Essen-headquartered KarstadtQuelle – Europe’s biggest department store and mail-order retailer – announced Thursday it had finalised its new loyalty and payment card scheme with Deutsche Telekom, capping nine months of talks.
To start the ball rolling, said the retail giant, the duo have set up a joint venture. The new project looks set to overtake Loyalty Partner’s Payback scheme (14.5 million clients) as Germany’s leading card system.
KarstadtQuelle’s current card already has 8m users, while some 40m households with access to DT’s Happy Digits bonus programme will be offered the new scheme. In addition, it was confirmed that the venture would be available to shoppers at retail group Tengelmann.
The news came at a conference to report KarstadtQuelle’s 2001 financial results, where the retailer announced it had met reduced sales targets and increased pre-tax profit by 25%.
News source: Handelsblatt (Germany)
