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Alliance Group Limited's board has proposed that farmer-shareholders increase their investments if the company is to remain a 100% Aotearoa New Zealand farmer-owned co-operative. Offsetting this increase by boosting loyalty payments for the 2024/25 season. Loyalty payment for qualifying lambs would increase to $0.20cpk. Cattle and deer would be at $0.10cpk. https://lnkd.in/gSSaj_Tj

Delivering its annual strategy day, Wesfarmers has drawn attention to its growing digital platforms such as its OnePass loyalty program that links to its retail chains like Bunnings, Catch, Kmart Australia Limited, Target Australia and Priceline, with OnePass members shopping at a Wesfarmers-owned retailer 2.7 more times than non-members. https://lnkd.in/ghFF_8h4

Tesco is rolling out an AI-driven initiative called Clubcard Challenges, offering loyalty members the opportunity to earn up to £50 in Clubcard points over a six-week period. The initiative is delivered in partnership with EagleAI a division of SaaS loyalty platform Eagle Eye. The challenges will vary for each participant and can range from ‘spend £20 on our Summer BBQ range over the next 6 weeks’ to ‘spend £10 on plant-based meals’.    Eagle Eye powers the loyalty programs of several Australian retailers including Woolworths Everyday Rewards. https://lnkd.in/gdhX3b6U

Financial Services loyalty leader Ascenda powers loyalty at ANZ, HSBC, Virgin Money Australia, St.George Bank and American Express. Globally they count Robinhood, Brex, Capital One and Standard Chartered as clients. Contact Jackie Nissen in Australia. Ascenda is a new addition to our Australian Loyalty Solutions Market Map and is one of 36 important loyalty providers (there are 170 in total) we profile : https://lnkd.in/gAf2qpE5

Canada headquartered Kognitiv Corporation delivers loyalty in Australia for NAB, Dulux and The Star Entertainment Group. Global clients include PET SMART, Hawaiian Airlines, Avis Budget Group and Hallmark Cards. In Australia contact Kim Walsh. Kognitiv is one of 35 important loyalty providers in Australia (there are 170 in total) that we've profiled in our Australian Loyalty Solutions Market Map : https://lnkd.in/gAf2qpE5

DiDi, operating in 28 Australian cities, now offers Velocity Frequent Flyer (Virgin Australia's loyalty program) points on all trips. Uber offers Qantas points but only on airport trips.

The Kogan.com First loyalty program has grown 16% year on year to 472,000 subscribers. According to it's CEO "Kogan FIRST has become the north star for the business, creating immense value for our loyal customers.”

Virgin Australia’s Frequent Flyer program Velocity Frequent Flyer now has 12 million members. In December 2022, Velocity had 11 million members. 1 million members joined in the last 12 months - 34% higher than the prior year.

Singapore based cash back provider ShopBack has launched in New Zealand. The current New Zealand offering is online only while in Australia Shopback also delivers in store cashback. In December 2022 Westpac Australia invested $30 million in Shopback and launched Shopback in the Westpac bank app. Since then in Australia they have delivered $18m of cashback to Westpac customers.

Bain has invested $15 million to $20 million upgrading loyalty platforms at Virgin Australia's frequent flyer program Velocity Frequent Flyer since Covid. The new platform is connecting new partners such as DiDi and AGL. Their SME program, Virgin Australia Business Flyer, has tripled its membership since Covid.

Air New Zealand Airpoints has added Lightforce Solar as both an earning and redemption partner starting 22nd April. One Airpoint Dollar is earned for each $75 spent. There is a 3,000 Airpoints Dollars limit for redemptions with Lightforce Solar.

Coles Group's Flybuys loyalty program has been improved to make it easier for Coles shoppers to claim points, discounts and to access value.

POLITIX Menswear has selected Antavo Loyalty Cloud to re-platform its Politix Plus loyalty program originally launched in early 2023. Country Road Group is owned by South African based Woolworths (not the Australian enterprise) and includes Politix, Country Road, Mimco and Trenery. The re-platforming comes as rival multi-brand apparel group Premier Investments signals a soon to be launched group loyalty program.

Australian founded Loyalty Now's payment linking offering includes Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB and eftpos Payments Australia. Australian clients include a major airline, telco, union consortium and insurance group. Loyalty Now is one of 35 important loyalty providers (there are 170 in total) profiled in our Australian Loyalty Solutions Market Map : https://lnkd.in/gAf2qpE5

Silicon Valley based loyalty provider Loyalty Juggernaut has arrived in Australia and is currently onboarding their first client. Their Gravty platform is designed for ecosystem-centric and coalition-style loyalty programs. Their clients include Emirates, Shoppers Stop and the Global Hotel Alliance . They have patents on their no code rules engine, multi-dimensional behaviour and AI-powered 1:1 personalisation, multiple integrations and security credentials. Loyalty Juggernaut are one of the 35 important loyalty platforms profiled in our Australian Loyalty Solutions Market Map : https://lnkd.in/ggd9XA9T

Michael Hill's Brilliance loyalty program uses predictive analytics to personalise communications. Loyalty accounts for 75% to 85% of sales, and the program now has 2 million members across Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Partnerships to reward customers are now on the cards.

Loyalty programs and growing through insights and analytics are universal needs for Mastercard clients. Loyalty, together with Cyber & Intelligence, Data & Services and Open Banking will form the new global Services division in a restructuring taking effect on 1 May. The other two interdependent areas are Core Payments and Commercial & New Payment Flows.

Qantas Frequent Flyer's biggest revamp in its 35-year history, Classic+, promises 20 million new rewards seats and at a cost to Qantas of Au$ 120 million. Citi believes only 10% to 20% of these seats will be redeemed and, hence, a lower cost to Qantas of $70m. UBS believes the impact of Classic+ will be immaterial to earnings and cash flow.

Qantas Frequent Flyer's new 20 million rewards seats offering in Classic+ is about 50% of its capacity (based on 2019 figures and a load factor of 80%). Less than 10% of the 20 million seats will be redeemed, according to Citi's analysis.

Qantas Loyalty is one of the airline's biggest cash cows. Loyalty for Qantas is more profitable than flying, with profit margins of 21%. Domestic is Qantas’ most profitable operational division with 17% margins (international is less than 8%).

Inflationary pressures are pushing businesses to think hard about how to retain their customer base according to BDO in Australia analysis. Traditional loyalty approaches with discounts and promotions are being augmented by some retailers to reward actions beyond the purchase and tailor offers based on their data.

Bank Macquarie Group’s analysts have called Qantas Frequent Flyer possibly the leading frequent flyer program globally. Qantas members are racking up 200 billion points a year. Points issuance, which outpaces points redemption, grew 13% in the six months to December and 48% last financial year.

ASX-listed loyalty provider Gratifii Limited has launched the Bendix Rewards Plus loyalty program for Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC / FMP Group (Australia) Pty Ltd.

Viva Energy Australia has signed a multi-year agreement with DataMesh Group for payments across its company-owned and dealer sites. Viva delivers about 25% of Australia's liquid fuel demand. Viva is dealing with the rise of contactless payments, mobile wallets, and digital loyalty programs. DataMesh was named Best Service Innovation in The Australian Financial Review BOSS Most Innovative Companies 2023.

Woolworths Group is joining supermarkets Tesco, Canada's Empire Company (owners of Sobeys and Safeway), South Africa’s The Shoprite Group of Companies, and Ahold Delhaize in an Au$190 million venture fund called W23 Global. The boss of Woolworths' W23 venture fund will run the new global fund.

1 billion Qantas Frequent Flyer points had been used within a few days of the launch of the new Classic+ redemption option. The number of Qantas points redeemed tripled 24 hours after the announcement. London, Singapore, Tokyo, Queenstown, and Los Angeles were the most popular destinations with 50% of total Classic+ reward seat bookings for travel in premium cabins.

Metcash is planning Retail Media to deliver an Au$30m annual earnings contribution by 2029. Its supermarkets (IGA, which has the IGA Rewards loyalty program, Foodland, and Campbells) start this year, liquor (Cellarbrations and Bottle-O, both with new loyalty programs and IGA Liquor) in year 2 and the remainder of the group (Mitre10, Home Hardware, Total Tools, Harding) in year 3.

Australian-born burger chain Grill'd appointed global digital agency DEPT® to deliver its new app. New features include easier access to benefits in their improved Relish loyalty program.

ASX listed My Rewards has agreed to reduce its ~Au $ 1 million loan with iGoDirect Group by Au$ 725,000 with iGoDirect purchasing 20 My Rewards client agreements and associated IP. https://lnkd.in/gjZ9Heh8

Insurer AIA NZ's Vitality loyalty program now has 60,000 members. Collectively, they've recorded 79 billion steps, 17,404 health checks, and it's distributed $3.9 million in weekly active benefit rewards. An additional additional $3.4 million rewards have been redeemed as Air New Zealand Airpoints and Woolworths Supermarkets vouchers.

Virgin Australia's Velocity Frequent Flyer program has partnered with power company AGL with an acquisition offer.

Qantas Loyalty, with 14 million members, brought in $1 billion in revenue in 2023 (double 2019's figure) and $220 million in operating profit. Virgin Australia's Velocity Frequent Flyer, with 11 million members, brought in $330 million in loyalty program revenue and $77 million in operating profit last financial year.

Qantas Loyalty's home loan with 100,000 Qantas points annually is more cost-effective over 5 years on an example $1 million home loan (repayments between $233,755 and $238,592) than a Big 4 bank ($250,623). It's moderately less cost-effective than an ultra-low variable loan ($229,854).

Westpac has distributed Au$18 million in merchant-linked rewards to their customers through their partnership with ShopBack which was established in December 2022.

Qantas Frequent Flyer will offer 20 million new rewards seats (5 million were previously available) in the biggest-ever revamp the program following it's biggest reputational crisis in recent history. The new rewards seats come's at a cost of $120 million in the 2025 financial year, mainly in lost ticket revenue. Qantas EBIT guidance for the loyalty division for the 2024 financial year is fractionally down (was $500 million and $550 million and is now $500 million and $525 million). Qantas Loyalty's underlying earnings will grow at 10% in the 2025 financial year (it was 56% in the 2023 financial year).

One New Zealand (previously Vodafone) has launched a loyalty program called One Wallet. Customers can earn One Wallet Dollars by trading in an old phone, taking out a new mobile or broadband plan or setting up a direct debit. Dollars earned can be redeemed for a new phone. Customers must be on an eligible consumer pay-monthly plan.

AIA NZ released a new Vitality app today. There are several changes to the program, including Event Cinemas discounted ticket prices increasing to $14 and the New Balance discount dropping from 30% to 25%. They've also recently established onshore servicing, added ‘speed’ as a new way to earn physical activity points and shifted some data storage to cloud-based providers in Hong Kong and Singapore. https://lnkd.in/ghKx5jvu

Qantas has announced the previously signalled new Classic+ seat redemption update to improve the way customers can redeem points. Classic+ can be used on international flights from July and on domestic flights from the end of this year. Redemptions will vary with airfares and will require more points during peak travelling periods (such as school holidays) and less during non-peak times. Members can convert one frequent flyer point to 1¢ for economy flights and one point to 1.5¢ for business class flights.

Marigold has a new USA based CEO in Mike Gordon replacing Wellford Dillard. Marigold (previously Cheetah Digital) delivers loyalty for Baby Bunting, Bakers Delight, The Good Guys and Beacon Lighting. Rebranded in 2023, Marigold group companies include Campaign Monitor by Marigold, Cheetah Digital, Emma, Liveclicker, Sailthru, Selligent and Vuture. https://lnkd.in/gZv7kKJ9

Qantas Frequent Flyer's signalled new Classic+ flight redemption option will apparently roll out from 1 July. It won't be available on Jetstar Airways and will be refundable for a fee of 6,000 points. The new scheme is likely to convert one Frequent Flyer point to 1¢ for economy flights and one point to 1.5¢ for business flights. Qantas Frequent Flyer had 15.2 million members last year, up from 14.1 million in 2022.

Broadcaster Nine, with 20 million signed-in users, has selected Adobe's Customer Data Platform.

Datamine is the only Campaign Execution Expert classified in our 2024 Australian Loyalty Solutions Market Map. Their team deliver specialised campaigns for Freedom Australia, EVT - Entertainment | Ventures | Travel and My Plan Manager. Get the executive summary of the full map here : https://lnkd.in/gAf2qpE5 . The Executive summary (free) includes all 179 loyalty providers and details on 16 of the most important ones (including Datamine) while the full report (US$250) carries all 35 of the important loyalty providers.

The new David Jones credit card issued by Latitude Financial Services was launched two weeks ago to replace the previous American Express co-brand. The regulator took issue with the Amex card confusing consumers who thought they were loyalty cards.

ASB Bank offers life insurance from AIA and is now promoting the Vitality wellness program and it's proven Apple Watch offer.

Gift cards are key rewards in credit card and retail loyalty programs. New Zealand's gift card market will be worth US$1.0 billion this year (NZ$1.7 billion). It'll be worth US$1.3 billion by 2028.

TSB New Zealand's Platinum MasterCard has received a five star Canstar rating for Outstanding Value in the Rewards category.

We're updating our annual New Zealand Loyalty Solutions Market Map in June (2023's edition below). If you're a loyalty provider targeting the rapidly changing New Zealand market (a good idea), you need to be included. Of the 64 loyalty providers in New Zealand we profiled 16 Verified Vendors including: 🔹Antavo Loyalty Cloud has launched both Mercury NZ and Kathmandu 🔹DataCo Technologies has landed a new client 🔹Datamine working with Air New Zealand, bp, Animates Vetcare NZ, AMP and 2degrees 🔹Eagle Eye has launched the new Woolworths Supermarkets Everyday Rewards and delivers The Warehouse Group's MarketClub 🔹Epsilon who deliver Supercheap Auto's program 🔹Gratifii Limited who won FAB Group 🔹Incentive Solutions (NZ) who deliver Spark New Zealand, Fonterra and a host of others 🔹Kognitiv Corporation which delivers Auckland Airport 🔹Marigold has launched PGG Wrightson Ltd, Baby Bunting and Green Cross Health Join here: https://lnkd.in/g6AvxRcF

Westpac-owned St.George Bank has launched ShopBack accelerated cashback offers for its 2.6 million customers. Westpac invested US$30 million in Shopback in December 2022 and launched Shopback offers for Westpac customers.

Gratifii Limited presented its results at the Sydney Investor Day last week. It's the largest Australian loyalty and rewards business, with 17 million distinct accounts on its platform. Its turnover has grown from $2.5m to nearly $40m in two and a half years.

Australian-born family business TASK has received a takeover bid of $310 million from PAR Technology. Advised by Latimer Partners, Task was acquired by Plexure (the digital name behind the McDonald's’s app) for $120 million in 2021. The deal gave Task shareholders 43% ownership in Plexure.

Qantas Loyalty is targeting earnings of $1 billion (up from the $451 million earned to June 30). It'll soon unveil an addition to the program likely to be called Classic+ and convert one Frequent Flyer point to 1¢ for economy flights. pay.com.au offers airline agnostic earn and has 15,000 business owner customers each paying at least $7000 a year for membership. They earn on bank-to-bank transfers and other expenses on credit cards where surcharges apply and can redeem for seats on Qantas, Virgin Australia, Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways.

Department store David Jones has 3.6 million members of it's David Jones Rewards program with more than 50% having shopped in the last year. It's 6 month old Retail Media business is targetting revenue of $35 million annually using loyalty data. The Retail Media leaders are supermarkets Woolworths Group ($550 million revenue) and Coles Group ($250 milllion annually).

Premier Investments is adding a loyalty program that will be up and running by the end of this year as a major transformation of the business. Premier owns Just Jeans, Jay-Jays, Portmans, Dotti and Jacqui E and will divest Smiggle and Peter Alexander.

Retail holding company Premier Investments is likely to sell Smiggle & Peter Alexander and be managed for its cash brands and a bolstered loyalty program to drive sales.

Coles Group is trialling a subscription very similar to Woolworths Supermarkets Everyday Extras. Called Coles Plus Saver is only available in Victoria and Tasmania and provides 10% off one shop a month, double Flybuys points and targetted offers. Woolworths Everyday Extras offering (currently at over 200,000 members) delivered by Eagle Eye is shortlisted again for the International Loyalty Awards in Dubai in April.

Pascale Helyar-Moray OAM of Grow My Money won Female Fintech Leader Of The Year at at last week's Fintech Awards with Loyalty Now winning Best Innovation In Rewards And Loyalty.

Suncorp Group will reward customers with lower insurance premiums if they achieve a resilience rating of three stars or higher in the Bushfire Resilience Rating app.

United Airlines is offering a status match for Qantas Frequent Flyers. United is partnered with Virgin Australia and the status match includes reciprocal benefits across the other 25 other airlines in Star Alliance.

Gratifii Limited (listed on the ASX) has completed a Au$ 1.6 million capital raise. The funds will be used for tech development, inventory, and working capital. Three client implementations are due in May including RACV, Club Connect and EML.

Baby Bunting's family loyalty program discontinued its spend and earn mechanism on 12 March (it was a $10 reward for every $200 spent). Any remaining rewards will expire in 60 days.

Lexus has added a $1,899 subscription program, called Encore Elevate, to its Encore program. Benefits include loan vehicles twice a year for five days at a time, valet parking, two airline lounge passes, roadside assistance, fuel discounts, offers from hotel and restaurant brands and exclusive events. Competitor Hyundai's luxury arm Genesis and Audi are offering similar programs.

Department Store MYER's One loyalty program was launched in 2004 to replace Flybuys. By 2019 it was "terminal" with non-loyalty program members spending more than program members. Today it's central to Myer''s business with 7 million accessible members of which 4.3 million are active producing 76% of Myer’s sales.

Priceline is now live in the Wesfarmers OneDigital OnePass program. Priceline Sister Club loyalty program members who link to OnePass get free delivery on some orders, 365-day returns on some items and tier members earn 2 points per dollar spent.

All of the 179 customer loyalty solutions available in Australia categorised in one map. We're making the complex loyalty platform selection process simple with the Australian Loyalty Solutions Market Map 2024. Download here : https://lnkd.in/gAf2qpE5 Get the free Summary Report which includes overviews of 16 of the most important loyalty platforms of buy the Full Report covering all 35 important loyalty platforms who are - Amperity, Annex Cloud, Antavo Loyalty Cloud, Bink, Capillary Technologies, Clima, Covalent API, Currency Alliance, DataCo, Datamine, Eagle Eye, Elevate Loyalty, Epsilon, Gratifii Limited, Grow My Money, Incentive Solutions (NZ), Ixup, Kobie Marketing, Kognitiv Corporation, Loyalty Juggernaut, Loyalty Now, Loyalty Status Co, Loylogic, Marigold, Mastercard, Pointspay, PokitPal, POPINK, Pug, Salesforce, Simplicity Loyalty, Slyp , Stampix, TASK, Tranxactor.

We have a monthly "just the facts" Australian loyalty market update newsletter. April's edition out soon and you can sign up here https://lnkd.in/gmQUU6KF . In March we covered; 🔹Wesfarmers OneDigital; there's 9.4 million active Flybuys members, Priceline's Sister Club has 3.7 million active (of a total of 8.6 million) and Bunnings has 1.1 million PowerPass members.  🔹Kogan.com; the Kogan First loyalty program grew 110% with 60% of Kogan's sales coming from 466,000 loyalty members (there are 3 million customers in total). Loyalty members grew 15% and generated Au$ 22.7 million in revenue (double last year's number). 🔹Woolworths Group: the head of loyalty and e-commerce will become its CEO in September and it’s in-store price ticketing is now platform-driven across 1,000 stores and 16 million tickets a week (supporting Member Based pricing for Everyday Rewards). 🔹Qantas Loyalty: racked up Au$ 270 million profit for the half year (and is aiming for a full-year profit of Au$ 800 million to Au$ 1 billion in 2030), 2 million reward seats were redeemed in the last 6 months and it’s researching a pay-as-you-go Qantas Club monthly subscription. 🔹Health insurance loyalty; In the last 10 years, AIA Vitality’s rewards program members have taken 420 billion steps, completed 100,000 health checks and visited partner gyms 3.9 million times while Medibank Live Better rewards members have redeemed over $10 million in rewards in the first half of this financial year. 🔹Loyalty platforms: ASX-listed restaurant loyalty provider TASK (Starbucks and McDonald's are clients) has agreed to be acquired by US-based PAR Technology for Au$ 288 million, Accenture Song has acquired Melbourne-based martech consultancy The Lumery and Digital Alchemy has acquired Salesforce consulting shop AFDigital with the new company now called Xenai Digital. 🔹Singapore Airlines Kris+ app (with 100,000 downloads in Australia) has about 100 businesses in Sydney and Melbourne offering users up to three miles for every dollar spent. Australia has the second biggest base of KrisFlyer members outside of its home market Singapore. https://lnkd.in/gmQUU6KF

Absolutely the best place for all your loyalty news! #loyalty #loyaltyprograms

We have a monthly "just the facts" New Zealand loyalty market update newsletter. April's edition is out soon and you can sign up here https://lnkd.in/gmQUU6KF . In March we covered; 🔹Woolworths Supermarkets (previously Countdown Supermarkets) new Everyday Rewards program helps customers earn rewards 2X as fast as the previous Onecard program. The same Everyday Rewards program drove a 42% year-on-year increase in Everyday Rewards App users in Australia. 🔹Air New Zealand Airpoints; added 400,000 new members in the past year pushing membership up 4.4 million (New Zealand's population is 5.3 million). 🔹Mercury NZ; their new loyalty program last year issued 238,000 rewards and 214,000 free power days. Members logged 4 billion steps in the Mercury app. 🔹Loyalty platform consolidation; New Zealand loyalty platform VMob (2011) became Plexure (2016), listed on the NZX Limited and had a $5 million investment from McDonald's (2019), merged with TASK (2021) which was just acquired by US-based PAR Technology https://lnkd.in/gmQUU6KF

The AA is recruiting a Head Of Loyalty to "transform loyalty, relevancy and engagement" with their 1. million members. It's a strategic shift towards a member-centric approach.

The My Dan's loyalty program from Dan Murphy's has been updated for it's 8 million members.

ASX-listed enterprise loyalty provider Gratifii Limited has signed with EML to both distribute EML customer-branded digital prepaid gift cards and for EML to access Gratifii's rewards content covering 250 suppliers. The Australian gift card market was worth US$ 6.3 billion in 2022 and growing at a compound annual growth rate of 11%

Australia's loyalty market is expected to grow by 11% annually to be worth US$ 4.03 billion (Au$ 6.12 billion) this year. It's grown at a compound annual growth rate of 12% for the last 4 years.

Autobarn's Accelerate Rewards, launched in December 2022, now has 1 million members. - https://lnkd.in/db8yrxHM

AMP backed fintech Citro has launched a rewards program for retirement age Australians. Launched in 2023, Citro has 75,000 members. Rewards program members receive a physical and digital payment card, which links to a member's PayTo-enabled bank account. When used at participating retailers, members receive cashback. - https://lnkd.in/g4wCkb5v

Dan Murphy's My Dan’s loyalty program has grown 16% and now has 5.2 million active users. Scan rates are at 79% (up from 70% last year). The BWS app has 400,000 active monthly users.

Pharmacy company Symbion Pty Ltd (brands include TerryWhite Chemmart) launched their Symbion Elite Rewards program a year ago with EonX. Since then they've signed up 500 pharmacies, processed $700M in payments and issued about $5 million in rewards to Symbion first-line customers. - https://lnkd.in/d3zGff6t

Qantas will increase Qantas Club membership fees between 17% and 80% from 18th April ahead of a rumoured more affordable monthly subscription-based model.

Cashrewards CMO has moved to Uber.

Department Store MYER appointed ex-Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth as executive chairwoman (rather than CEO) to move quickly and make changes. Her background in loyalty, data and e-commerce, plus her mandate for investment, is an opportunity for Myer to move into growth mode. Myer is taking market share off specialist retailers with the Myer One loyalty program’s discount offers proving effective. The Myer One loyalty program has 4.3 million active members (up 5.7% in the past 12 months) and the proportion of sales from loyalty members has risen from 67.5% in 2018 to 76.2%. Wirth grew Qantas Loyalty into a business with $500 million in earnings, more than $2 billion in revenue, and 15.8 million members.

Cicuit, Cashrewards new Retail Media Network, works with Cashrewards 2 million members and 2,000 brand partners to create a new revenue stream. In 2022 Walmart's Retail Media Network generated $2.7 Billion with an online audience of 125 million people and an in store audience of 212 million.

Starbucks's Odyssey loyalty program extension in its Starbucks Rewards program launched in 2022 was closed on Friday. It was the most widely reported Web3 and NFT play in loyalty (and perhaps anywhere in mainstream commerce).

Banks are likely breaking even on credit cards when customers pay them off on time and pay no interest according to mortgage broking firm Squirrel. Some incomes from interchange went to their rewards programs. Simplicity kiwisaver agree that with late payment fees and other penalties, credit cards were likely providing the biggest overall profits for banks.

Sky New Zealand is recruiting a Loyalty Manager to co-create their loyalty strategy for their 1 million customers and will cover Sky TV, Sky Broadband, NEON and Sky Sport Now.

Australian loyalty programs won several categories in last week's inaugural Asia Pacific Loyalty Awards from the Australian Loyalty Association; 🔹Woolworths Group with Eagle Eye; Best Loyalty Program in Grocery and Beverage 🔹Supercheap Auto Club; Best Overall Loyalty Program in Retail (ex Grocery and Beverage) 🔹Westpac Rewards; Best Overall Loyalty Program in Financial Services 🔹Taylors Wines with Points Shop; Best Overall Loyalty Program B2B 🔹The Distributors Advantage Allstars program with Gratifii Limited; Best Overall Loyalty Program - Business To Employee 🔹Samsung Electronics Learn and Earn with Stamp Loyalty Solutions; Best Use Of Digital Technology 🔹Bakers Delight Dough Getters with Marigold; Best Loyalty Program Launch 🔹Dan Murphy's My Dan Membership; Best Use of Communications 🔹Qantas Loyalty's Green Tier; Best Sustainable Initiative 🔹MYER One; Best Use of AI Technology 🔹G8 Education Ltd Childcare Saver; Best Customer Experience

Genesis's Power Shout loyalty program with Simplicity Loyalty won the Best Overall Loyalty Program in the Telco, Utilities, Energy, and Service Station category at last week's inaugural Asia Pacific Loyalty Awards.

The Warehouse Group's MarketClub loyalty program with Eagle Eye won the best Corporate Social Responsibility category in last week's inaugural Asia Pacific Loyalty Awards in Melbourne.

Qantas Loyalty is close to finalising a new scheme likely to be called Classic+ allowing members to convert one Frequent Flyer point to 1¢ for economy flights (and likely more generous for higher cabin classes). Steve Hui of iFLYflat - The Points Whisperer noted that Qantas had claimed this product "will help increase our earnings to $1 billion.”

Australian issued Diners Club International points earning cards will close on July 30 and members have until then to redeem points with unclaimed points being forfeited. Diners has 6 airline partners for transfers in Cathay Pacific, Etihad Guest, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Velocity Frequent Flyer Flyer, Qantas and Qatar Airways Privilege Club. Points can also be transfered to Flybuys.

Former Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth is department store MYER's new CEO taking over on 4th June.

New Zealand loyalty platform VoucherMob won at the NZ Hi-Tech Awards in 2011, became VMob, rebranded as Plexure in 2016, listed on the NZX Limited, had a $5 million investment from McDonald's in 2019 (who became a shareholder too) and bought ASX listed hospitality and loyalty provider TASK in 2021. This week Task agreed to be acquired by US-based PAR Technology.

The Australian Loyalty Association's 2 day Customer Loyalty Education Course will be held in Melbourne on the 8th and 9th of April.

Crypto exchange Bybit has launched the Bybit Card in Australia. Issued by flywallet on the Mastercard network, the card converts five cryptocurrencies into fiat money for transactions. It offers up to 10% cashback on spend and rewards ranging from trading bonuses to merchandise.

ASX listed restaurant loyalty provider TASK (Starbucks and McDonald's are clients) has agreed to be acquired by US-based PAR Technology for Au$ 288 million. Par is also buying Stuzo for US$ 190 million. Task acquired NZ founded loyalty provider Plexure in 2021.

More consolidation in restaurant loyalty. Australian-listed TASK (which delivers loyalty for Starbucks in Australia and globally for McDonald's in several markets) has received an Au$320 million takeover bid from Au$1.8bn market cap US-based PAR Technology.

Survey results find use of loyalty programs is up 18% with the top 6 programs being Woolworths Group Everyday Rewards, Flybuys, McDonald's MyMacca's, Dan Murphy's, Qantas and MYER One. Discounts are most important (such as Spotlight's VIP Club) and 30% of respondents are happy to pay for subscription loyalty schemes. 50% will switch if a competitor has a better scheme.

A major Qantas shareholder thinks it's confused the market by announcing a share buy-back, but deferring it until changes to the loyalty program were announced. Qantas will make it easier for members to book seats with points which brokers are concerned will affect the airline’s overall margins. Brokers believe the revamp provides a margin opportunity for the airline if Qantas Loyalty passes on some of its margins to the airline. Qantas Loyalty currently buys seats from the airline at cost.

The head of ACCC inquiry into the $133 billion supermarket sector believes promotions and discounts run by supermarkets are optimised through loyalty data and "Businesses that are able to collect and utilise the greatest amount of data about each of us and our purchasing patterns have competitive advantage.”

Toll road operator Transurban has 6 million customers and about 800,000 are members of it's Linkt Rewards loyalty program. Customers who take 10 or more trips between April and June will earn an additional fuel discount (12 cents per litre) in addition to the current 4 centre per litre available at rewards partners Shell, Viva and Coles. Transurban will offer more incentives in future.

Flybuys has more than 9 million active members covering 80% of Australian households. Head of Flybuys media arm Unpacked by Flybuys, Lauren Dulhunty, notes: “As Google continues to work on deprecating third party cookies, our access to first party deterministic data is the biggest superpower” available to retail media. Retail media is expected to grow to $2.8 billion in Australia by 2027.

1.2 million Australians shop Temu every month delivering estimated sales of $ 1 billion annually. QUT (Queensland University of Technology) analysis shows Temu's loyalty program is a major incentive and more efficient than other retailers.

Australian Loyalty Managers have 179 different loyalty solutions to choose from. We're making that complex selection process simple with the Australian Loyalty Solutions Market Map 2024. We've categorised all of them into 33 subcategories ranging from retail solutions to card-linking, banking and coalitions to gamification and digital receipts all on one map. This Executive Summary also includes overviews of 16 leading providers covering their current Australian and global clients, locations, capabilities and security credentials including; 🔹Annex Cloud 🔹Capillary Technologies 🔹Covalent API 🔹Datamine 🔹Incentive Solutions (NZ) 🔹Gratifii Limited 🔹Kobie Marketing 🔹Kognitiv Corporation 🔹Loyalty Juggernaut 🔹Loyalty Now 🔹Mastercard 🔹PokitPal 🔹Salesforce 🔹Simplicity Loyalty 🔹Slyp 🔹TASK The full map report also includes overviews of all 35 leading providers and is available for purchase here (US$250): https://lnkd.in/gAf2qpE5 . In addition to the providers above it also includes overviews of ; 🔹Antavo Loyalty Cloud 🔹Amperity 🔹Bink 🔹Clima 🔹Currency Alliance 🔹DataCo 🔹Eagle Eye 🔹Elevate Loyalty 🔹Epsilon 🔹Grow My Money 🔹Ixup 🔹Loyalty Status Co 🔹Loylogic 🔹Marigold 🔹Pointspay 🔹Pug 🔹POPINK 🔹Stampix 🔹Tranxactor