SM Prime unit West Avenue Theatres Corp. (WATC) is expanding the use of its one-year old pre-paid cinema card into a loyalty card that can be used to buy items in SM stores and hopefully pay for metro rail rides.

SM’s ePLUS cinema pre-paid cards is currently being used by 183,000 patrons.

SM is confident that having 55 percent of the cinema market, retail and mall imprint will enable it to convince one million users by June next year.

The ePLUS card can also be the precursor of the single-ticketing system of the country’s rails.

The ePLUS is a contactless stored value card, meaning no need to swipe but just tap or put it before the monitor or settlement facility. 

Edgar Tejerero, senior vice president of WATC, said if SM Prime wins the bid for the P1.7-billion AFCS (automatic fare collection system) ala Octopus Card of Hong Kong, of the MRT and LRT lines, the ePLUS would the platform.

Tejerero said aside from the convenience ePLUS offers for the consumer, the cardholder also gets rebates, discounts and other amenities for every transaction made with e-PLUS.  Since the payment system is agnostic or open to anyone, it can accommodate as many merchant-partners for settling transactions.

The merchant-partners also get the marketing support and since the system is cashless, there would be no pilferage (kupit) and the store does not have to give out change.

Unlike debit cards and credit cards, ePLUS operates offline where information is stored on the card and does need online connection with the settlement facility. Hence, the tapping rather than the swiping.

Tejerero said as a micropayment system, ePLUS can transact for as little as P10 that credit cards cannot do so. Unlike the cash cards of the telcos which have very limited use, ePLUS would have other merchants as partners and features a rewards system that can be used by the consumer.

Its own SM Advantage Card is a pure points system.

Tejerero said ePLUS would soon be accepted payments for supermarkets and the food courts and even the UV Express terminals in SM malls. Tejerero said the card would then be rolled out in other tenants of SM, other retailers, schools for payments in cafeterias, buses and gasoline stations.

This same card would be used if SM Prime wins the bidding for the AFCS. It has partnered with BDO (as settlement agent), ACS System of Hong Kong  and Pentacapital for the project. The other bidders are Ayala Corp. and Robinsons.

If SM Prime wins, that would be an instant 3 million additional members, Tejerero said.

A prepaid kit of ePlUS costs P300, including vouchers to some freebies while a pure load starts at P100.

In schools, Tejerero said ePLUS would be sold at P50, just the cost of the card.

“The savings and rebate that the consumer would get will drive the ePLUS. Since we own the retail and we have the tenants, we’re ahead in e-commerce in terms of acceptance,” Tejerero said.

In 2012, WATC recorded some P140 million transactions via ePLUS for cinemas alone.

WATC also launched ePLUS.ph portal yesterday. The portal will now serve as a local resource for SM Cinema movie tickets, Mall of Asia Arena events, nationwide deals and lifestyle articles.