PayPal launches the PayPal+ loyalty programme in Germany

PayPal launched PayPal+ in Germany, a free loyalty programme that awards one point per five euros spent, roughly a 0.2 percent base return, across PayPal checkout, the PayPal app and the PayPal Card. Points are earned at physical retailers when paying with the PayPal Card or PayPal instalments, capped at 1,000 points a month per location.

There are two tiers, Blue and Gold from 4,000 points, with a 20 percent redemption bonus online and up to 60 euros a year of subscription cashback.

PayPal is attaching loyalty to the payment method rather than to a retailer's programme, which is the mechanism Payback and the schemes' own offer platforms occupy in Germany. Rewarding in-store card use is how PayPal tries to convert 30 million German online users into counter volume it currently does not see, and the cap per location shows it is buying breadth rather than baskets. Nothing in the announcement says who funds the points.

Whether the reward cost reaches merchant pricing, whether German retailers integrate PayPal+ at the till, and how Payback and the schemes' offer platforms respond.

• it-finanzmagazin.de