier mistyping a phone number during a rush can be avoided, and loyalty data becomes more reliable. I believe this matters now not only for customer experience but also for the protection of personal data. In its Principle Decision no. 2026/266 dated 11 February 2026, the Turkish Personal Data Protection Board states that using the mobile phone number or card number of a loyalty card member by a third party, without the member’s knowledge and consent and without any verification, may amount to unlawful data processing and a personal data breach. The decision requires appropriate verification mechanisms to be put in place to show that the loyalty transaction took place with the knowledge and consent of the data subject. For this reason I believe that, instead of a recognition method at the till that relies on someone simply saying a phone or card number, methods such as a QR code generated through the mobile app under the customer’s own control — providing transaction-specific verification — offer a safer and more consistent structure.¹ Ultimately, I believe the success of a good mobile experience is measured less by how many times the app was downloaded than by how many times it made the customer’s life easier. When customer uniqueness and the QR code come together properly in that experience, I see the transaction that ends at the till turn into a continuous and meaningful relationship that begins on mobile.
¹ Turkish Personal Data Protection Board, Principle Decision no. 2026/266 dated 11 February 2026, “Principle Decision on the Use of the Mobile Phone Number or Loyalty Card Number of a Loyalty Card Member by a Third Party During Shopping”. The compliance deadline was extended to 28 February 2027 by Decision no. 2026/1491 dated 22 July 2026.
