• R193 million worth of eBucks allocated
• eBucks allocated since inception totals R683 million
• eBucks spent by members up 36%
• Member growth 14%
• Spend:earn ratio above 70%

eBucks, South Africa's leading multi-partner rewards programme, today announced a 36% increase in the amount of eBucks its members had spent within the financial year ended June 2006.

eBucks' chief executive officer, Lezanne Human, says the growth in the amount of eBucks spent is a result of an expanded retail partner base, which offers members more earn and spend opportunities, as well as higher member activity levels which saw an increased earn to spend ratio.

"In the 2006 financial year eBucks' membership base grew by 14%, to close to one million members. But perhaps more important than the growth in the member base, is that we have found that members have a higher cross holding of products and are earning more eBucks from more partners. Completing the circle is the increase in eBucks spent which proves that members are getting value from the programme."

During the 2006 financial year, eBucks earned by members grew to R193 million, the earn to spend ratio grew from 62% to over 70%, and the total eBucks allocated since inception grew to R683 million.

"It has been a tremendous year for eBucks. I believe we have entrenched our positioning as South Africa's leading multi-partner rewards programme with both our partners and members deriving substantial benefits."

Human says part of the allocation growth can be attributed to the tremendous credit growth experienced in South Africa because of the low interest rates that prevailed for most of the review period.

"With First National Bank being our biggest reward partner, some of the allocation growth we have seen in the last financial year can be attributed to the growth in credit demand."

But Human says the increased amount of eBucks earned and spent during the last year is also a result of eBucks' strategy to improve the quality of its member base and encourage increased activity at retail and financial partners.

"A high quality member base is far more important to us than a large member base. As a result we continually improve our offering to members by adding new in-store partners as well as other spend opportunities. We have worked hard to make our members' experience of the programme more rewarding by enhancing the data mining and CRM capabilities of the organisation. We also focused on direct interactions with our members and launched the Very VIP programme in which select members are invited to exclusive events."

In the past financial year eBucks added car rental company, Avis, as a new partner as well as Loads of Living, post year end - bringing the total number of in-store partners at which members can earn and spend their eBucks to eight. In addition members can spend their eBucks online in the eBucks shop and through the call centre as well as via eBucks' 15 eCommerce partners.

eBucks constantly tracks the programme's impact and the latest research at FNB shows that eBucks members do 49% more revenue generating transactions than non-eBucks members and eBucks members spend 40% more than non-eBucks members. Furthermore, in a "before and after" survey it was found that the same person becomes 16% more profitable immediately after they become an eBucks member.

At in-store partners, it was found that the rands spent by eBucks members increased year on year by between 15% and 25% more than non-eBucks members and that the number of visits to the store by eBucks members was between 6% and 15% higher year on year than by non-eBucks members.

eBucks also introduced a number of new innovations during the year. These included:

• "The Greatest Reward on Earth" campaign, run in conjunction with FNB, which offered a member the chance to go to space
• Virtual movie vouchers
• A migration to open source software which significantly lowered costs
• The launch eBucks' highest unique bid auctions - an industry first

"These innovations have seen an increase in the number of first time spenders, which is a key indicator of the success of the programme," says Human.

Human says she remains optimistic that the member earn and spend growth recorded will continue to increase in the 2007 financial year.

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.