Expo Project, the reciept that recommends interesting things to do nearby

To improve customer loyalty and give a unique experience, restaurants are now transforming their physical spaces into ever more interactive and technological spaces. This is in part driven by the smartphones being carried by hospitality staff for payments now, as well as online bookings.

Expo 2015 was an opportunity for Epson Italy to carry out a large-scale proof of concept, in a real situation, for one of the most innovative features of POS smart printers: the ability to print service information for customers directly onto the till receipt and update it in real time.

The area selected was Milan, where thousands of events were scheduled for the Expo. This formed an ideal test case for Epson Intelligent printers from the TM-T70-i Series.

With this dual aim, Epson, in collaboration with ExpoinCittà, Confcommercio Milano and EPAM, created ExPOSition, a unique promotional and customer loyalty tool for businesses, and an exclusive service for customers who were able to use it to learn more about ExpoinCittà initiatives.

ExPOSition's "Events Around You" project is a genuine geo-marketing mobile project for businesses, that can transform the till receipt into an informative promotional vehicle. The application was installed on tills of member restaurants and integrated with the ExpoinCittà portal. This solution has allowed restaurant owners to provide geo-localised information to customers and tourists who wanted to know about and participate in events, shows and exhibitions organised in the city.

More than half a million events in the city were communicated via the till receipts of businesses who implemented the Epson solution. During its initial phase, the project also involved some of the most well-known and prestigious restaurants in the city.

When asked about the project, Pier Antonio Galli, the owner of Galleria, one of the restaurants involved, said, "Customers have been encouraged to go back to restaurants where they were able to benefit from the Expo Project. Our clients are 80% foreign, and for them, we are a reference point for information and advice on what to do in Milan. The ExPOSition service is an absolute innovation for our industry. It's a success and has even sparked curiosity among our customers. It also helps with customer loyalty. On top of that, it is creating an excellent synergy between what is happening at Expo2015 and events in the city."

Thanks to the E015 digital ecosystem designed by CEFRIEL (The Milan Polytechnic Centre of Excellence for Innovation, Research and Training in the ICT sector), the ExPOSition application in the till system communicates with the ExpoinCittà calendar and searches events, recommending those that are taking place nearby. The till receipt issued at the end of the meal and enriched with this information has therefore become a helpful tool for customers to know what's going on in the city.

In addition, a QR code points directly to the ExpoinCittà site, where you can browse all of the scheduled events, making all relevant information available to smartphone users.

ExPOSition has been able to take advantage of the full potential of the ExpoinCittà public open service system. And by integrating the E015 ecosystem, today forms one of the most innovative experiences available to all tourism, commerce and leisure operators, as a result creating an active example of a smart city.

"ExPOSition forms the starting point for the development of new applications for enriching the customer experience with restaurants and retail outlets," said Camillo Radaelli, Epson Italy business systems sales manager.

Camillo Radaelli continues, "With this project, Epson has reinforced its position as market leader in the development of technological solutions for the retail and hospitality sectors, by not only providing businesses with hardware and software but also innovative marketing tools."