Major mobile phone networks are partnering with retailers among others to make it easier for customers to earn and use reward points, making use of such services as QR code cashless payments.
Fearing a protracted battle among operators vying to win customers with reward campaigns, firms are opting to form partnerships in an effort to attract users and improve services.
NTT Docomo Inc. announced a partnership with flea market app Mercari Inc. on Feb. 4. The alliance will allow Docomo users who buy items on Mercari to earn and use d points, a reward points program operated by the mobile phone giant. Many Mercari users are young people who Docomo hopes to lure to its service.
The operator of mobile network au, KDDI Corp., plans to integrate its au Pay points service into Lawson Inc.'s Ponta points scheme.
Starting in May, au users will be able to earn Ponta points for purchases made through the au Pay payment service.
The mobile phone operator has its eyes on the more than 90 million users registered to Lawson's Ponta program.
KDDI launched a weekly campaign on Feb. 10, awarding au Pay users with points worth up to 20% until a threshold of 1 billion yen in total rewards for all users is reached, with the balance reset each Monday.
SoftBank Corp. and Yahoo Japan Corp. joint venture PayPay Corp. has been outpacing its competitors in terms of reward points services.
PayPay has teamed up with the operator of T points, which has more than 70 million registered users, enabling PayPay users to earn T points when using the cashless payment service.
Major mobile phone companies are vying to firmly establish their own services. "From now on, the usability of points will determine the winner among smartphone payment services," an NTT Docomo executive said.
There is also a view that promotional campaigns alone will not be the decider: firms have been trying to establish schemes that encourage continued use of the services.
A Mercari subsidiary acquired Origami Inc., a pioneering smartphone payment operator, a move which in the overcrowded smartphone payment market is likely to spur industrywide realignment.
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