Ethiopian Airlines Group has partnered with Loyyal to leverage the latter’s blockchain infrastructure for its customer loyalty program. The partnership, which is earmarked for Ethiopian Airlines’ Shebamiles members, enables them to earn rewards daily, driving further engagement and loyalty. Three-Way Partnership One of the leading African airlines, Ethiopian Airlines Group, has appointed blockchain-based loyalty rewards […]
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Tech Entrepreneur Suggests Mainstream Companies May Have Adopted NFT Loyalty Programs Prematurely
According to Juan Otero, CEO of the crypto-native travel booking platform Travala, many mainstream companies that attempted to use non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for customer or user loyalty programs may have seized the opportunity prematurely. Otero argued that at the time, Web3 companies had not “even figured out the best ways to use NFTs in loyalty […]
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Blockchain-Based Loyalty Rewards Foster Brand-Customer Connection, Accelerate Web3 Adoption — Gennady Volchek
Universal loyalty programs can serve as potent tools, not only forging a direct link between a brand and its consumers but also influencing the latter’s shopping behaviour, Gennady Volchek, the CEO of the loyalty rewards app Shping, has said. However, by harnessing the power of blockchain and cryptocurrency, these loyalty programs empower brands to connect […]
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Visa Adopts Web3 Tech for Its New Loyalty Engagement Solution
Visa, a worldwide leader in credit payment technology, has announced that it will include Web3 elements in its customized loyalty program solution. The company partnered with Smartmedia Technologies, a Web3 loyalty rewards startup, to add innovative features to these programs that include virtual worlds, digital wallets, and gamified rewards.
Visa Turns to Web3 to Revitalize the World of Loyalty Rewards Programs
Visa, one of the largest payments companies in the world, is adding Web3 elements to its loyalty program solution. The company announced that it was revitalizing its traditional engagement solution with Web3 elements to catch the attention of a new kind of customer with more expectations about rewards than just receiving points.
For this, Visa partnered with Smartmedia Technologies, a startup that allows adding virtual and digital experiences to rewards programs. Smartmedia has worked with American Express, Accenture, Axe, and Vodafone.
Kathleen Pierce-Gilmore, SVP and Global Head of Issuing Solutions at Visa, acknowledged that traditional points programs have failed to address the new needs of consumers in this field, which includes digital collectibles and augmented reality elements. She stated:
Our new innovative digital loyalty solution empowers brands to reward customers not only for their transactions but for their active engagement, paving the way for secure, seamless and immersive digital and real-world experiences at their fingertips.
In practice, this means that brands will be able to reward customers with tokens and digital collectibles for purchases, social media interactions, augmented reality treasure hunts, and informative polls. These tokens will allow users to unlock rewards at some destinations or enrich their experience in digital worlds.
Visa has been very active in the cryptocurrency and blockchain, having partnered with Valr, an African exchange, in October. In the same way, Visa also expanded its stablecoin settlements capabilities to the Solana blockchain in September.
What do you think about including Web3 elements in Visa’s loyalty engagement solution? Tell us in the comments section below.
MiL.k’s MLK Lists on Kucoin as Blockchain Loyalty Platform Levels Up
Blockchain rewards platform MiL.k has maintained its impressive run through 2020 by securing a listing for Milk Coin (MLK) on KuCoin. The native token of MiL.k Alliance will be available for trading from August 6 on the cryptocurrency exchange, paired against BTC and USDT. The listing will add liquidity to the MLK token while extending the utility of MiL.k’s blockchain rewards platform. Having built a solid foundation within South Korea, where the project was founded, MiL.k is now extending its goal of an interchangeable loyalty points platform to a global audience.
It is a pleasure to announce that Milk Coin (MLK) will be listed on KuCoin. To achieve the vision of becoming a global project, MiL.k team will keep doing its best to expand its service and token to the global market! https://t.co/2cOIKir78R
— Milk Alliance (@milk_alliance) August 4, 2020
KuCoin’s decision to list MLK is a sign that MiL.k is starting to spread its wings and bring the benefits of swappable loyalty points to markets beyond Asia. As the brand grows, more integrations with lifestyle, hospitality, and leisure companies are expected to be announced, increasing the utility of both the MiL.k Alliance platform and the token itself. The project already has several major brands onboard including Yanolja, a South Korean travel unicorn with 8 million users, and Shinsegae Duty-Free, which is part of the retail giant Shinsegae group.
MiL.k Pours into the European Market
KuCoin is a popular exchange for retail traders in Europe and Asia. It’s made a name for itself through a willingness to move fast and list fast, adding assets from new and rising projects that have a strong community in place. Once MLK joins the KuCoin family on August 6, it will become easier for users of the MiL.k app to acquire Milk Coin and use it in their daily lives to enjoy discounts in retail stores and on travel.
Despite 2020 having been a dire year for the travel industry, which has been shocked by the effects of the coronavirus, MiL.k’s loyalty platform has flourished. Although designed for OTAs, airlines, and other travel industry operators, MiL.k’s diversification into leisure and retail has helped it gain traction at a time when other startups are treading water.
In April, MiL.k revealed that it had integrated with Yanolja, South Korea’s fastest-growing online travel agency, enabling members to connect the Yanolja app to the MiL.k app to earn rewards and participate in MiL.k promotions. A similar integration with Shinsegae Duty-Free, a popular retail outlet in downtown Seoul, swiftly followed. Then, in July, MiL.k introduced a hybrid staking program, providing incentives for MLK holders to lock their tokens into the MiL.k app and earn rewards.
Loyalty Points Belong on a Blockchain
MiL.k, which was launched in 2019 by Jayden Joo and Rooney Jung, effectively turns reward points into a currency of their own that can be traded for other reward points or even cash. The project tackles the problem of rewards points going to waste because customers are unable to spend them with the issuer.
MiL.k was born out of the belief that loyalty points should be freed from their siloed apps and ecosystems and utilized throughout the world. To achieve this, MiL.k has developed a blockchain-based platform to aggregate loyalty points and make them exchangeable with Milk Coin (MLK). MLK can be combined with rewards points to claim additional discounts with participating partners, and used to claim coupons within the app.
Like all networks, MiL.k is a product whose value increases are more participants – both users and businesses – are onboarded to its ecosystem. Securing the participation of more retailers, OTAs, online stores, and shopping centers will be key to achieving this. As will increasing the availability of Milk Coin on global exchanges. MLK’s KuCoin listing is an important step in realizing this while helping MiL.k flow into new markets.
A Visa Card That Offers Crypto Back & Cash Back — How One Fintech Has Reshaped Loyalty Programmes Forever
In 1981, American Airlines’ launched their Frequent Flier Programme which is often regarded as the first full-scale loyalty programme of the modern era. As technology evolved, loyalty programmes progressed into a data-grabbing tool for brands, masked under marketing as “beneficial perks” for the shopper.
Despite this, over half of customers rated rewards as important for both big-ticket, and small, habitual purchases according to a recent research study by Wirecard. With this in mind, it is highly important for brands to retain their customers through additional incentives; especially given the increasingly saturated retail markets.
A New Wave of Loyalty Programmes
One company breaking the mould is Plutus, a London based FinTech startup who has just unveiled its plan for an innovative and lucrative rewards programme. The company currently offers a finance app that allows users to manage/convert/spend both crypto and fiat from a single interface in what they claim to be “Better than a Bank”
Plutus introduced the world’s first decentralised loyalty token and their recent announcement focuses on multiple new use cases for the innovative rewards. What does this mean exactly? Traditional centralised loyalty reward programmes have always been fixed to specific stores, meaning there are a limited number of opportunities to earn rewards. Plutus, however, has fixed their loyalty programme to a Visa Debit Card, meaning you can earn rewards at over 400 million merchants (online and in-store) across the world. Anywhere that Visa is accepted, you can earn crypto back as loyalty rewards.
The loyalty rewards are a cryptocurrency token called Pluton (PLU). Every time a user spends with their Plutus Card they will earn up to 3% of the purchase back in PLU.
What Can you do with these PLU? Why is it so Groundbreaking?
A company press release recently outlined a number of new use-cases for the token which sets it apart from any other loyalty programme.
Firstly, being decentralised not only means that the token can be earnt anywhere, but it also means it can be transferred to other people. Traditional loyalty programmes like Nectar points are stuck on a single account; PLU, on the other hand, can be sent to friends or family on the blockchain.
Secondly, being decentralised means that it carries its own fiat value determined by external markets. Plutus members can convert their earnt PLU into additional fiat to continue spending anywhere in the world. Plutus has integrated a decentralised exchange into its platform to make converting PLU into spendable currency as easy as possible.
However, the most astonishing reveal was the introduction of additional cashback on top of the 3% cryptoback (PLU). Plutus has formed affiliate partnerships with internationally known, billion-dollar companies to offer cashback to Plutus Members spending with their Plutus Card.
This means that every qualified member will stand a chance earning double rewards; a 3% cryptoback reward in PLU and a % cashback reward in their local currency loaded straight into their Plutus account. So far the team has only revealed two of the affiliate partners but these are two of the largest travel and accommodation giants in the world, Airbnb and Skyscanner.
The CEO & Founder of Plutus commented:
“Our members will now be able to tap into the colossal online marketplace of Airbnb and Skyscanner. These are key partnerships that’ll enable us to offer double-dip rewards, both cryptoback and cashback”.
Innovation and Future Plans
As the loyalty rewards sector continues to grow, we continue to see different forms of innovation; and cash-back on top of crypto-back is certainly something new to emerge. According to the Plutus team, there are more transformative features scheduled for release that will significantly elevate their position in the market. The product has had a strong entry into 2020, and it puts themselves on the map for a strong year ahead in the crypto card game.
If you haven’t already, you can read the full list of use-cases for the Pluton token here.
Android App: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=it.plutus.android&hl=en
iOS App: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/plutus/id1410685948
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Turkish Construction Conglomerate Isiklar Group to Create Blockchain-Based Loyalty Platform, Token Sale Goes Live Soon
The adoption of blockchain technology and decentralized applications by mainstream industry segments doesn’t need any more introductions, as there are many glowing examples of Fortune 500 companies as well as startups in their respective spaces implementing such solutions to further optimize their processes. As the use cases for cryptocurrency technologies continue to grow, a more than 50-year-old Turkish company has now ventured into the space by creating a universal customer loyalty program over blockchain to benefit its long list of long term partners as well as newcomers interested in doing business with them. The company Isiklar Holding A.S. is a well-known name in Turkey’s construction industry as a supplier of materials and the customer loyalty platform they are building is called ISIKC.
Isiklar Holding is a multimillion-dollar public listed company in Turkey and with the ISIKC platform, they intend to offer their partners a much more uniform and transparent loyalty solution offering them benefits in the from of discounts based on the volume of business generated rather than depending on the duration of their association with the company. By doing so, Isiklar Holding will send a clear message to the partners that the company is committed to dealing with them in a fair and transparent manner.
Isiklar Coin
The ISIKC blockchain-based loyalty platform is built by a team of highly experienced professionals who are not only proficient in technology but also understand the highly competitive construction materials market. Like any other blockchain-based application, the ISKIC platform is fueled by its namesake Isiklar Coin that operates under the symbol ISKIC. The partners and dealers conducting transactions with the Isiklar Group will be earning these coins every time they order goods and services from them and based on their ISIKC coin holding pattern they get rewarded in the form of discounts on purchased materials.
As a part of the initiative to kickstart the ISIKC loyalty program, Isiklar Group is organizing token sales. With the initial presale phase going live on Monday, January 13, 2020, those who would like to become part of the initiative can purchase ISIKC at a low price of .2 per token. The sale is limited to 10% of the total coins.
Apart from its business, Isiklar Group also has a very active corporate social responsibility arm which is involved in philanthropic and community development activities. Continuing its tradition, the company has also pledged to donate 1% of total proceeds from the ISIKC private placement token sales to support Turgut Isik Education and Health Foundation which will use these funds to provide scholarships to students and aid the needy with healthcare support.
Overview of the Loyalty Program
The ISIKC Loyalty Program is a simple straightforward process where the benefits offered to dealers and partners in the form of discounts are directly related to the number of ISIKC tokens they hold and their contributions towards the annual turnover of Isiklar Group of Companies. The loyalty program is expected to apply across all the companies and subsidiaries that come under the umbrella of Isiklar Group, making it one unified platform spanning multiple business verticals of the Turkish conglomerate.
More information about Isiklar Group is available at – http://isiklarenerjiyapiholding.com.tr/
Learn more about ISIKC and Token Sale at – https://platform.isikc.io/ The post appeared first on NewsBTC.
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Can Crypto Platforms Help Loyalty Schemes in Shops Make a Comeback
n Would you want to receive loyalty rewards from retailers in crypto New platforms are beginning to make this a reality Sponsoredn
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New Blockchain Product for Loyalty to Accumulate USD 4.59 Billion
Leading merchants in many sectors are constantly introducing new loyalty programs for customers or enhancing current programs. According to the new market research report “Loyalty Management Market by Type of Solution”, the global loyalty program market is expected to reach 4.59 billion USD by 2021. However, in the battle for customer retention, the secret to loyalty program success is still eluding most merchants.
Leading market analysis report surprising statistics: 57% of loyalty program members do not know the balance of their reward accounts, 25% feel that earning rewards takes too much effort, 33% state difficulties with the conditions of earning rewards, and 36% claim that they do not have the chance to use their points before they expire.
The numbers paint a rather clear picture that most loyalty programs are not useful instruments for clients, thus not assisting with customer retention. And that directly translates into lost opportunities for merchants running loyalty campaigns.
Bonoox Solution
The advantages that blockchain can bring to the loyalty program market are numerous and are only now beginning to be fully appreciated by large retail chains. The Credits platform is a blockchain platform that offers an out-of-the-box, full-scale solution for loyalty programs, for merchants large and small.
The Bonoox Loyalty Platform is a blockchain-based system for implementing brand loyalty programs. The platform allows merchants to issue loyalty points in the form of tokens on the Credits blockchain for enhanced customer interaction. As a result, Bonoox loyalty program operators can attract new customers with unique features like the ability to track one’s loyalty balance and to exchange loyalty tokens from different merchants, thus generating traffic and increasing customer engagement. The new loyalty tokens earned can be shared among loyalty program participants and the platform allows the federation of multiple loyalty programs into one system.
Features and Advantages
Launching a loyalty program on Bonoox could not be simpler. The merchant creates his own digital asset, or token, on the Credits platform. The token acts as a loyalty point and an automatically-generated and customizable smart contract contains all of the relevant information about the terms and conditions of the program. The merchant can customize the default app or develop his own app for his customers, who can then make purchases via a QR-code, NFC, or RFID tags. The flexibility of the smart contracts allows the merchant to set any terms that he sees fit for his loyalty program.
The customer then creates an account through a mobile or web application and is assigned a unique identifier with public and private keys and a digital signature. The account creation process is very lightweight so that anyone can do it. Once purchases are made, the loyalty points are automatically distributed through the Credits platform and the customer can view his or her history in the blockchain.
One of the biggest advantages that blockchain brings to the loyalty program is the liquidity of loyalty points. Features for storing tokens in personal wallets, tracking one’s balance, and exchanging tokens bring the new value to the loyalty programs. Finally, a merchant’s customers can take the loyalty program seriously, more than just another card in the wallet.
In addition, Bonoox is a huge ecosystem with a wide spectrum of merchants on board, which allows them to explore audience cross-sharing between different business niches.
Bonoox Users
“Soom Hizar” Restaurant Chain Loyalty Program
- App: under development
- Amount of company users: 50,000 visitors per month on average
- SH Token
Fitness Loyalty Program
Sevastopol Hotel Loyalty Program
- App: under development
- Amount of company users: 5,000 visitors on average
- Token
The Bonoox loyalty program on the Credits platform has already been successfully applied by the Turkish Zoom Hizar restaurant chain, Sevastopol Hotel, Fitness chain, and more big customers are lining up to launch programs. To launch your business loyalty program on the blockchain – support@bonoox.com
About the Author: The author of this article is Martin Goldmann, a freelance writer with a background in journalism and publishing. He is a former managing editor of a cryptocurrency news outlet. He has been involved in the cryptocurrency industry for over two years and fully believes in its capacity to change the world.
The post New Blockchain Product for Loyalty to Accumulate USD 4.59 Billion appeared first on NewsBTC.
China Wants Communist Party Members to Pledge Loyalty on Blockchain
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s party is taking his words about the blockchain to heart.
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