Consumers ditch rewards cards and digitise their loyalty schemes

SHOPPERS can now go wallet free by digitising all their payment and loyalty cards inside their smartphones.

SHOPPERS are rapidly ditching the need to carry to a wad of loyalty cards and instead are embedding them neatly inside their smartphones.

Decluttering wallets and leaving cards safely at home is becoming commonplace for consumers who are relying solely on their smartphone to scan and collect rewards points at their favourite stores.

Smartphone users can now store all their loyalty apps inside their smartphones.

The free mobile wallet app Stocard allows loyalty cards to be stored digitally and already has 2.2 million Australian iOS and Android users and is growing at a pace of 100,000 per month.

It allows shoppers to upload their card information into the app and hold each program’s applicable barcode and photos of the card for safe keeping.

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For some schemes it provides consumers their latest store catalogues and points balance updates.

Sports equipment designer Gary Elphick, 30, travels wallet-free, instead opting to use Apple Pay to make payments while storing all his rewards schemes inside his smartphone app.

Gary Elphick, 30, using his mobile phone to scan his loyalty card instore.

“I used to see rewards points as pointless but now being able to store everything in my phone I’m more of a fiend,’’ he said.

“Having all the cards in one place is great rather than having to download a heap of different apps.”

Some of the most popular rewards programs in Australia include Woolworths Rewards program with 10 million members and Flybuys with eight million members.

There are more than 10 million Woolworths

Stocard managing director Radinck van Vollenhoven said the app was a secure way to store cards and meant consumers could travel lighter.

“We work with retailers that have loyalty programs to push out special offers and find out about deals inside the app,’’ he said.

“It can be a research tool to help you save money and remind you to use the card instore to collect loyalty points.”

Stocard’s managing director Radinck van Vollenhoven said users can check out specials available at their favourite stores.

Woolworths recently rolled out the ability for shoppers to add their rewards card directly into their Apple Wallet, which means they don’t need an additional app to store their card.

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They can simply tap their apple wallet at the checkout and up pops their rewards card.

Samsung Electronics Australia’s head of product and services, Mark Hodgson, said Samsung Pay also allowed the storage of loyalty cards and reduced the need to carry excess baggage.

“It’s a simple process where you swipe up to enter the app, scan the barcode on your loyalty card and then authenticate yourself via an iris scan, fingerprint or PIN to make the payment,’’ he said.

He said on average Samsung Pay users had five loyalty cards neatly tucked digitally into their phone.

“It helps you never forget to collect your loyalty points and slim down your wallet,’’ Mr Hodgson said.

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