Barclaycard, the card division of
the UK’s third-largest bank Barclays, has moved a step closer to
establishing an ambitious loyalty rewards programme in partnership
with UK retailers.
The bank has teamed up with French-based
loyalty specialist Welcome Real-time to provide the IT
infrastructure for the programme.
In particular, the vendor will develop the
software that enables cardholders to participate in a programme
expected to encompass retailers ranging from sole traders to major
high street names.
Francois Dutray, CEO of Welcome Real-time,
said in a statement: “We are delighted to be working with
Barclaycard to develop a rewards scheme that will make a huge
impact on the British High Street. It is a great opportunity to
develop a scheme with the potential for millions of customers and
many retailers in the UK.”
Barclaycard, which has close to 90,000
retailer relationships, said it had assigned a 200-strong team to
work on the project. The bank initially announced its plans to push
into the UK loyalty market in March (see RBI
609).
