Blue Label banks on Bieber fever
JSE-listed Blue Label Telecoms will target fans of singing sensation Justin Bieber, and South African sports fans through a loyalty programme aimed at driving up revenue and retaining customers.
With Bieber set for a concert tour in SA later this year, joint CEO of Blue Label, Brett Levy told journalists at a media briefing in Sandton on Wednesday (20 February), that consumers would be able to purchase Justin Bieber branded starter packs loaded with incentives and benefits for the Bieber community.
Levy said that the initiative had surpassed Blue Label’s expectations, offloading 750,000 packs to merchants within minutes.
“It’s expensive to acquire new customers,” Levy said, noting that the aim would be to retain customers through these loyalty type SIM packs.
Rewarding the sports fan
Having recently taken up sponsorship of South Africa’s national cricket team, Levy said that the group was in the process of launching a similar initiative for South Africa’s cricket and rugby fans.
According to Blue Label, cricket in South Africa has a following of as many as nine million people. Through its loyalty packs, fans would gain access to benefits including free WiFi, parking facilities, player information, and access to “things money can’t buy”.
The same initiative was being undertaken with the Blue Bulls rugby franchise, Levy said, adding that he expected fanatical rugby supporters to purchase starter packs.
The loyalty programme will be hosted on the Vodacom network only, Levy said.
POS terminals
Blue Label’s core business is the virtual distribution of secure electronic tokens of value (predominantly prepaid airtime at present) and transactional services across its global footprint of touch points.
The group said it will launch a low cost point-of-sale (POS) terminal into the market in March, which it hopes will secure the business of between 100,000 and 300,000 new merchants. The group said it trialled 85 units last year.
Interestingly, Blue Label says only 14% of its total profit comes from “Blue Chip” partners including the likes of Checkers and Pick n Pay, with 86% of its profit accumulated from “spaza shops” and related ventures.
The group puts its new connections for prepaid airtime and mobile starter packs at 450,000 per month.
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