in installing a separate app for each of their favourite businesses, Cardit becomes an aggregator, which holds the virtual cards of all the cardholder’s favourite businesses in one place, while also providing the functionalities that a separate app dedicated for a business would.

A virtual card – also called a Card-App – can have several features and different functions associated with it, making it an easy way for businesses to market their services or products on top of providing quality customer services and information about the company to consumers.

A virtual card (a Card-App) has the following features:

- Displaying design images of available services, products and a personal business card

- The personal virtual card profile contains contact details and social media links all in one place

- Several different functions can be tied to the virtual card, for example, restaurants can display a menu and take orders via the Card-App

- The virtual card owner can send short notifications to their cardholders, for example, a shop can inform their clients of discounts or a restaurant can tell their clientele of leftover food for sale at a lower price

- Businesses can reward customers with loyalty points directly by using the Card-App

- The Card-App has a messaging system providing cardholders with the ability to send direct messages to businesses and ask questions as well as put in orders

- All virtual cards (Card-Apps) are downloadable using QR codes and they can also be found using the search engine

- All virtual cards (Card-Apps) are shareable on any online platform

- Virtual cards (Card-Apps) can be grouped into lists which can then be shared

- Paper business cards can be scanned and then organised, shared and stored by using Cardit. They becomes virtual cards

Cardit is a versatile organiser for virtual cards but in addition to this the application has a strong social aspect. Cardit users can create and share an unlimited number of lists of their favourite businesses and they can also communicate with said businesses directly. This makes Cardit a powerful marketing arena.

Having a virtual card on Cardit increases the use of one of the most influential marketing tools, the word of mouth. As cardholders create lists of their favourite businesses in different industries and make them visible to their friends, the cards become an addition to the traditional word of mouth. Users can then see immediately what the businesses have to offer and are also able to make an order right there and then if they so choose.

The card format was chosen for Cardit because it works best on mobile devices, which are usually held vertically. The card format is also simple to organise into lists, highly scrollable on the phone and tablet as well as easy to share. Cards also allow the displaying of aesthetic design images of services and products which are an extension of the business’ brand.

Differences to other business card applications

Cardit differs from other apps specialising in digital business card apps such as Camcard, Eight, Cards and Evernote as it has re-invented the concept of virtual cards by making them interactive and shareable in addition to being storable.

Cardit users have a variety of features available to them, which other digital business card apps do not offer. These include:

- Organising Card-Apps into lists, which can be shared with friends and family making the app a great marketing tool for businesses and a fun experience for cardholders

- Receiving automatic updates to the Card-Apps they have downloaded as businesses introduce changes, which ensures that the cardholder is always the first to know of any new offers

- Chatting directly with businesses while also keeping their privacy intact as contact details of the cardholder will not be shared with businesses, they contact

- Receiving loyalty points directly on the Card-Apps and being able to see the amount of collected points as well as any reward the cardholder may be eligible for

New features to be added

The Cardit app is constantly being improved to offer the best possible user experience and functionality that both businesses and cardholders can benefit from.

Soon to be added features of the application include:

- The use of data-over-sound acoustic QR will be added to the Cardit app

- Businesses will have the ability to use the acoustic QR to broadcast the virtual card on radio, tv and other sound sources

- Businesses will be able to display video in addition to images to further their brand

- Businesses will be able to accept payments via the Cardit app