Startup Stories: David John, CEO of Loyalize

Over the past few years, multiple innovations have helped reshape the payment space. But, according to David John, CEO of Loyalize, one crucial area has been left behind.

While consumer payment processes have consistently been made more frictionless, loyalty has not received the same level of attention.

For example, a customer can walk into a supermarket and pay with their phone, but they’re still required to rummage around for their plastic loyalty card. John says: “This clumsy, inconvenient process detracts from all the innovation that’s going into payments and creates a disparity in digital advancement.”
 

Recognising this, David decided to set up a company that would bridge the gap between payments and loyalty by creating a seamless experience between the two.

 
“Existing programmes weren’t providing enough value for customers,” he explains. “There just wasn’t enough variety, and engagement was low.”
 
That’s how Loyalize was born.

Loyalize is a white label engagement platform that combines payment and loyalty into a single transaction. With no requirement for POS integration, Loyalize can be activated in minutes, providing businesses with rich insights on customer purchasing behaviours for more effective marketing.

By combining speed, data accuracy and data transparency, Loyalize’s technology provides loyalty teams with a real-time, omnichannel view of customer transactions and purchasing behaviours, allowing them to create segmented, targeted offers and campaigns. Where required, Loyalize can incorporate basket-level SKU data via a simple POS plug-in.
 

 
For in-store activity, Loyalize cuts transaction time at the checkout by eliminating the need to scan plastic loyalty cards or codes. As a result, businesses can reduce the cost of producing and managing these systems.

Meanwhile, customers benefit from personalised, frictionless shopping experiences. By adding their payment card to a retailer’s existing loyalty programme, they automatically get rewarded for every transaction they make, online or in-store.
 

 
With Loyalize, carrying plastic loyalty cards or downloading apps to collect loyalty points becomes a thing of the past.

Today, demand for frictionless experiences has been heightened by the pandemic. Many retailers no longer accept plastic loyalty cards and risk losing out on engagement – and therefore, valuable customer data.
 

“In the past 12 to 18 months, interest in loyalty has grown significantly, particularly because of COVID-19,” says John. “In times like these, retailers need to engage with customers in a totally different way, and an effective loyalty programme provides them with a non-invasive channel to communicate with customers whilst collecting data that they can use to improve their offering.”

 
As the loyalty sector kicks into high gear, Loyalize finds itself in a strong position, having secured its first two partnerships in the UK and as it continues to build new features into the platform.

John says: “Our UK partnerships are due to go live later this year. After that, we’ll explore further opportunities in Europe and the US.”
 
To find out more visit: https://www.loyalize.ai/