CoinBridge

Bridging the Gap Between Loyalty and Payments

david — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 15:54:11 +0000

In the past decade, technology has evolved in many industries, with innovation bringing a wide range of efficiencies and other advantages. However, it seems this trend has not trickled down into the loyalty ecosystem. Retailers are stuck with legacy technology that prevents them from revamping their propositions, and a mindset that is not conducive to change. It’s time to transform the paradigm – both technologically and in terms of strategic thinking.

The basic principles on which loyalty programs are based have remained the same for decades. In theory, it’s a win/win for both brands and consumers… and yet most programs today are struggling to increase redemption rates and improve customer engagement

For the brand, low redemption rates mean missed opportunities to engage with customers – the prime raison d’être of the loyalty program. Retailers have a vested interest in making it easy for their customers to spend their points. And yet, loyalty today is a red ocean, and it seems that the current paradigm has reached maximum efficiency. Consumers are unable to differentiate between the different, overwhelmingly similar, propositions – a situation that fosters opportunism over real brand loyalty.

What Consumers Expect from Loyalty

Life is expensive, and many households are struggling to keep afloat. When money is tight, loyalty points can have real impact. In fact, IAG found that 92% of UK consumers depend on loyalty programs to help them manage the cost-of-living crisis. Even for loyalty members who are not seeking out additional financial resources to supplement their income, there’s a certain thrill in getting something you value, for free. So, in principle, a loyalty program has the right ingredients for success.

But, it’s not quite that simple. In the modern world, customers look for ease of use and convenience. They want the control that comes with having freedom to redeem their points for a wide range of goods, at a broad selection of outlets. And, when they receive offers and promotions, they want them to be tailored to their needs and preferences. In short, points redemption must be straightforward, accessible and relevant – which, at the moment, they often are not.

What Brands Expect from Loyalty

The prime factor that motivates brands to invest time, money and resources in a loyalty program is to boost customer engagement, in terms of purchase frequency, basket size, satisfaction, and brand advocacy. As we all know, acquiring a new customer is much more expensive than retaining a loyalty one.

When they earn points on their purchases, customers are encouraged to buy more, so they can accumulate more points. Loyalty programs also enable retailers to collect valuable data about customer behavior and their transaction history, which can enable personalization and micro-targeting, inform sales strategy, and facilitate business optimization. Recognizing the importance of choice, many brands invest in partnering with other retailers for points redemption, thereby expanding their networks.

Yet, loyalty is never the brand’s core business. So seamless implementation of a hassle-free solution is essential – but not easy to come by.

"Breathing new life into the loyalty industry, the CoinBridge solution doesn’t just improve efficiencies in the status quo. It changes the loyalty program paradigm by bridging the gap between loyalty and payments."

The Challenge of Change

Bridging the gap between loyalty and payments is one of the most effective ways to increase customer engagement. For a start, consumers are willing to spend 15% more on average, when points are redeemed via Pay with Loyalty. What’s more, 80% of consumers would like to receive product recommendations based on past purchases, so they clearly appreciate the data-driven micro-targeting that loyalty programs facilitate.

Why, then, is it so hard to bridge this gap? What prevents retailers from offering their loyalty currency as a payment method that can be used at the pure discretion of the customer?

One reason is the scarcity of tech solutions. Traditionally, tech development has been focused on the processes of earning and managing points, not redeeming them. And, even where innovation is available, retailers are not necessarily aware of it, and if they are, they may not be prepared to invest in an overhaul of their current program to achieve a marginal increase in efficiency that is likely to generate a relatively small return.

Another challenge is in the legacy attitude of retailers. Many are simply suspicious of innovative tech, while others who are open to it prefer to make incremental changes rather than adopting a revolutionary proposition.

Once a decision in principle has been made to make a change, financial bureaucracy can be another roadblock, whether in terms of the intricacies of regulatory compliance and financial licensing, or the operational aspects of merchant engagement and settlement. After all, retail isn’t always a great fit with financial services. Consider the recent sale by Tesco of its banking arm. Having found capital requirements and customer inertia to be too much of a challenge as it attempted to break into the financial services market, the supermarket giant seems to have decided to stay in its lane.

A Solution Revolution

Breathing new life into the loyalty industry, the CoinBridge solution doesn’t just improve efficiencies in the status quo. It changes the loyalty program paradigm by bridging the gap between loyalty and payments – turning loyalty assets into spendable money, accessible from loyalty apps via e-wallets, and redeemed over credit card rails at any store in the world.

This ticks the consumers’ boxes by providing additional finance resources during the economic downturn, together with freedom of choice for consumers, and a wide range of easy-to-access redemption opportunities. This means they no longer have to scroll through hundreds of offers before they find something appealing – and that’s if they’re lucky! Instead, they can buy anything they like, at any store. And the payment experience itself is as simple as tap and pay – no vouchers, QR codes, or barcodes.

For brands, CoinBridge breaks the status quo, increasing member engagement, providing new out-of-brand sources of data to enable micro-targeting and business optimization, and enabling effortless expansion of partner networks. What’s more, there are none of the technological, financial or resource challenges that brands often face when expanding their loyalty program through partnerships or alliances. All technological, regulatory, merchant settlement, and transaction-handling aspects are covered in a single-point solution, that is simple and fast to implement, with no POS or merchant integration required. All the retailer need do is implement a simple software kit (SDK) into their existing mobile app, and their loyalty proposition is instantly upgraded with infinite redemption opportunities at any shop or website.

Based on innovative, patented technology, CoinBridge is the only solution that delivers an outstanding, seamless experience – from implementation, to use, to payment execution – giving retailers a unique competitive advantage in the market. With 84% of US consumers stating that they are likely to pay with loyalty assets if this option was available to them, it is clear that CoinBridge is the solution the market has been waiting for.

Nayax and Giift Unveil Disruptive Solution for the Loyalty Space

david — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 10:32:38 +0000

Nayax Ltd. (Nasdaq: NYAX; TASE: NYAX), a global commerce enablement and payments platform designed to help merchants scale their business, today announced a strategic partnership with Giift, a global leader in loyalty technology solutions.

This collaboration marks a significant milestone for the loyalty industry by introducing the world’s first open-loop Loyalty to Payments solution, powered via CoinBridge by Nayax’s patented technology. This pioneering solution allows for seamless conversion of any loyalty asset, such as points, rewards, miles, vouchers, and gift-cards, into transactions, at any shop or merchant anywhere in the world, without the need for any merchant integrations or cross-brand partnerships.

Nayax and Giift will revolutionize the loyalty experience by seamlessly bridging the gap between loyalty and payment systems. Utilizing this technology, any credit card-accepting merchant can now also accept loyalty assets as a payment method. Brands across the globe will be empowered to provide unmatched capabilities and flexibility to their loyalty program, while giving consumers the freedom to redeem their loyalty rewards anywhere, for anything they need.

The CoinBridge Loyalty to Payments solution directly enhances consumer engagement, drives higher purchasing frequency and higher spending, and enables retailers to optimize spending volumes. Furthermore, retailers can now improve the usage of their data to personalize propositions, increase loyalty, and optimize brand performance– all without the need for integration with merchants or POS systems.

"Utilizing this technology, any credit card-accepting merchant can now accept loyalty assets as a payment method as well"

The CoinBridge solution uniquely offers a zero-friction approach and ease of use across the entire payment chain. Retailers can offer their consumers open-loop redemption possibilities with a seamless “Tap&Go” payment experience through retailers’ existing loyalty apps. From the merchant’s point of view, loyalty redemption is transparent since they facilitate a credit card transaction with no changes to their POS, internal systems, or financial settlement arrangements.

“We are excited about our partnership with Nayax and the transformative potential it brings to the loyalty industry. With open-loop redemption, we can give our customers unprecedented flexibility and freedom to use their loyalty points. This collaboration expands our reach and enables us to deliver a truly global loyalty experience,” stated Sumit Uttamchandani, Strategic Partnership Head, Giift.

“We are delighted to partner with Giift and introduce the world’s first seamless Loyalty to Payments solution to Giift’s customer base,” stated Guy Rosenhoiz, CEO CoinBridge by Nayax. “In choosing to partner with CoinBridge, Giift is boldly taking the loyalty industry to the next level, opening up exciting new possibilities for retailers and brands and offering a seamless Loyalty to Payments experience like never seen before.”

For more information, please visit www.nayax.com and www.coinbridge.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements. Many of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “expect,” “should,” “plan,” “intend,” “estimate” and “potential,” among others. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our intent, belief or current expectations. Forward-looking statements are based on our management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to our management. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements due to of various factors, including, but not limited to: our expectations regarding general market conditions, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and other global economic trends; changes in consumer tastes and preferences; fluctuations in inflation, interest rate and exchange rates in the global economic environment over the world; the availability of qualified personnel and the ability to retain such personnel; changes in commodity costs, labor, distribution and other operating costs; our ability to implement our growth strategy; changes in government regulation and tax matters; other factors that may affect our financial condition, liquidity and results of operations; general economic, political, demographic and business conditions in Israel; the success of operating initiatives, including advertising and promotional efforts and new product and concept development by us and our competitors; and other risk factors discussed under “Risk Factors” in our annual report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC on March 1, 2023 (our “Annual Report”). The preceding list is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all of our forward-looking statements. The forward- looking statements are based on our beliefs, assumptions and expectations of future performance, taking into account the information currently available to us. These statements are only estimates based upon our current expectations and projections about future events. There are important factors that could cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. In particular, you should consider the risks provided under “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee that future results, levels of activity, performance and events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or will occur. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of the particular statement. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason, to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations.

About Nayax

Nayax is a global commerce enablement and payments platform designed to help merchants scale their business. Nayax offers a complete solution including localized cashless payment acceptance, management suite, and consumer engagement tools, enabling merchants to conduct commerce anywhere, at any time. With foundations and global leadership in serving unattended retail, Nayax has transformed into a comprehensive solution focused on our customers’ growth across multiple channels. Today, Nayax has 9 global offices, approximately 800 employees, connections to more than 80 merchant acquirers and payment method integrations and is a recognized payment facilitator worldwide. Nayax’s mission is to improve our customers’ revenue potential and operational efficiency.

About Giift

Giift is a leading loyalty technology provider and program management partner with headquarters in Singapore. Founded in 2013, Giift has expanded into multiple countries, including Dubai, Mumbai, New York, London, Wuhan, Beijing, Jakarta, Colombo, Doha, Dhaka, Nairobi, and now Pakistan. Giift has served 3,000+ corporate clients across industries and has created customized, sustainable loyalty and rewards-based programs globally.

For more information, please visit www.giift.com.

Changing the Loyalty Paradigm

david — Sun, 27 Aug 2023 10:34:31 +0000

The basic principles on which loyalty programs are based have remained the same for decades – customers are rewarded for their business with points, miles or vouchers which they can then exchange for a specific – usually limited – range of goods, typically with the issuing brand. This article will review how this traditional model constrains loyalty programs and limits their power to incentivize shoppers to keep spending with a specific brand. We will further introduce what has become clear as the next logical step in the evolution of the loyalty industry – the merging of loyalty and payments – and set out the benefits for both retailers and consumers.

Unfulfilled potential

The popularity of loyalty programs is fueled by the idea that a customer will get something they value in return for their engagement with the brand. Redemption must therefore be relevant, straightforward, and accessible. Yet, consider the following: an estimated 85 percent of loyalty points are left unredeemed.

As well as representing missed engagement opportunities, unredeemed loyalty points are considered a liability for a brand, in the form of a future cost that the company may have to incur. When enough loyalty points are left unredeemed, the brand may need to set aside funds to cover the future cost of providing the rewards, which can impact their financial statements and cash flow.

There are a variety of reasons why points aren’t redeemed, including point expiration; rewards being tied to specific products or activities that simply don’t appeal to customers; and customers leaving physical cards and vouchers behind, or forgetting to redeem digital coupons at checkout. In one survey, it was found that 26 percent of Gen Z (people born 1997-2012) never redeem loyalty program rewards at all!

It is clear, therefore, that today’s loyalty programs are falling far short of the mark when it comes to rewarding customers in a meaningful way for engaging with their brand, and retailers will typically experience lower customer engagement levels as a result. In order to reap the benefits of increased engagement that improves their own bottom line, and avoid the liability of unredeemed points, retailers therefore have a vested interest in making it easy for their customers to spend their points – which includes expanding the range of available redemption opportunities.

CoinBridge is the only solution that delivers an outstanding, seamless experience - from implementation, to use, to payment execution - giving retailers a unique competitive advantage in the market.

Reward constraints

Whilst, as mentioned above, the basics of loyalty programs have stayed the same over the years, the loyalty ecosystem hasn’t remained completely static. In an effort to stand out in the vast ocean of loyalty programs, in recent years brands have created partnerships and alliances to facilitate point redemption at other retailers. For the consumer, being able to ‘burn’ points at a wider range of outlets enhances the appeal of remaining loyal.

For the brand, however, such a move requires substantial behind-the-scenes investment of capital, time and resources, making it increasingly prohibitive as they extend coverage of their program to an increasing number of merchants.

A redemption revolution

Breaking out of the closed-loop model and opening up loyalty redemption opportunities for consumers, anywhere at all, enables brands to really make their loyalty programs work for them. Now, thanks to the new market disruptor CoinBridge by Nayax, they can do so with very little effort or investment – of time or money – on their part.

Creating a new paradigm that is set to revolutionize the whole loyalty industry, CoinBridge seamlessly merges loyalty and payments into one. Customers may now use loyalty assets at their own convenience to pay for whatever goods or services they want or need, at any merchant, in-store or online, worldwide.

CoinBridge overcomes any technological, timing, financial or resource challenges that may otherwise be faced by retailers that are considering expanding their loyalty program through partnerships or alliances. Covering all technological, regulation, merchant settlement, and transaction handling aspects, it provides a single-point solution, that is simple and fast to implement, with no POS or merchant integration, and no need to sign contracts with multiple retailers. Retailers just need to implement a simple software kit (SDK) into their existing mobile app to instantly upgrade their loyalty proposition with infinite redemption opportunities at any shop or website.

Maximizing loyalty program benefits

Once implemented, CoinBridge generates a wealth of transactional data, which can then be utilized to improve the retailer’s offering. For example, if a customer uses their loyalty points to buy coffee at another chain, the retailer gains insight into an area of consumer spending behavior that they could not otherwise have accessed. This can be leveraged to personalize propositions for them, as well as to optimize the retailer’s own business operations – perhaps by opening an in-store coffee shop!

Meanwhile, the increased financial freedom, convenience and overall sleek customer experience of a truly open-loop program drive greater customer loyalty. Not only do they keep coming back and spending more, but they also become advocates for the brand, recommending it to their friends, family, and their all-important social media followers.

Frictionless payments

For customers, too, CoinBridge is a leap forward. By bridging the gap between loyalty and payments to essentially turn loyalty assets into a viable and globally-accepted payment method, the friction that can traditionally arise during the redemption process is drastically reduced.

This is great news for consumers, especially in light of rising living costs and ongoing financial uncertainty. In a recent IAG Loyalty survey, 92% of consumers in the UK said they rely on loyalty programs to provide extra value during the cost-of-living crisis, and more than 50% said they’re actively looking for new ways to collect points and maximize the returns when they spend money. CoinBridge has an essential role to play in enabling them to maximize the resources at their disposal to include loyalty rewards, and in doing so, strengthen the household economy.

Ultimate value

CoinBridge is the solution that retailers have been missing to make their loyalty offering more attractive, so that they themselves can reap maximum benefits. By giving their customers what they most value – simplicity, efficiency and choice – they add untold value to their own brand.

For more information on the Loyalty-to-Payments solution from CoinBridge by Nayax, contact us using the form below.