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Cape Town - More and more consumers are opting to switch their benefit points from reward programmes for petrol, according to Standard Bank.
The bank has reached the milestone of R1bn in rewards points paid to its members through its UCount Rewards programme.
“As we approach the festive season, thousands of South Africans will be making their way to holiday destinations. Customers can use their points to buy luxuries and special treats, but the biggest trend that we have seen is that customers are using their benefits to purchase petrol," said Fayelizabeth Foster, head of Loyalty and Rewards at Standard Bank [JSE:SBK].
She said the biggest attraction for rewards programme beneficiaries is the simplicity of building rewards points. " They know that points accumulate automatically... for purchases of products and services that they would normally buy,” said Foster.
To make it more attractive for members the bank also introduced the UCount Rewards Travel Mall, which offers members the chance to travel without being tied to a limited range of service providers, or having to travel only on certain flights at specific times.
In addition, Foster said, with online shopping in South Africa set to rise, the UCount Rewards programme has also opened up the world of shopping online to its members through the UCount Rewards Online Mall.
This comes as data shows that despite fears of credit card fraud, South Africans are increasingly migrating to online shopping.
“We are seeing online stores outperforming the top offline stores, The Foschini Group chief information officer Brent Curry, TFG told Fin24 on Friday.
A recent survey by Ipsos showed that 22% of South Africans have made online purchases, but crime has turned many from online platforms.
That matches an eBucks Rewards survey, which found that 21% of South Africans are electing to do shopping online, up from 14% in 2014 and 10% in 2013.
But one of the best ways for consumers to save money is to understand how to make the most of the rewards programmes they belong to, according to Nico-Louis Minnie of Multiply, the wellness and rewards programme offered by Momentum.
He advised consumers to look at what they spend their money on every month, and then to choose the programme that helps them most with the regular spend items in their budget.
