Looking for more redemption options from your loyalty program? While there is still a solid population of “purists” who only redeem for travel awards the number of redemptions on merchandise is growing in most every program which offers such. And LRG Rewards newly renamed Engage People is looking to increase that adoption pace with is suite of products. CEO Jonathan Silver and I spoke earlier this year during the Loyalty@Freddies conference about the LRG product line and what the future holds.
As Silver explained, “LRG is designed to enable any member of a loyalty program to redeem their points on any e-commerce site anywhere in the world.” The company provides a technology solution which sits as an overlay on top of 3rd party e-commerce sites, allowing for any program to suddenly be a “partner” with any other commerce site globally. But even with that level of penetration across the global marketplace LRG is looking to expand. Because, while online shopping continues to grow, it is still just a fraction of the total purchasing ecosystem.
Next up for the company is Dash Pass, a mobile purchasing solution which allows for purchases – funded using loyalty points – via any physical point-of-sale system in the world. While other vendors are working on products resembling a universal credit card LRG takes it a step further. The Dash Pass system can be a credit card-like product, but it can also be much more.
We have a physical product. It can look like a credit card…we can attach it to a watch strap, a pen, anything you want. And that will be ubiquitous because that will work on any POS that can handle an NFC or a mag stripe.
Just like with the LRG online solution Dash Pass is predicated on not requiring changes from the retail vendors. By assuming full responsibility on that front LRG can ensure compatibility and ease the deployment process for the programs looking to implement the solution. And there are plenty signed up to do just that.
The first customer, an airline loyalty program, went live earlier this year, using the LRG web product to enable its members to book hotel rooms using points. Rather than negotiating direct links with each hotel partner the airline simply activated LRG and set it to work with the desired booking sites. Next in the queue is a hotel program looking to offer broader retail options and more than a dozen other customers set to be integrated into the LRG ecosystem soon. Dash Pass isn’t quite there yet – figure 6 more months to get to customer testing – but it is all coming and quickly.
That’s a lot more ways to redeem points.
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But at what exchange rate? So far merchandise redemptions have been a poor value proposition. Is something changing?
Poor value relative to what? Not everyone wants premium cabin, long-haul awards from their points.
I would not expect to find a 5cpp retail redemption any time soon, but that doesn’t mean it is necessarily a poor value. The acquisition and opportunity cost has to be factored in as well.