A YORK-based software developer has created a new customer loyalty scheme for retail bakers that runs on smartphones.

Redblack Software launched CyBake Loyalty yesterday at Foodex 2014 following a three-month trial with a chain of coffee shops, which saw 70 per cent of customers using the mobile app. Reblack is known in the retail bakery sector for creating CyBake, a bakery stock management computer system. It has launched CyBake Loyalty after teaming up with Matchbox Mobile, a mobile device software developer headquartered in Hove, East Sussex.

CyBake Loyalty is designed to do away with the need for card-based loyalty schemes, allowing customers to carry and display a virtual card with a downloadable app.

Each bakery that installs CyBake Loyalty gets its own app, customised to its own brand.

Jane Tyler, managing director of RedBlack Software said: “As well as taking advantage of consumers’ almost visceral relationship with their smartphones, CyBake Loyalty cuts over-the-counter admin and gives you real-time insight.”