Robert Moerland, VP Business Development for Zurich-based Loylogic Inc., told Loyalty 360 he believes that there are various loyalty opportunities existing throughout the industry.
“The clear one is integration of online and offline through mobile,” Moerland said. “The conversion of commerce, mobile, and payment is happening through wallet solutions, and there is an opportunity here for loyalty solutions. Virtual currencies present an opportunity and they could become relevant in everyday life. There is a great opportunity to go mobile and increase engagement through the mobile device.”
What’s more, Moerland believes there is an opportunity to increase the liquidity of loyalty currency and thereby increase engagement.
“If they can burn it on everything and all purchases, this will increase the relevance of loyalty currency and help more specific segments that aren’t as engaged,” Moerland explained. “Every loyalty program will look at how they can become relevant and how to differentiate from competition and expand its relevance.”
Moerland pointed to two statistics from a recent company survey: 60% of respondents appreciate the flexibility of convenience more than value; 66% of respondents said they’d want to be involved in a loyalty program where members can redeem points and miles via mobile devices.
“People are saying they want to be in control of points,” Moerland said. “It’s an important message for loyalty programs. The challenge becomes cost with the understanding that rewards are the carrots of the program.”
Flexibility and convenience are two buzz-words right now in the loyalty industry, Moerland said.
Loylogic was honored with the “Best Loyalty Industry Innovation” on June 11 at the Loyalty Awards in London. That innovation is called PointsPay –a global wallet and payments solution that launched last year. It’s the first global mobile wallet and payment solution for paying with loyalty currencies (such as miles and points) at more than 30 million points-of-sale online and in-store.
PointsPay is the industry’s first redemption solution that allows loyalty program members to pay for anything, anywhere, and at any time using points and miles from a variety of different programs. The PointsPay solution provides loyalty program members with the ultimate flexibility and convenience when redeeming loyalty benefits – a need identified by Loylogic in a market survey conducted last year among 1,500 members from more than 50 loyalty programs worldwide.
PointsPay brings a new virtual currency to merchant points-of-sale all over the world and helps participating loyalty programs boost member engagement and overall program satisfaction. In the first four months of the operation, more than 14,000 users joined PointsPay and there were transactions in more than 70 countries with over 2,500 merchants. Through 7,000 transactions, about 70 million miles were redeemed for the launch partner Etihad Airways’ program -- Etihad Guest.
“It’s quite revolutionary for the loyalty industry and for us,” Moerland said. “It’s been an exciting journey to build something like this payment solution, and receive this great recognition from the payment industry.”
PointsPay launched with the Etihad Guest program in September 2012 and rolled out on a broad basis about four months later.
“The flexibility to use guest miles anytime and anywhere is very exciting,” Moerland said. “People really love it. The payment industry saw this addressed a consumer need. With no POS integration necessary, it makes our solution very scalable. It leverages existing technology.”
Moerland, who said it took about two years to develop the product, said customers can enroll and create a profile a PointsPay within a minute.
“Once they’re members, they’re able to see their miles balance as available in cash,” Moerland said.