Multicolored bag over ecru playsuit, Audrey Hernandez sets out to storm the market hall, the “lung of Narbonne”. Family and friends get together tonight, it's party time. Audrey starts with the butcher and buys two huge steaks for 35 euros. Then head to the Vie d'Oc wine merchant, where she chooses six bottles with exotic names for 85 euros. Summary of the morning: in theory 120 euros spent, "but in practice 95 euros, because almost 25 euros will be directly reimbursed to me shortly on my bank account", rejoices this young mother who, her conscience released after these purchases less expensive than expected, is now looking for a dress for her daughter.
Keetiz, the app that rewards customers
The app allows merchants to offer cashback to their customers. "It is sometimes 15, even 20% of reward (Editor's note: reimbursement in cash)", details Jean-Christophe Russier, for whom the success of Keetiz is above all due to its playful nature: "to pool money by passing one store to another is like a game, it tickles our pleasure hormone, ”emphasizes this 56-year-old start-upper. The purpose of the app is both to help physical stores - by encouraging consumers to favor stores over online purchases - and to support the purchasing power of customers.
After the Grand Narbonne, it is the Occitanie region, but also the cities of Strasbourg, Aix-en-Provence, Rouen and Auxerre which are on its agenda. If Keetiz ambassadors always canvass traders before the launch of an operation, each municipality draws up an action plan adapted to local needs. Thus, the community of communes Coutances mer et bocage (in the Manche), where the population is rural, will soon launch an operation for 120,000 euros, but only with paper vouchers.
Customers seduced by cashback
Audrey is one of Keetiz's early fans: “I downloaded the app when I was in Béziers (Editor's note where a previous operation had taken place) and when I arrived in Narbonne, I realized that just doing my normal shopping, I was credited with 75 euros! So, I took screenshots that I sent to my whole family! "Exclaims the one who holds to date the record for" rewards "paid by the application: 160 euros since July 13, date of the launch of the operation on the Grand Narbonne. “Be careful, we are not talking about vouchers to be used later, but about money, here and now! »She enthuses. This is called cashback.
A few streets further on, Céline Fenateu, an official at the town hall of Narbonne, buys a small mirror for her daughter (6 euros, of which 2 euros will be reimbursed to her), then a Sud Express dress sold at 50%. "The cash donated, limited to 15 euros per store and per day, is added to the sales", plebiscites this other connoisseur, while Nadine Vie, her teacher friend in Saint-Denis (Seine-St-Denis) falls for a denim jacket from the winter collection: "knowing that I was reimbursed 15 euros clearly pushed me to buy," she admits.
An operation costing 400,000 euros
Three weeks after the launch of the operation in the 37 municipalities and 2,425 businesses of Grand Narbonne, the news of this good plan of the digital era quickly circulated: the number of downloads of the Keetiz app has doubled, from 1000 to 2000 per week, while the turnover generated in physical stores exploded, from 18,000 euros the first week to 236,000 euros the third!
"Word of mouth works very well, because apart from registering and shopping, consumers have nothing to do," argues Keetiz founder Jean-Christophe Russier, who also sees these operations as a blow. fist the way to encourage traders to go digital. But also to give them a financial boost, while the profession has been triply affected by the Yellow Vests, the demonstrations linked to the pension reform, then confinement.
After the elected officials of Béziers, Sète and Montpellier last winter, and before many other municipalities planned (see opposite), this boss, who started in 2015, convinced the elected officials of Grand Narbonne to put in the pot 400,000 euros to support businesses and boost the purchasing power of the population. "We are delighted because the two objectives are on the way to being achieved", confirms Jean-Michel Alvarez, vice-president of Grand Narbonne in charge of the Economy. The operation will stop - probably in October - when the envelope of 400,000 euros has been spent.
Secure banking data
In the field, most of the traders applauded. "When I tell a client that she will have up to 15 euros in cashback, it helps me to close my sale", attests the manager of Naf Naf. “In addition to the haircut, they now offer themselves a treatment or a gift box”, abounds Céline Garcia, the boss of Beauty Lounge, who is also the vice-president of retailers in the center of Narbonne: “for once, we really feel supported ”.
Not everyone has opted for Keetiz yet: there are those - a handful - who still do not have a credit card reader. Those who say they have not seen any fallout - but are content, like this jeweler, to put the Keetiz poster in the window without explaining anything to their customers. And finally those - many more - who are not familiar with the digital world, or even reluctant (like some consumers) to give out their bank details. To these, Jean-Christophe Russier reminds that his app, supported by the Grand Narbonne as by the Crédit Agricole du Languedoc, benefits from the European standard DSP2, which allows access to the banking data of an individual through companies approved by the Banque de France.
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In addition to cashback, in Narbonne, Keetiz also offers paper “locabons”: for 10 euros purchased, you have a face value of 13 euros. This device, which aims above all to help the reluctant to all digital, works less well for the moment. Traders find this system more complicated. Above all, these paper vouchers are not yet sold in the city - for now, they can just be downloaded to the computer. But, faith of Grand Narbonne, it will be possible from October.
