Time to shop and earn
By NEETA NAIR Payback India launched its teaser campaign a few weeks ago on the digital medium with an attempt to create conversation around their core proposition ‘Point Kya Hai’ which then transformed to ‘Nothing is Pointless’. Elaborating on the idea, Gaurav says, “The problems people seem to be facing with loyalty programmes is – how much can I shop in one place to get enough number of points to be able to redeem it – so people often ask, what’s the point in making the effort? At Payback since you are aggregating points across multiple partners, nothing is pointless. It stands true to our brand and is also exactly what the consumers want.” While e-commerce sites seem to have caused a disruption in the shopping experience of the consumers in India, for Payback it is a different story. Gaurav explains, “While there are more and more transactions taking place online now, it is still a far cry from the offline world, at least in our programme. Offline is a huge base for the customers and there is a large chunk there which still likes going to a store physically to make a purchase. 90% of our transactions still come from the offline world because we have some of the largest players in the retail market like Future Group as our partners there.” Meanwhile the Payback website does see a healthy presence from competing brands like Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon, even though they are not Payback partners. “Online, we have partnerships with Book My Show, Make My Trip, eBay etc. But there are a few players out there who command a significant amount of market share, like Flipkart. While we do drive our customers to their websites, they are not partners of our loyalty programme. For example, if you go to Amazon directly to buy a book, you will definitely get the product but you will get a reward only if you go through the Payback website. We get commission from these websites for sending consumers there, and the same commission is redirected to our Payback members in the form of rewards.” Talking about the latest addition to their website and mobile app, Gaurav says, “We have a new feature called Bingo which tells you which of these e-commerce sites is selling products at the cheapest rate. What’s more, we also give you a reward for buying it via Payback.” With over 50 in-stores and online partner brands, the program has a wide reach; covering everyday consumer spends ranging from groceries, to travel, entertainment and many more. “Any successful loyalty programme needs three things, scalability, a higher frequency of transactions and flexibility in redeeming the reward a consumer has earned. A consumer must not be told to go back to the same shop to earn and to redeem points. As a Payback member, you can pick from a huge variety of our partners across the spectrum. Our advertising campaign’s focus is thus on two areas --- at the point of sale be it offline at a Big Bazaar or online like transactions on Make My Trip -- we will remind you that you can earn or redeem your Payback points. Another area where we are spending a significant amount of our marketing budget is the digital space,” says Gaurav. With a revamped portal, new partners, new features and a brand new ad campaign Payback is positioning itself as a one-stop shopping destination for patrons in India. Talking about the timing of the ad campaign Gaurav says, “The market has evolved and so have the consumers. A lot has happened over the last three to four years and our campaign is the next logical step in the evolution of the brand. Four years ago, we had 12 million consumers in our programme; today we have over 40 million. Consumer mindset has changed, now they want instant gratification brought about by the online shopping world and the time bound offers. They want more value for the money they are spending, are a lot more aware and are actively looking for such opportunities. Our brand thought thus marries the core Payback product proposition with the evolving customer need for getting more for every transaction.”
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