School grades are out – What matters when applying!

The Germans are a people of savers and are always happy to have discounts, bonuses and bonuses.

Large retail chains take advantage of this feature, so questions like, “Do you collect loyalty points?” or “Do you have a payback card?” at the checkout for everyday life in many supermarkets. But what is behind all these bonus systems?

Because nobody really has something to give away, right?

and thats the way it is. Because whether it is loyalty points, payback cards or other bonus systems, they all have in common that they are an important marketing tool for retail companies that serve to retain customers and increase sales.

The supposed savings the consumer thinks he will get in the end usually vanishes if he does the exact calculation.

Firstly, almost every one of us has more in the basket at the end of a purchase than previously planned, and if you have the choice between a market in which you already collect a lot of points and one without, the decision is often made in the first place.

The core goals of “customer loyalty” and “sales increase” have already been achieved. But these goals are far from the only ones that retailers are pursuing. Because at the latest through the big tech groups we have learned that our data can be used to make significantly more, and above all, more sustainable money.

We looked at what data is actually collected when using bonus systems, how much can be saved, and what is behind the valuable bonuses.

School grades are out – What matters when applying!

The Germans are a people of savers and are always happy to have discounts, bonuses and bonuses.

Large retail chains take advantage of this feature, so questions like, “Do you collect loyalty points?” or “Do you have a payback card?” at the checkout for everyday life in many supermarkets. But what is behind all these bonus systems?

Because nobody really has something to give away, right?

and thats the way it is. Because whether it is loyalty points, payback cards or other bonus systems, they all have in common that they are an important marketing tool for retail companies that serve to retain customers and increase sales.

The supposed savings the consumer thinks he will get in the end usually vanishes if he does the exact calculation.

Firstly, almost every one of us has more in the basket at the end of a purchase than previously planned, and if you have the choice between a market in which you already collect a lot of points and one without, the decision is often made in the first place.

The core goals of “customer loyalty” and “sales increase” have already been achieved. But these goals are far from the only ones that retailers are pursuing. Because at the latest through the big tech groups we have learned that our data can be used to make significantly more, and above all, more sustainable money.

We looked at what data is actually collected when using bonus systems, how much can be saved, and what is behind the valuable bonuses.

1. What data is collected?

On the one hand, the basic data is of course part of the data collection, such as:

Surname
address
Date of birth

And the name usually also results in whether it is a woman or a man. As soon as you participate in such a bonus program, this data may also be passed on for advertising purposes without your consent. You usually don’t know where exactly this data is forwarded, where it is stored and for how long.

However, Payback alone has more than 40 stationary partners and over 600 online partners. And your data is buzzing everywhere.

Now it is of course enough for the data collectors not only to have their basic data, and to know that you are participating in a bonus program, so that we can perhaps send you advertising. Because every time you have made a purchase and pull out your bonus card at checkout, significantly more data is created that is linked to your person.

This includes:

What did you buy?
When did you shop?
Where did you shop?
How did you pay

This data, together with your personal data, gives a fairly precise picture of a person, their buying behavior, and in some cases even the current life situation, and can also be saved permanently by the operator of the bonus system and their partners. So the longer you use these bonus systems, the more precisely you can create a profile and also recognize patterns.

In the past, even affiliated partners tried to predict life events of a person with astonishing precision. For example, an impending pregnancy of a customer was successfully predicted based on the patterns in the buying behavior.

Even though these analysis services have never seen the person in person.

We give all this data completely voluntarily in order to save a few euros here and there or to get a coveted premium. Whether that fits in with the general outrage especially in Europe about abuse of data protection can be asked by everyone.

On the one hand, the basic data is of course part of the data collection, such as:

Surname
address
Date of birth

And the name usually also results in whether it is a woman or a man. As soon as you participate in such a bonus program, this data may also be passed on for advertising purposes without your consent. You usually don’t know where exactly this data is forwarded, where it is stored and for how long.

However, Payback alone has more than 40 stationary partners and over 600 online partners. And your data is buzzing everywhere.

Now it is of course enough for the data collectors not only to have their basic data, and to know that you are participating in a bonus program, so that we can perhaps send you advertising. Because every time you have made a purchase and pull out your bonus card at checkout, significantly more data is created that is linked to your person.

This includes:

What did you buy?
When did you shop?
Where did you shop?
How did you pay

This data, together with your personal data, gives a fairly precise picture of a person, their buying behavior, and in some cases even the current life situation, and can also be saved permanently by the operator of the bonus system and their partners. So the longer you use these bonus systems, the more precisely you can create a profile and also recognize patterns.

In the past, even affiliated partners tried to predict life events of a person with astonishing precision. For example, an impending pregnancy of a customer was successfully predicted based on the patterns in the buying behavior.

Even though these analysis services have never seen the person in person.

We give all this data completely voluntarily in order to save a few euros here and there or to get a coveted premium. Whether that fits in with the general outrage especially in Europe about abuse of data protection can be asked by everyone.

2. How much can you save?

For the amount of data we disclose about us, you can expect a little something, right?

So let’s take a look at what we can actually get out …

If you only use the Payback card for your purchases and hope to collect enough points to receive a coveted reward or get a few euros credited, you will probably be disappointed. Because to get only 1 euro discount on a purchase you have to make for 200 euro sales. This corresponds to exactly 100 payback points.

In this way, the system will probably only really pay off for very few.

If you really want to save, you are forced to deal more intensively with the bonus system. So there are more often promotions from retailers where you can collect 1,000 Payback Points, for example, if you shop there for at least 100 euros.

You can usually find out where such promotions are currently running on the official Payback website.

What you shouldn’t forget, however, is the time you have to spend to stay on the ball and get a reasonably attractive discount. The hunt for discounts is almost a hobby in which you can invest some effort.

As already mentioned, nobody has anything to give away, so you are always encouraged to go to certain markets in the hunt for bonus points and make sales for sum X.

And as a rule, you buy things that were not actually planned. This shows clearly how to use our reward system skillfully to not only generate more sales, but also to control some of our entire shopping behavior.

The few percentage points of discount that are then paid out to you as a customer are, on the one hand, a worthwhile investment by the companies, and in some cases they are already priced in.