Research Article - Journal of Finance and Marketing (2022) Volume 6, Issue 2

Novel approaches to increasing customer loyalty: Example of Cashback in Austria.

Customer loyalty has become elusive in many industries, as the internet has made comparison and switching suppliers easy. A novel approach to retain customers is “cashback”, where refunds are made to returning customers. An analysis of the customer loyalty programme "Cashback" initiated by one of the largest Austrian banks is presented. The analysis is largely based on transaction data collected within the framework of the cashback programme as well as interviews with participants of the programme. A comparison of the programme with the scientific literature is created in order to show further potentials. As of the end of 2019, 210 partners have been won for the programme. With approximately 670,000 active users, a turnover of more than EUR 250 million and refunds of approximately EUR 4.2 million have been achieved over the previous 5 years. Achievements are unique position in the market, uncomplicated access for customers (due to the basis on the Maestro card), cost savings for customers and sales promotion in almost all sectors for the partner businesses (increase in turnover per purchase, increase in frequency in the customer segment). A florist, a cash & carry wholesaler, a workshop chain for car repairs and a hairdresser supplier were studied in detail. The cash back programme is known by 90% of bank customers who regularly use the bank accounts and by 51% of bank customers who do not use the accounts as their main accounts. In total, 77% of bank customers know about the programme. 51% of all non-bank customers are aware of the programme. It can be concluded that cashback is an interesting approach to increase customer loyalty for banks and partner shops.

Author(s): Wolfgang Neussner*, Elena Ginina, Natalia Kryvinska, Maximilian Lackner

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