By Technology Times Reporter
Lagos. February 2, 2013: InterSwitch, Nigeria’s leading integrated payment and transaction processing company, has introduced the Reward Money loyalty program in partnership with its merchant ecosystem to reward cardholders.
Interswitch customers who make cashless payments with their Verve cards are awarded Reward Money for purchases made at merchant locations, says the technology company in a fresh bid to drive adoption of alternatives to physical cash among Nigerians.
According to Interswitch, Reward Money is an innovative merchant loyalty program that allows Verve cardholders to get instant rewards while using their cards at merchant locations participating in the program.
“This “first of its kind in Nigeria” loyalty program allows customers to earn Reward Money based on each merchant’s pre–agreed Reward Money allocation. The Reward Money earned is instantly converted to spendable money on the customer’s card. The receipt obtained from the merchants POS shows the Reward Money earned and the total Reward Money balance accumulated”, the company announced.
The payment company says the solution has been designed to be simple and be seamless for card users.
Interswitch says it is, “simple to use, simple to earn and simple to redeem. It is very easy to set up for the merchant. It is very easy for the merchant to use and operate as it is automated and requires minimal human interaction from the merchant and cardholders.”
Under the scheme, “the POS terminal recognises the cardholder and automatically awards the merchant specified Reward Money to the cardholder based on the amount spent. The more money the customer spends at the merchant using a Verve card, the more Reward Money earned. The money earned can instantly be spent or “burned” to buy products or services from the merchant or it can be accumulated to be spent later at the same merchant or at any of the other Reward Money enabled locations.”
Akeem Lawal, Director of Switching and Processing, InterSwitch, explains that this solution was specially designed to foster a better relationship between merchants and their customers.
He says that merchants will be able to reward customers based on the amount they spend and customers will be encouraged to spend more at the merchant’s location using their cards.
The Reward Money merchant determines the amount of Reward Money to be given, which can be as much as 20 per cent of total purchase value to the cardholder, says Lawal.
He says the objective of the Reward Money Program is to equip merchants of all sizes and from all sectors with a world class loyalty solution to grow their businesses.
“Reward Money is able to increase customer spend at the merchant’s location, increase the merchant’s customer retention rate and improve the bottom line”, he adds noting that global studies of loyalty programs have shown that retailers can actually boost profits by up to 25 per cent by simply improving their customer retention rates though realistic and relevant reward schemes.
Customers can make payments for goods or services using Reward Money they have earned. If they do not have enough Reward Money for the purchase, they can combine the Reward Money they have with money from their bank account to make the payment.
Interswitch says the combined payment happens automatically on the POS when the “pay with Reward Money” option is selected. This flexibility gives even more value to customers as it helps them redeem the Reward Money earned easily and without stress.
Verve cardholders can now earn and spend Reward Money at over 50 merchants including locations at the Ikeja mall such as Accessories 2 Die 4, BheerHugs, Chicken Republic, Owen & Gert, US Polo and many more locations. Merchant locations across the country are being added daily and would be updated on the website, says Lawal adding that Reward Money is only enabled for Verve cards for now but that in the nearest future Reward Money will become available with other card brands.
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