Meet Pete Howroyd, CEO and Founder at New Loyalty App: Swapi

Pete Howroyd, CEO and Founder at Swapi

Swapi is a start-up tech company aiming to change the game in retail loyalty for customers. Set to launch in Autumn, it’s a brand new e-wallet for loyalty cards that will allow consumers to consolidate all their cards and points from different brands and retailers in one app regardless of size or location. The app hands power back to the customers by allowing them to swap and spend their unused/unwanted rewards with other preferred brands.

With Swapi, consumers will be able to manage all their loyalty programmes and points within one app, whilst also allowing them to swap accrued loyalty points and use them across brands and retailers for various rewards, discounts, or gifts.

On top of that, Swapi has recently launched its ‘Swapi Points’ offering, its own currency within the app which can be accrued by shopping via the app. These points can then also be spent on various offers ranging from car rentals, money off your next dinner and maybe even tickets for your next getaway!

This improves the relationship between the brand or retailer and their consumers, as customers will continue to make purchases with them, which will mean they will accrue points, and won’t end up wasted as they will have the freedom to choose how to spend them.
 
 
Swapi - Crunchbase Company Profile & Funding
 

How did you come up with the idea for the company?

 
I have spent my entire career working in loyalty with businesses such as Harrods, Harvey Nichols and Sigma Healthcare. Throughout my career I’ve seen little innovation in the retail loyalty sector and with that in mind, it was clear that the modern loyalty plan was struggling for engagement and that the customer was looking for something different.

It’s a simple, yet effective, idea and it came up out of the experience of lockdown and its devastating effect on the global retail community. Research shows that the average UK consumer has £47 worth of loyalty rewards sitting unused on their card, totaling £6 billion in the UK and £360 billion globally. This is the result of poor engagement between brands loyalty schemes which are lacking in innovation and poor rewards for customers.

The core idea for Swapi came as I started thinking about ways of tackling these problems and freeing that money for the retail economy in a way that would benefit both the retailer and the consumer, and out of that came Swapi.

Swapi will provide customers with more spending power as well as a greater incentive to spend.
 

 

How has the company evolved during the pandemic?

 
With the retail industry being so deeply affected during the pandemic, we saw a real opportunity for technology that could help reanimate the loyalty industry and provide some much-needed support for retailers.

Our investors see the potential in Swapi as well and we are set to see our latest funding round take its total amount raised to over £860K, helping us gear up for an autumn launch in a time when loyalty has never been more important for retailers and consumers alike.
 

What can we hope to see from Swapi in the future?

 
A lot!

Aside from launching the app in the UK this autumn, we have recently announced the addition of ‘Swapi Points’, which will be a crucial part of the Swapi build.

Swapi Points will aim to become a universal ‘loyalty currency’ allowing brands to award points to consumers who make purchases with a debit or credit card linked to the Swapi app irrespective of size, location, or sector. These points will be obtainable from over 100 brands, starting in the UK with the aspiration to go global, and will offer retailers a more collaborative and cost-effective loyalty programme solution, whilst providing more choice for the consumer in choosing what they would like to spend their points on.

As we grow, we hope to partner with more brands from across the international retail industry so we can provide our users with as many choices as possible and help retailers evolve their loyalty offering!