program to provide more rewards and benefits targeting the small and medium enterprises (SME) market.
Aquire, launching in March 2014, will be a stand-alone loyalty program tailored to businesses which will be able to earn Aquire Points via their everyday transactions, including travel. These Aquire Points can then be converted into Qantas Points in the name of an individual Qantas Frequent Flyer member.
All Australia based small and medium businesses with an ABN can join.
Qantas is committed to being best for business, with the best domestic on-time performance, a comprehensive domestic and international network with business friendly frequencies, award winning service and products and one of the world’s best consumer loyalty programs.
Aquire will take this one step further by rewarding businesses for transactions they already make today, providing businesses with a central Aquire Points account that owners and employees can contribute to.
Owners and employees can earn Aquire Points for a business, while still earning personal Qantas Points for themselves. For example, booking a Qantas flight will not only allow an individual to earn via the consumer program, but they will also earn Aquire Points for their business.
In addition, businesses will be able to earn Aquire Points through other soon-to-be announced partners across financial services, professional services, vehicle and office related costs and other business expense categories.
The Aquire program will offer business owners a range of options on conversion of Aquire Points to Qantas Points that could have a positive impact on their bottom line, including:
- - gifts to employees for reward and recognition
- - flights for a business owner and employees for work or leisure
- - flight upgrades for a business owner and employees
- - products, experiences and gifts from the Qantas Store.
The concept is aimed at driving more value and earning opportunities for Australian businesses. According to a 2012 ABS survey, there are over two million small and medium sized enterprises in Australia across a wide variety of industries and with a wide range of annual turnover, representing 99.7 per cent of the nation’s actively trading businesses.
The majority of SME owners and employees are already members of the Qantas Frequent Flyer program and Qantas Loyalty has a targeted strategy to make their membership even more valuable.
Qantas Frequent Flyer membership is targeted to reach 10 million this financial year, with the SME segment of the membership base in many cases already the most engaged in the consumer program in relation to earning and redeeming points.
Qantas Loyalty CEO, Ms Lesley Grant said Aquire is about better rewarding small and medium business owners for their significant spend and support.
“Qantas recognises that small businesses are the backbone of the Australian economy and we have created a market-changing loyalty program that rewards them.”
“Aquire will provide SMEs with tangible benefits by turning everyday business expenses into an opportunity to earn points that can be redeemed for real rewards that benefit the bottom line," added Ms Grant. - "There is currently no other airline based coalition loyalty program in Australia targeted at businesses and our ultimate goal is for Aquire to be as important to these small and medium businesses as the Qantas Frequent Flyer program is to almost 10 million Australians.
Any business with an ABN is able to pre-register for the Aquire program from today via www.qantas.com/aquire. Following registration in the Aquire program, Aquire Points earned through the pre-registration offer period can be converted on a 1-1 basis to a Qantas Frequent Flyer account in the name of an individual in the program. The annual membership fee will be waived for businesses that register for Aquire within the first six months from launch of the Aquire program.
LOYALTY UPDATE
The announcement of Aquire follows the launch of the Qantas CashTM card in August, the next generation Frequent Flyer Card that lets members load their own funds in nine different currencies, with members already making over 250,000 transactions across 131 countries. All cards are expected to be delivered to eligible Frequent Flyer members by the end of January, in time for the peak summer travel period.
The most recent quarterly figures for the Qantas Frequent Flyer program (July-September 2013) showed that redemption rates continue to rise, with an 8 per cent increase on the number of Qantas Points redeemed compared to the same quarter the previous year. Total membership of the program now stands at 9.6 million – an 8 per cent increase on the corresponding quarter last year. Billings for the same period were also up 7.1 per cent.
SPECIAL OFFER
Aquire is announcing an early bird pre-registration offer of 500 bonus Aquire Points per flight for all eligible Qantas domestic and Qantas international flights (operated by Qantas, American Airlines and Emirates) booked and travelled between 1 December 2013 (or the date of pre-registration, if later) and 28 February 2014.
Aquire Terms and Conditions will be available on the Aquire launch date in March 2014.
