LoyaltyOne has acquired a 29% stake in Companhia Brasileira De Servicos De Marketing, which operates Dotz, a multi-retailer loyalty program based in Brazil’s Belo Horizonte region. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
LoyaltyOne will provide program design and strategic counsel, business development support, operational planning and best practices guidance, and financial consideration to Dotz through 2010. LoyaltyOne currently operates the Canada-based Air Miles Reward program.
Dotz is a coalition program which allows consumers to pool points earned by interacting with multiple marketers into a single rewards structure. Dotz currently has more than 200,000 active participants, 50 online sponsors and a rewards catalog that features more than 6,000 products and services.
Immediate plans call for Dotz to move away from its online-only structure and incorporate high-frequency businesses such as banks, grocery stores and gas stations. Anchor sponsors signed for Dotz's traditional retail-based coalition program include Brazil’s national bank, Banco do Brasil; Ale, a national gasoline station chain; and SuperNosso, a regional grocer based in Belo Horizonte, where the program is being launched.
LoyaltyOne chose Brazil as its first move away from the North American market for several reasons, Bryan Pearson, president of LoyaltyOne, told Direct Newsline. With only 200,000 enrollees out of a population of 190 million, there is high growth potential for such a program. Additionally, the country has a mature retail environment: Consumers frequent high-transaction shops such as grocery stores and gas stations. Finally, Brazil has what Pearson calls a “meaningful financial environment” for such a program, with consumers across a wide range of economic means who are comfortable using credit and debit cards.
Creative efforts for the program were designed in conjunction with a Brazilian agency, with LoyaltyOne bringing the know-how of structuring such a program, and Dotz offering “local flavor and relationships with the significant players in the marketplace,” Pearson said.
If the launch in Belo Horizonte, Brazil’s third-largest metropolitan area, goes well, plans call for a phased rollout across the entire country, Pearson said.
