Norwegian convenience store chain Narvesen has launched an NFC sticker based loyalty program across all of its 250 stores in Latvia, and the company has told NFC World that mobile payments are a possibility in the near future.

The Narvesen ID loyalty scheme, which started as a sticker collection based program, now allows customers to pick up points electronically by tapping their phone against NFC readers placed next to the stores' POS terminals.

The NFC readers, supplied by cash register manufacturer Computer Hardware Design SIA, automatically calculate the points to be given out for each transaction and transfer them to the user's account.

To participate customers need to collect 10 paper-based loyalty stickers and then exchange them for a Narvesen ID NFC sticker, available at any store, which they put on the back of their phone. They are then required to register their details along with their sticker on the company's website.

Janis Peics, head of purchasing at Narvesen, told NFC World: "Registered customers can view their e-points balance on the web, their last transaction and campaign product wish list and can even transfer e-points to a friend and so on.

"Following a pilot of an NFC service in Riga in 2011, we are sure it will be a success story and we will work hard in this segment to make it so. We are doing this in order to give our customers the best purchasing experience possible and to make that experience more interesting and interactive."

In the next two weeks the company will be launching a mobile app for Android devices that will allow customers to manage their e-point accounts from their phone as well as online. The app will also be available for iOS devices.

"We are one of the first companies using NFC nationwide in Europe in order to manage our loyalty campaign."

Peics continued: "The next steps in developing the app would be to integrate other loyalty campaigns, such as if a customer buys five coffees then the sixth is free, and all of this would be done electronically, [with] no paperwork, by using the app.

"Another example would be to reward customers for checking in to five Narvesen stores in a day and engage our platform with social media.

"We also want to be one of the first to launch mobile payments in Latvia. We are waiting for local banks to solve security issues before we can proceed in making this a possibility.

"But, as it stands right now, we are one of the first companies using NFC nationwide in Europe in order to manage our loyalty campaign."