poinz lets you link your credit card to the countrywide Swiss Loyalty cash back ecosystem. Founder Robert Blum answers questions about the service, and the latest payment trends.
What is the background of poinz – why did you found it?
Robert Blum: In 2011, a good friend and I – both of us bank employees – were sitting in our favorite café and once again, our thoughts turned to possibilities for self-employment. As always, we pulled out our customer loyalty stamp cards after paying our bill, and that is when our idea for digital stamp cards was born. It resulted from a combination of our desire to become self-employed, and an impractical situation which we encountered in our everyday lives. But even at that time, it was clear to us that the loyalty cards would only serve as a means to an end – as a digital link between businesses and their customers.
You later introduced a coupon portal. How did that work?
Years after our market entry, we wanted to supplement our customer retention solution by adding an instrument for attracting new customers to our B2B value proposition. Now, every month the poinz app offers users up to 100 offers which can be purchased directly in the app and redeemed in person or online. No printing or other additional efforts are required.
Most recently, we added our own voucher and gift card shop in June, 2022. We are working to greatly expand the offers available by the end of 2022. Currently, brands like Apple, H&M, and Zalando are seeing the highest demand. poinz users can buy the gift cards directly in the app, and use them immediately at corresponding brick-and-mortar or online stores.
Which offers are the most popular?
Dining and leisure are most popular categories, but beauty and wellness vouchers also sell very well.
Internationally-known brands like Subway, Dunkin’Donuts and Wonder Waffle are self-sellers. But there is also demand for local businesses like Kaisin, Uto Staffel, Mister Wong, Tamina Therme or aquabasilea. The poinz community is generally open and curious. Our customers give us their own proposals for new concepts and merchants, and are keen on discovering new offers.
poinz now offers its own credit card with cash back rewards. How does it work?
Since April this year, poinz users can use the Swiss Loyalty program to collect cash back for various promotions directly in the poinz app. For example, the poinz app gives users the option of linking their payment method, be it a debit card, credit card or Twint. That lets them automatically earn cash back on purchases from more than 100 Swiss Loyalty partner merchants.
Additional cash back: The Swiss Loyalty credit cards rewards you with up to another 1 percent cash back on every transaction worldwide. Potential savings can easily reach several hundred francs per year.
You can have the cash back balance paid out to your bank account, or you can redeem it in the point gift card shop (and earn cash back on those purchases).
What differentiates poinz credit cards from other Swiss credit cards?
The Swiss Loyalty credit cards are embedded in a comprehensive cash back ecosystem, and this has numerous benefits. The cards’ special features include: No annual fee; 30-franc welcome bonus; 1 percent cash back worldwide with the Swiss Loyalty American Express Card (3 percent cash back during the first 3 months, up to a maximum of 100 francs cash back) and 0.25 percent cash back with the Swiss Loyalty Visa Card.
Most consumers already have a credit card. Why should they get another one?
On average, the typical Swiss consumer has more than one credit card. There are countless offers, with a huge variety of different value propositions. I see our cards not as a supplemental product, but as a replacement.
The bulk of credit card users only have one real goal when they use their cards: To pay. The rule here is: The cheaper, the better. The days of credit cards as a status symbol are over. Now, other incentives are more important. When you get the free Swiss Loyalty credit cards, you are choosing the most favorable Swiss credit cards. And we plan to greatly expand the offers for our credit cards customers once again by the end of the year.
The credit card industry is in a state of change. Where do you see the biggest developments happening?
The credit card of tomorrow has to be more adaptable and dynamic, and it has to be able offer more added value with regards to payments. The primary potential, as I see it, is in the use of data, without breaking the increasingly strict privacy laws. By giving their required consent, cardholders can find out a lot about their own consumer habits and learn from the data. That is an important aspect of modern payment methods.
The credit cards of the future also have to be more tightly linked to customer loyalty in order to gain relevance with users and merchants.
Is the trend towards neobanks also relevant for Swiss credit cards?
In the long term, this development can leave its marks. Currently, within Switzerland, Revolut, Neon, CSX, and other neobanks are primarily used to make transfers. Outside of Switzerland, they offer the advantage of low-cost payments and cash withdrawals. But like most neobank users in Switzerland, I too would not give up my existing banking solutions just for that benefit. And issuers of conventional credit cards are not asleep either, but are adapting their products to the market environment.
Buy now pay later has recently become a talking point in the Swiss media, mostly thanks to Klarna. Even Apple Pay has introduced this feature in the US.
The buy now pay later (BNPL) hype evoked by Klarna seems to have died down. We have also seen a move away from negative interest rates, which will likely make zero-interest financing more difficult. BNPL will definitely become established in Switzerland. In the medium term I see Apple as the most likely candidate. But I do not see it posing a threat to credit cards. Klarna recently let go of around 700 employees – a sharp contrast to its valuation at over 40 billion francs last year.
Where do you see poinz in five years?
I see our cash back rewards being established in many European countries, enabling to me to use the rewards to pay directly like a currency across borders. I also see poinz being the Swiss market leader for mobile gift cards.
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