Bank of Baroda (BoB) on Thursday announced the pilot launch of a ‘Loyalty/Cashback Programme’ functionality for merchants based on the ‘programmability’ aspect of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in collaboration with a fintech company.
This functionality will enable small and medium merchants to independently design and launch loyalty/cashback programmes for their customers, usually designed by large brands, using the bank’s ‘bob Merchant App’, BoB said in a statement.
Merchants such as local retail shops, grocery stores, pharmacies, etc., that have an account with the public sector bank and are registered on the “bob Merchant App” can now independently design and run loyalty/cashback programmes without making any corresponding investments in procuring the infrastructure or software needed to operate such a reward programme.
The bank said its merchant customers can configure their own cashback or loyalty programme using the “bob Merchant App”, specifying the campaign period, cashback percentage, and expiry date of the cashback received by customers.
“During the campaign period, customers (presently for BoB customers only) who make a purchase using the bob World Digital Rupee app, will receive cashback in the form of Programmable CBDC (PCBDC) from the merchant as per the prevailing offer at the merchant outlet. These PCBDCs can be used by customers at the specific merchant outlet until expiry,” BoB said.
Sanjay V Mudaliar, Executive Director, BoB, said, “Our new “Merchant Loyalty/Cash Back Programme” using Programmable CBDC, a first in the Indian banking sector, is an innovative use case that empowers our small and medium-sized merchants to create tailored cashback offers that will foster greater customer engagement and retention. This initiative will benefit both merchants and customers.”
