Record festive season for loyalty shopping programme

Lezanne Human, CEO of eBucks, says that the spin-offs relating to the greater proliferation of ADSL have been highly gratifying and eBucks has noticed an increase in the average size of member shopping baskets.

Year-on-year 2006 festive season spend highlights include:

• Travel spend increased by 23%
  
• Retail spend using the eBucks card increased by 16%
  
• 26% increase in eBucks spent at eBucks’ eCommerce partners

Despite these high growth figures, eBucks spent on the eBucks.com website still accounted for the largest percentage of member spend during the past festive season.

eBucks travel enjoyed growth of 23% compared to the 2005 festive season, a trend which has continued into the new year with a massive 48% year-on-year increase in eBucks travel revenue in January 2007.

Airline ticket bookings are still the most popular eBucks travel items, but accommodation, car rentals and special holiday packages are becoming increasingly popular spend choices with members.

Member activity and a robust spend-to-earn ratio are key indicators of a healthy rewards programme, explains Human. “The more members take part in a rewards programme and enjoy its benefits, the greater value they get.”

During the 2006 financial year, the spend-to-earn ratio grew to over 70%, and the total eBucks allocated since inception grew to over R800 million in January 2007.