Saw card points '' currency '' for payment

Consumers don''t like to lose credit card points and many do not have the patience to wait to accumulate enough balance to redeem any award. An eye on those customers, banks, retailers, cards and flags mileage companies working to develop technologies that make possible the payment of retail shopping with loyalty programs. These initiatives are assets of banks to convince the customer-in particular high income – to focus their purchases at any given card.
Santander started this month a pilot project in the city of São Paulo to test payment with points of its loyalty program, Santander, physical retail Sphere. The project is a partnership with Mastercard, which brought to Brazil the "Pay With Rewards", which makes the payment with credit card points on any machine to accept the flag.
For now, only employees of the Bank and Mastercard are testing the system, due to be released later for customers. "We want to enhance the Santander sphere. The pillar of benefits is important for customer loyalty, "said the Executive Superintendent of Santander cards, Rodrigo Cury. For him, the possibility of redeeming the prize time will increase the perceived value of the point given by the Bank.
Santander is the first to test in Brazil the technology of Mastercard, but she must also be offered to other banks. Retail integration solutions with loyalty card programs are a global growth strategy of the flag, according to the Vice President of products and solutions of Mastercard Brazil, Valerio Myrtle.
Even before the partnership between Santander and Mastercard, the Original Bank, J&F business group, presented a similar solution by launching on the market. Each point of your loyalty program worth $ 1 and, if the customer wants to, can inform the application of the Bank that your next transaction will be paid with points. The Bank makes automatic compensation in the making. Since it began operations in March, about 10% of the points accumulated by customers have been exchanged. And the restaurants are the preferred location, accounting for about 20% of rescues.
"We created this system thinking about simplicity. There''s no minimum number of points to redeem any award or a restricted network of partners. The client appreciates it, "said the Director of individual products from the Original Bank, Fernando Pantalone.
Evolution. The loyalty market moved about $ 5 billion in Brazil in 2015, according to Abemf data, industry association. The market is still strongly linked to airlines-Multiplus and Smiles, undertakings created by TAM and Gol, respectively, account for about 75% of segment revenues. The main source of income is the transfer of credit card points for your program.
Gradually, banks are seeking other options. "The first movement began with airline tickets. Then he went to online retail. The next move is the physical retail, "said Raphael Mello, partner and new business Director of the LTM, the company that manages loyalty programs of 150 companies. According to him, some retailers, such as the network of gas stations, Shell test solutions to integrate the loyalty program of banks with retail and make payment at points in time.