Payback (bonus program)

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Payback

logo
legal form GmbH
founding 2000
Seat Munich , GermanyGermanyGermany 
management Bernhard Brugger (Executive Vice President)
Number of employees approx. 544 (2017)
sales approx. 281 million euros (2017)
Website [2]

Payback ( English "Redemption") is an in Germany since March 2000 and in Austria since May 2018, and in Italy, Poland, Mexico and India existing bonus system or a customer card and a registered trademark of the operating company Payback GmbH. By collecting data in a large number of shops in different industries when using the card,the purchasing behavior of cardholders is analyzed in detailusing data mining . This is how the Payback system differs from company-specific, individual customer cards. The US credit card company American Express has been the owner of Payback GmbH since 2010.

How it works from the consumer's point of view

Building with company headquarters in Munich's Westend

In brick-and-mortar retail: the card is presented at the checkout during the payment process. Payback customer number, date, branch, sales and, from some Payback partners, also product group codes are transmitted to Payback . On top of the purchase amount, the customer receives a bonus, which varies according to the company, in the form of points on his points account.

Online: With official online partners (e.g. Expedia.de ) the point collection is directly integrated in the booking process, with other partners (e.g. H&M ) the customer must start his purchase via the website www.payback.de.

Mobile: When making purchases using the Payback mobile app, customers can get points from iTunes , Fressnapf , Tchibo and Sixt, for example . Coupons can be activated directly via the app, paper coupons are no longer necessary.

A payback point has a nominal value of one  cent (€ 0.01). Points worth 0.5 to 4% of the purchase price are awarded. With coupons or special promotions, the customer can multiply the points for individual products or promotions, sometimes up to 25% of the purchase price. As soon as 200 points have been collected on a Payback account, they can be redeemed for rewards , goods vouchers or cash by transfer from 2 euros, used for further discounts, exchanged for Lufthansa bonus miles (“ Miles & More ” miles subscription) or for different ones Aid projects in the "Payback donation world" are donated.

Unredeemed points that are older than 36 months expire on September 30th of a calendar year with the standard card variant.

Function from the perspective of the partner company

For the retailer there are costs in the form of payments to Payback as well as for the technology for recording and transferring the data and the integration into the existing POS systems.

As an advantage, the retailer hopes that customers who have a Payback card will prefer to shop with him in order to collect points instead of with his competitors. He can also create payback coupons in order to support advertising campaigns and to draw customers' attention to specific product groups or dates. In addition, the partner companies have access to the information on customer behavior obtained through data mining, not only from their customers, but from all customers of all Payback partners.

In 2004, DM determined in a systematic analysis of the data that Payback members spent around 50 percent more money at DM than non-members.

Card issuance and partner companies

cards

The cards are usually issued in cooperation with one of the “Official Partners”, but there are also neutral payback cards. The respective cards have an individual design, but the same functionality for each partner and for all services.

In addition to the “Payback bonus card”, the “ Visa card” (formerly “Payback Premium card”) is available upon request , for which customers are charged an annual fee from the second year in addition to disclosing their purchasing behavior, both with a real one Credit card function as well as prepaid credit card . The “Plus Card” debit card was reissued in 2009 as a free “ Maestro card” in partnership with Mastercard . The “Maestro card” was taken out of marketing in autumn 2012 when WestLB was dissolved as the publisher. These three payment cards have been managed by BW-Bank since the end of 2012 . In November 2012, the new owner American Express added the new dark blue “Payback American Express Card” to the offer as a permanently free credit card. All customer cards have in common that there are points both with the partner companies and also on the monthly sales. There is no expiry of points with the customer cards, provided that at least one bonus point is collected over a period of 36 months.

Germany

partner

There are more than 680 partners in Germany.

Official Payback partners include a .:

Companies collect points Payback Pay
Alnatura Yes
Amplifon hearing acoustics Yes
Apollo optics Yes
Aral Yes Yes
Baur Yes
Burger King Yes
Center Parcs Yes
C&A only online
Check24 Yes
Dehner garden center Yes
DM Yes Yes
Danish bed dorm Yes
depot Yes
Deichmann only online
Deutsche Telekom Yes
EMP merchandising only online
Food bowl Yes
Beverages Ahlers with the HOL'AB brand Yes
Linda pharmacy group Yes
Lufthansa (including Lufthansa Miles and More ) Yes
North Sea Yes
Otto Yes
penny Yes Yes
Phoenix pharmaceutical trade Yes
real Yes Yes
REWE Yes Yes
Sixt Yes
Sky Yes
Thalia Yes Yes
TeeGschwendner Yes Yes
WMF Yes

In addition, there have been acceptance pharmacies nationwide since 2008 that also take part in the Payback program, but do not belong to the Linda pharmacy group. In principle, not all branches of a partner automatically take part in the Payback program, but only those that have agreed to bear the costs of the Payback company or are managed independently by their own group. In particular, this concerns the RTK travel agencies, but also z. B. some Aral gas stations.

Online partners include Conrad Electronic , eBay , REWE and Zalando . With the online partners, however, cardholders can usually only collect points if they log in to the shops via the official Payback homepage and order.

The company has been offering a mobile app for smartphones since 2010 .

At the end of December 2019, the dm-drogerie markt group announced that it would halve the distribution of Payback points. From 2020, dm customers will only receive one payback point for every 2 euro purchase.

Since 2020, you can also pay online with points at real .

Former partners

The jeweler Christ and the shoe retail chain Görtz have not extended their contracts with Payback.

The hardware store chain Obi and the car rental company Europcar left as Payback partners in 2007 and 2011 respectively.

Amazon ended its partnership on July 1, 2014.

Denn's Biomarkt has not been a Payback partner since May 31, 2017. The company introduced its own loyalty program.

Auto -teile-Unger was a Payback partner from 2014 to 2019. The company has introduced its own customer card.

Galeria Kaufhof ended its partnership with Payback on December 31, 2019. Since January 2020 there has been a joint loyalty program with Karstadt.

Austria

After the bonus program was launched in Austria in May 2018, the dm drugstores and the Fressnapf pet shop are official partners, and since August 2018 the BP petrol station chain, the Nordsee and Burger King fast-food chains and the Austrian Airlines airline . Further partners are Sixt car rental , McFit fitness studios , See! Wutscher and Unimarkt .

Payback Pay

In June 2016, Payback introduced the mobile payment function “Payback Pay” within the app. Initially, “Payback Pay” could only be used with DM . The Business Week commented shortly after the introduction critical of "Payback Pay". To use “Payback Pay”, users enter their bank details and address in the app or on the website. In contrast to other cashless payment methods, “Payback Pay” does not require a credit card. The technology comes from UMT AG . "Payback Pay" enables cashless payment using a QR code . The payment codes are regenerated with each payment process and can only be used for a limited time. Alternatively, NFC can also be used. Whether a QR code or NFC is used depends on the POS system. At the beginning of 2020, a survey found that “Payback Pay” is one of the best-known cashless payment methods in Germany. According to heise online , “Payback Pay” was also the contactless payment system most frequently used at the checkout in 2020.

Company and business figures

Management Holding logo

Payback started its program in March 2000 with the help of Metro AG . The company Payback is based in Munich and in 2013 employed up to 500 people worldwide. Payback GmbH is part of the Loyalty Partner Group . American Express took over Loyalty Partner in 2011 for around 500 million euros.

Since September 2009 Payback has also been active in Poland. In June 2010 Loyalty Partner took over the majority in the Indian market leader “i-mint”, and one year later “i-mint” became “Payback India”. In February 2011 it was announced that the company was expanding its business areas to include online and couponing . Thanks to the strategic decision, Payback is competing directly with well-known voucher platforms such as Groupon , DailyDeal and kaufda . In 2011, around 150 people were employed at German locations. Payback to competitors in the German market for customer loyalty programs include Germany Card .

The partners' sales in 2013 via the Payback card amounted to around 15.2 billion euros. Payback has more than 31 million active customers in Germany. According to its own statements, Payback sends 1.5 billion coupon emails (newsletters) a year. The mobile Payback app is actively used by 10 million users. In 2013, Payback Mexico started, a purely digital program. Payback has also been active in Italy since 2014 and finally started operations in Austria in 2018.

In the 2017 financial year, Payback achieved sales of around 281 million euros with 544 employees.

By March 2020, Payback had distributed a total of points worth 3.5 billion euros.

criticism

privacy

The card is particularly controversial in terms of data protection policy among consumer protection associations . The card enables the transparent customers ; In this way, conclusions can be drawn about the lifestyle of the customer from the data collected and the success of advertising can be measured. In 2000, Payback was awarded the negative Big Brother Award .

In 2001, following a lawsuit by the Berlin Consumer Protection Association , the District Court of Munich I banned further use of the central consent clauses contained in the payback application forms under threat of a fine of up to DM 500,000 or custody for up to six months. Payback then redesigned all participant forms.

In 2008, the Federal Court of Justice banned a clause in the Payback registration form after a lawsuit by the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations insofar as the customer could be sent advertising by SMS and email. The reason was that the company lacked the legally required express consent of the customer. The court considered the clauses on the use of data for advertising by mail, for market research and the use of date of birth and discount dates to be permissible.

Customer registration forms are partially recorded by the company GHP Far East in Vietnam.

In May 2012 the company was checked by the TÜV. It was confirmed that Payback has "TÜV-certified data protection" and that it handles the data that is collected through participation in the Payback program responsibly and in accordance with the requirements of the Federal Data Protection Act.

Little benefit to consumers

According to the North Rhine-Westphalia consumer advice center, the possible savings are minimal - often less than one percent, often only half a percent. In the case of premiums with an additional payment, it is also often the case that the desired product is cheaper from other providers than the additional payment.

In December 2015, the consumer magazine test determined with the help of a comparison test that so-called cashback portals offer higher discounts for online purchases than Payback and similar bonus cards.

Phishing

In 2020, several users had their credit stolen. The fraudsters then used the stolen Payback points to buy shopping voucher cards in retail outlets. Consumer advocates then again questioned the security of the data. Payback now expressly warns against phishing and also provides basic information on its homepage for inexperienced Internet users.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Payback: Management. Retrieved May 1, 2020 .
  2. Maximilian von Demandowsky: Data Mining: Companies predict divorces. In: time online. Retrieved June 19, 2014 .
  3. American Express buys Payback. In: Spiegel Online. December 16, 2010, accessed December 28, 2019 .
  4. Payback miles subscription
  5. • PAYBACK FAQ Search • Questions & help with PAYBACK. Retrieved December 28, 2019 .
  6. Customer card, why? Food Practice , accessed July 8, 2020 .
  7. Loyalty Partner: Press release on WestLB ( Memento from December 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  8. Loyalty Partner: Press release on Payback American Express ( Memento from December 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  9. PAYBACK partner. In: www.payback.de. Retrieved January 8, 2020 .
  10. The app for paying, collecting points and redeeming coupons. Aral , accessed May 29, 2020 .
  11. Score & pay at the same time. DM , accessed on May 29, 2020 .
  12. ^ Payback at Penny. Penny , accessed May 29, 2020 .
  13. Pay with PAYBACK PAY now at REWE on the go. Rewe , accessed May 29, 2020 .
  14. Pay and earn points on the go. Thalia , accessed June 18, 2015 .
  15. Aral: Questions and Answers about Payback
  16. Payback - The most important facts about the bonus system. In: Hamburger Abendblatt. March 1, 2018, accessed December 13, 2018 .
  17. Konstantinos Mitsis: Big change at dm from 2020: drugstore giant starts previously unused discount campaign. Retrieved December 28, 2019 .
  18. Redeem PAYBACK points now on our marketplace. real.de, accessed on June 5, 2020 .
  19. LOYALTY PROGRAMS: Bonus cards are being reshuffled Der Handel , July 29, 2009
  20. Obi rises from setback for Payback , Handelsblatt , January 29, 2007
  21. Payback loses Europcar / Deutschlandcard wins student aid Horizont.at, March 3, 2011
  22. Can I collect points on Amazon PAYBACK? Retrieved June 8, 2020 .
  23. Denn's loyalty program. Retrieved August 23, 2020 .
  24. ATU card. Retrieved September 30, 2019 .
  25. No more Payback points at Kaufhof - not even in Pforzheim - Wirtschaft. In: Pforzheimer Zeitung. January 3, 2020, accessed January 3, 2020 .
  26. Payback. Retrieved December 26, 2019 .
  27. Our PAYBACK partners. Retrieved April 26, 2020 .
  28. This is the savings banks' answer to Google Pay. Handelsblatt , accessed on June 5, 2020 .
  29. Security concerns and data protection keep many from making mobile payments. Consumer advice center , accessed on June 5, 2020 .
  30. Pay securely online and offline. Check24 , accessed on June 5, 2020 .
  31. Paying with your mobile phone - that's how it works. Wirtschaftswoche , accessed on May 29, 2020 .
  32. Mobile Payment: An overview of the providers. Chip , accessed June 5, 2020 .
  33. Payback Pay: Pay with your mobile phone without a credit card. inside-dgital.de, accessed on May 29, 2020 .
  34. PAYBACK app wins “Golden Transaction” award - Mobile payment technology comes from UMT - UMT AG. Retrieved December 28, 2019 .
  35. How to pay safely and conveniently with your smartphone. merkur.de, accessed on June 5, 2020 .
  36. Mobile Payment: Fast mobile payment without a wallet or card. Ingenico , accessed June 5, 2020 .
  37. Mobile payment and the breakthrough thing. it-Finanzmagazin, accessed on June 5, 2020 .
  38. Our everyday life becomes contactless. deutschland-kreditkarte.de, accessed on June 5, 2020 .
  39. Bundesbank: Contactless payment has become part of everyday life. heise.de, accessed on June 5, 2020 .
  40. Alexander Rittweger, Joachim Bellinghoven, Martin Hollenhorst, Burkhard Graßmann, Steve Gray: Payback GmbH (formerly: Loyalty Partner GmbH). Munich. Annual financial statements as of December 31, 2007 . Status: May 14, 2008. URL: https://www.ebundesanzeiger.de/ (accessed April 25, 2009)
  41. Claus-Peter Schrack, Nina Purtscher: Payback GmbH - Data & Facts ( Memento of March 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved on October 4, 2015.
  42. : LP Holding GmbH. Munich. Consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2007 . Status: May 14, 2008. URL: https://www.ebundesanzeiger.de/ (accessed April 25, 2009)
  43. Loyalty Partner: Press release on the purchase by American Express ( Memento from December 19, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  44. Reuters: American Express takes over Payback operator Loyality (published December 17, 2010)
  45. By Georg Etscheit: Payback founder Rittweger: The hunter of the collector. Retrieved December 11, 2018 .
  46. Internet World Business editorial team: Payback is expanding the mobile couponing business. February 23, 2011, accessed February 24, 2011 .
  47. n-tv news: The mother of all bonus cards turns 15th. Accessed on December 11, 2018 .
  48. PAYBACK set to conquer Mexico (English). (No longer available online.) September 12, 2012, archived from the original on November 5, 2014 ; accessed on June 27, 2014 .
  49. Stuttgarter Zeitung, Stuttgart Germany: Payback & Co .: Point for point on data power. Retrieved December 11, 2018 .
  50. Payback now also in Austria. Retrieved December 11, 2018 .
  51. Payback annual financial statements for the 2017 financial year . In: Bundesanzeiger. Retrieved December 11, 2018 .
  52. Georg Giersberg: What advantages does Payback have for dealers and customers? In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. March 9, 2020, accessed March 12, 2020 .
  53. Bigbrother Awards 2000: Winner in the " Business and Finance" category
  54. ^ LG Munich I, judgment of February 1, 2001, 12 O 13009/00
  55. ^ Federal Court of Justice, judgment of July 16, 2008 , VIII ZR 348/06
  56. ^ FR interview with Claus-Peter Schrack from July 16, 2008
  57. Self-statement of the company, accessed on March 10, 2014 [1]
  58. Stiftung Warentest: Shopping with a discount - Cashback beats Payback - Stiftung Warentest. Retrieved December 28, 2019 .
  59. Konstantinos Mitsis: Attention, Payback customers: Thieves plunder your account - this is how you protect yourself. In: Chip . August 8, 2020, accessed August 19, 2020 .
  60. verbraucherschutz.com: Payback Phishing: These e-mails are fake. Retrieved August 19, 2020 .
  61. Payback: How do I recognize phishing emails? Retrieved August 19, 2020 .