
Universal Smart Cards is seeing a sharp rise in the adoption of smart card technology for the Membership and Leisure Industry.
Even in today’s digital world, a plastic card, fob, or wearable is still the best way to provide its members with a product that re-enforces its brand. The trick is now to engage the member with as many value-added services to drive further engagement and value. This is particularly important when it comes to renewal time.
Smart card technology provides a perfect platform for this as its versatile and flexible memory facilitates multiple applications, but it is also convenient, secure, and easy to use.
Paper tickets and coupons are therefore being replaced with smart card technology for multiple uses in areas like sports venues, gym memberships, clubs, and associations. One standard becoming increasingly popular is Near-Field Communication (NFC) using smart cards. This allows smartphones to read and validate NFC-enabled cards and wearables. For example, an encoded member card using NFC technology can be authenticated to a cloud server using a standard smartphone in the field. The opportunities are endless!

If you are looking to develop a system or want to learn more about how technology can work for you, please give us a call. Our team have a wealth of experience in the types of cards, fobs, and wearables and will help guide you on the latest chip technology that is affordable and current to future-proof your scheme.

Universal Smart Cards can also help with card production and design by offering a range of print techniques that allows you to create a bespoke design with a high bank card quality finish. Each of our customers has their own dedicated account manager taking you through the process from concept to a finished card or wearable.
Our technical center, based in Portsmouth, can also help with in-house card personalization, key management, and fulfillment. As an ISO 9001 accredited company and very experienced in what we do, you will get the best quality and most importantly, long lasting cards or wearables.

If you are looking to replace or introduce a membership card or wearable, please call us if any of the following is of interest:
Improving branding and design. Please ask for our samples pack showing how we convert poor visual artwork or designs into something that leaps out at your customers.

Explore environmentally friendly or anti-microbial card options. We supply recycled PVC, PPH and wooden cards to help clients with their environmental goals and cards that stop the growth and replication of bacteria.
Want to explore Smart Card Technology, types of chips and alternatives to standard ISO cards? We can help with a range of wearables that can help bring more life to your brand. Our technicians can also support with integration and mapping of card data.

How to print your own cards if you need to manage this in-house and to personalize cards in situ. We supply the latest card design software, card printers, ribbons, cleaning kits, badge holders and lanyards to give you this flexibility. A tried and tested technique is to pre-print cards with a bank quality finish at the time of manufacture and personalize the photos and names afterwards to enhance the finish.
Explore whether we can help you save costs on an existing deployment. Please contact us and talk us through your requirements in more detail so we can cost this up for you. We are able to provide sample cards if needed.
Loyalty Cards are back on the rise
Do rewards really create customer loyalty? After receiving some negative press, loyalty programs are once again on the rise. Moving away from cheap promotional devices, short term fads, and creating actual ‘value‘ rather than just ‘cost’, organisations are implementing effective reward programs. Technology is now having a big influence on consumers and their favourite brands. Users want hassle-free, out of the box convenient loyalty solutions that can be supported by easy to use cards such as Contactless or Near-Field Communications (NFC) technologies.
Are you looking for a branded loyalty card?
Loyalty cards are the classic way to promote your brand and drive consumer engagement. Universal Smart Cards has supplied millions of cards into this market for nearly twenty years. We can offer a wide range of card services from concept design right through to final manufacture.

Customer Quotes:
"We have been purchasing printed loyalty and gift cards from Universal for a few years and always receive a fantastic service. The cards look great and the turnaround time is very good!"
"We often have very specific requests regarding numbering and colours and this has never been an issue, which is very refreshing, as we know that our customers will receive cards that look great, meaning that they will come back for more."
"The account manager, the lovely Joanna Smith, is always helpful and keeps us updated on delivery times etc. She is amazingly organised, which means we know we can relax and just wait for the cards to arrive."
"The whole service is great from start to finish”
We can support existing card technologies such as magnetic stripe or barcode or look at newer and emerging smart card technologies. We can advise on secure and convenient platforms like Contactless Smart Cards and how this can also work with Near-Field Communications (NFC) and NFC/mobile devices.
Alternatively, for client-server applications where you just need a card to act as a simple identifier, Universal Smart Cards offers a full line-up of memory cards, magnetic stripe cards or a simple barcode. Each of our customers has their own dedicated account manager taking you through the process from initial concept to a finished card or wearable.
If you are looking to develop a branded card or wearable or want to learn more about how the card technology can work for you, please give us a call.
Our team have a wealth of experience in the types of smart card technologies available to help future proof a scheme.
Services that Universal Smart Cards can offer
We offer a range of print techniques including offset (CMYK) and silkscreen, matt and gloss finishes, pearlescent and metallics that create a bank card quality finish and enhance brand commitment.
Our technical centre can also help with key initialisation, full personalisation and fulfilment. As an ISO 9001 accredited company, all areas of our operation adhere to high-quality standards assuring our clients of high-quality cards that are built to last.

Choice of loyalty credential available
Universal Smart Cards can also supply a range of smart objects such as key-fobs or tags for customers that do not want to carry a standard ISO-sized card.
These compact alternatives to a card can be attached to a keyring, kept in a wallet or even behind a mobile phone case.
Fobs can be integrated with payment if required; please refer to our payment in wearables section for more information
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