Kachingo! hot on the toe

By PETER GRIFFIN

Competition among customer loyalty schemes is heating up, as two companies develop different systems.

Promotions company Global Online is expanding its card-free Kachingo! point-of-sale programme, promising to give away $7 million in cash annually, and Auckland-based Visible Results is opening sales offices in Spain, Chile and Colombia to support growth of its card-based system.

Both companies are eyeing the US market - where Global Online estimates retailers spend $US175 billion ($423.5 billion) a year on loyalty schemes.

KFC, BP and Woolworths have joined Super Liquor as part of the Kachingo! lineup.

Behind the system is a $10 million, Linux-based software setup developed by Christchurch businessman Chris Berryman. Terminals at participating stores print "lotto" tickets for daily, weekly and monthly draws.

Meanwhile, Visible Results hopes to earn $US30 million in the US alone this year selling cards and terminals to retailers.

Locally, Visible Results operates its cards only as part of the "Mobil Max" promotion, which allows petrol buyers to win instant prizes and collect points.

"We don't believe Kachingo! is a loyalty programme - it really doesn't concentrate on the consumer at all, other than them being rewarded for gross value of sales," said Visible Results' chief executive officer, Michael Whittaker.

But Global Online chairman Chris Aiken said the company shied from developing a card-based system because consumers were already inundated with cards.