Brewer Adnams turns to mobile payment and rewards

Adnams has partnered with Droplet to introduce a mobile payments and reward customer loyalty scheme, as the UK brewer looks to boost loyalty across its pubs and shops.

Adnams, which owns 12 shops and 50 pubs across East Anglia and London with a further 1,200 stockists across the country, will be introducing Droplet Rewards across its shops and pubs from Summer 2015.

This will be the first time the brewer has introduced mobile payments across any of its businesses and the solution will form a key part of Adnams’ ongoing strategy to boost customer loyalty through digital technology.

Droplet Rewards, the latest offering from Birmingham-based start-up Droplet, is a mobile payments application that goes beyond payments. Easy to customise and deploy in-store, the application allows merchants to reward regular customers through their smartphone and gives consumers the ability to pay their tab or bill without even getting their phone out of their pocket.

“Adnams has been brewing beer in Britain for more than 140 years and we have always prided ourselves on our ability to adapt and embrace new technologies; from our energy efficient brewery to the experience we deliver to the customer in our pubs, shops or hotels.” commented Andy Wood, CEO, Adnams plc. “With mobile set to be the next major disruption in our industry, we have been looking for a mobile payments solution for some time. However, the real selling point of Droplet is that it will allow us to do so much more. By using Droplet to reward our customers through the app, we can give something back to our loyal customers and encourage new ones to return – something which is absolutely critical for a community-focused business like Adnams.”

“For businesses of any size or in any sector, the ability to turn occasional visitors into regular, loyal customers is absolutely invaluable,” commented Steffan Aquarone, CEO and co-founder, Droplet. “We have designed Droplet Rewards to help businesses to do just that. As well as allowing merchants to accept mobile payments completely free of transaction fees, Droplet Rewards gives businesses the ability to reward customers through their smartphone – which means no more fiddling around with stamps and bits of paper every time you buy a beer or a cup of coffee. We are delighted to be partnering with Adnams as one of our first enterprise-level customers and we look forward to working closely with their shops and pubs over the coming months to help them deliver a digital rewards scheme that will keep customers coming back.”

Deployment will take place over the Summer with Droplet Rewards to be rolled-out first in Adnams’ pubs in Norwich, with the rest of the company’s pubs and shops potentially following.

Droplet is currently raising funds through crowd funding platform Crowdcube in order to allow the business to expand its ambassador growth programme, which focuses on establishing a presence within existing business communities and growing through word-of-mouth.

Founded in 2012, the company currently works with over 600 merchants across the UK and has more than 16,500 users.