eBucks.com is set to boost both Internet and telephone shopping this week as it rolls out it's eBucks Shop to over 280 000 customers. The new initiative is designed to provide eBucks.com customers, particularly those without Internet access, with an easy, convenient way of spending their eBucks. The eBucks Shop will allow eBucks members to spend the customer appreciation eBucks they have earned, from using products and services within the FirstRand and MTN groups, on a range of products including cellular airtime and handsets, travel packages, retail vouchers, CD's and books, all within the eBucks.com site.

According to Sandy Yates, COO of eBucks.com, the eBucks Shop has been created primarily to make life easier for non-Internet users. It is expected that this will have the spin-off benefit of encouraging more eBucks.com customers to shop online and bridge the gap between call centre customers who spend their eBucks using the call centre and regular Internet shopping customers who use both eBucks and rands to shop online.

She added that "Many customers bank online but have not tried shopping online yet and the eBucks Shop is designed to encourage them to spend their accumulated eBucks conveniently and securely within the familiar environment of the eBucks.com site." She added that the shop is not designed to compete with retailers but rather to reward customers by encouraging them to spoil themselves with carefully selected luxury items.

Jacques Celliers, designer of the eBucks Shop said "because a substantial part of our customer base do not currently use the Internet, we have created an opportunity for non-Internet customers to spend their eBucks easily. Customers can access the eBucks Shop by dialing into the eBucks.com HotLine and speaking to an eBucks.com call centre consultant. Internet users can access the eBucks.com website without having to go through additional registration processes to shop."

The effect on website traffic will be significant, as it simplifies the spend process dramatically, meaning customers don't have to spend hours on a number of sites or register at each one just to find an offer they can purchase with their eBucks.

Explaining the rationale behind the new initiative Celliers said "The advantages to our Online Partner Merchants is that customers who spend their eBucks in the eBucks Shop will have overcome that initial hurdle of making an online purchase. These customers will be 'warm leads' for Internet Shopping prospects and, working together with Partner merchants, we can use direct marketing initiatives to encourage them to shop directly online and to spend rands." He stressed that eBucks.com will, where possible, source products from existing Partner merchants.

Celliers emphasised that the "The eBucks Shop is not primarily about driving online Shopping or about competing with Online merchants. It is about making spending eBucks a little simpler for those customers who don't have access to the Internet, and who are concerned about the security aspects associated with spending their eBucks through the various Internet sites. However he concluded that the eBucks Shop will "dramatically reduce these concerns over time and drive more traffic towards shopping online at any of our online partners."

About eBucks:

eBucks, the rewards programme offered by First National Bank (FNB) and RMB Private Bank, is acknowledged as one of South Africa's leading rewards programmes with highly active members spending in excess of 80% of the eBucks earned in any given month.