Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Carl Norloff. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Carl, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

The idea has it’s roots in the original S&H Green Stamps rewards program. It all began in 1896 when Thomas Sperry of Cranford NJ and Shelley Byron Hutchinson of Ypsilanti MI, founded the Sperry and Hutchison Co. They made money by selling S&H Green Stamps to retailers who would then give them to their customers. 10 stamps for every dollar spent. Consumers would save up their stamps and then exchange them for products from the S&H IdeaBook Catalog or at S&H redemption centers, which numbered 600 nationwide. By the 1960s, collecting stamps was so popular that S&H issued three times more stamps than the U.S. Postal Service and its IdeaBook reward catalog was the largest publication in the country.  30 million American households collected Green Stamps and over 80,000 retailers gave them.

Unfortunately, the program fell out of favor in the late 70s as other rewards programs surfaced and consumer shopping behavior changed. However, in 1999 S&H greenpoints was created to reintroduce the program as a digital point reward. I was part of the start-up team, responsible for the technology that drove the online catalog, point earning and redemptions. Unfortunately, the program didn’t make it, but it was not due to consumer adoption as over 8 million shoppers joined the program. In June of 2021, I had the opportunity to acquire the brand and knew that the program could be modified to account for current consumer shopping behavior and a focus on community, small businesses and nonprofits.

Before we jumped in though, we wanted to be sure that we could recreate the magic of what S&H Green Stamps meant to so many. What better way than a road trip!  So in 2022 we took to the road in a wrapped RV to announce the comeback of S&H Green Stamps. On our comeback tour we talked to hundreds of businesses and community members to see if we had something viable. Apparently so. We were floored at the response! Everyone we met remembered the brand and was excited by the idea of a comeback! In fact, 73% of people over 50 fondly remember the brand.

The exciting thing is that we are solving a real problem for small businesses and nonprofits. Many small businesses and nonprofits are frustrated by the results of their marketing or fundraising efforts primarily due to lack of expertise, time, and budget. Our goal with the new program is to provide a valuable cost effective and easy program to implement with no complicated technology or skills required. Consumers earn 100 S&H Green Stamps each time they shop by simply scanning a code with the S&H Green Stamp Mobile app. The stamps can then be redeemed for merchandise in the online IdeaBook that is poplated with products from the local retailers. Regarding nonprofits, our Get Together Save Together program enables communities to pool stamps to benefit local causes.

We are excited by the prospect of rewarding communities for doing good.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I am a tech veteran with a proven track record of success driving innovative and strategic solutions for some of the most iconic companies. With more than 35 years of business and technology experience, I have contributed to the software and technology industries through my tenure with companies such as S&H Greenpoints, Zone Labs, Freightliner Trucks, Walt Disney, Mars Corp, and Merrill Lynch.   Prior to founding S&H Interactive, I was Sr. Vice President of Technology for Zone Labs where I developed and executed a technology strategy to support a global brand, resulting in significant revenue growth.

I also have extensive experience developing consumer behavior and loyalty solutions and was instrumental in helping to create the technology that supported S&H greenpoints, a digital reincarnation of S&H Green Stamps in 2000.

The new S&H Interactive platform was created with the idea that sophisticated consumer engagement and loyalty solutions can be simplified and implemented in a way that can be leveraged by any size business, large or small regardless of budget or expertise.

I hold a BS in Business Information Systems from Centenary University.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

We’ve had an interesting journey in our attempt create something that could benefit small businesses, consumers, and nonprofits. The first 2 attempts were complete failures. The approach, while reward based, required a business to create content such as a blog and then reward people for engaging with that content. Unfortunately, as hard as we tried, we could not get businesses to sustain any type of content creation. We spent way too much time on this model and in the end, almost folded. Then came along the opportunity to acquire the S&H Green Stamp brand and create a simple, trusted, and effective program that will change the loyalty and promotion space for communities, small businesses and nonprofits.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Our revenue model relies on agressive merchant growth and while the S&H Green Stamp brand opens the doors, it’s the passionate S&H Green Stampers out there that create the viral growth. Over 27 million people in the US over 50 recognize the brand. Our hope is to leverage those well seasoned individuals to help us grow! Of course, if you are a business interested in participating in the S&H Green Stamps homecoming, check us out. We’d love to talk to you. Are you a shopper? Join us and we’ll throw in 1000 stamps to get you started.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://greenstampsforgood.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shgreenstamps
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shgreenstamps
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/s-h-interactive
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/green_stamps