Yoyo, a customer loyalty and rewards SaaS business that rebranded from wiGroup in 2020, is piloting its bank card-linked loyalty solution in the Netherlands, Germany, Iceland, Portugal and South Africa.
Offering a single frictionless process, customers automatically earn retail loyalty as part of the payment flow, without the need for additional steps.
According to the company, the solution streamlines checkout for customers while unlocking the relationships and data that retailers of all sizes need to grow.
Yoyo creates transactional software products that enable consumers to connect with businesses and brands through the use of loyalty, rewards and m-commerce technologies. The international group resulted from a merger between local company, wiGroup and UK-based Yoyo Wallet.
South Africa has a well-established retail loyalty scene, with over 70% of consumers belonging to at least one programme – according to Truth & BrandMapp’s annual white paper – but recent numbers show that this is declining year on year. Research shows that participants want the rewards and loyalty, however feel the extra step at checkout to swipe another card or open a loyalty app is cumbersome.
Yoyo CEO Bevan Ducasse believes bank card-linked loyalty addresses this core challenge, as the landscape is ripe for innovation and simplification.
“The trend for customers is towards simplicity and speed of checkout, as seen with the rapid adoption of tap-to-pay,” he says. “We therefore decided to link loyalty to this, which enables earning into the retailer’s loyalty programme seamlessly on the back of a bank card payment. No additional cards, no additional steps.”
Yoyo has also launched an SME offering that promises onboarding in under 10 minutes, striving to provide the power of loyalty to any small business. The Yoyo team, through its channel partnerships, hopes to take this solution to the 1 million-plus small businesses in the regions in which it operates.
“We’re excited to extend the solution to small merchants, as we have witnessed the challenges of keeping businesses open in the current climate,” Ducasse explains. “We are therefore hopeful we can play our small part to get customers returning and spending more at their local merchants.”
Yoyo and mobile payments solutions provider Zapper are also working together to broaden interoperability in the QR code space, giving merchants access to more payment options with a single QR code, ensuring customers can pay quickly and safely with their favourite mobile payment option.
Zapper is a payment partner of Yoyo’s, with Yoyo acting as an application aggregator to enable Zapper payments through the Yoyo wiCode platform.
Brett White, CEO of Zapper explains, “By mapping Zapper to the Yoyo wiCode, merchants only have to present one QR code to their customers. It is then up to the customer to choose which app they open and use to scan and pay. This benefits merchants as it increases the payment options without creating more friction for their customers. It also benefits customers through the power of choice, allowing them to use whichever app they feel best answers their needs.”
This functionality is currently available at Famous Brands’ retail outlets, with the possibility of introducing this to other merchants down the line.
Mobile payment, customer loyalty and rewards platform, Zapper’s decision in 2019 to build out a payment platform that allows rapid and easy integration has significantly benefited the rate at which it has deployed new offerings. The platform allows third parties to integrate the ability to scan and pay Zapper and partner-enabled QR codes from within their own branded app. This includes banking apps, telco apps as well as retail apps.
White says Zapper’s work with Yoyo brings the payment industry a step closer to interoperability that is based on win-win commercial agreements. “Creating a level playing field in the payment ecosystem which doesn’t result in disintermediation is good for everyone. Making space at the table for large and small players will benefit the customer and ultimately benefit the industry,” he says.
