Payback is popular: 33 million people in Germany collect points and redeem them. The Payback app can do even more: it makes collecting points even more attractive with eCoupons and also offers a mobile payment function with Payback Pay – by registering direct debit or a credit card, users can pay directly at Payback partners.Now also available online: Computop has provided the payment method for the online shop of dm, Germany’s most popular drugstore*.
The Challenge
Payback points have a long tradition at dm: In 2000, the company began collecting points at the checkout using the Payback card. In 2010, the smartphone app was introduced. When Payback Pay enabled mobile payments and point collection in 2015, dm integrated the new payment function into its stores shortly thereafter in April 2016. “Payback Pay is very customer-friendly at the checkout,” says Stefan Langendörfer, Team Leader Payment Services at dm. “The QR code can be scanned at any time while the goods are on the conveyor belt, so customers can pack their shopping at the checkout in their own time without having to worry about collecting points or paying. Once the goods have been packed, the shopping process is complete. Payback Pay therefore also speeds up the checkout process.” Since 2020, points can also be redeemed during the payment process, either for the entire purchase or for a partial amount.
Since the integration of credit cards as a payment method in 2018, the user rate has risen noticeably once again, as Fabian Schäfer, Team leader My dm & PAYBACK at dm, confirms. “Direct debit as a payment option was thus a useful addition.”
dm is one of the pioneers of cross-channel shopping services, so it was clear that Payback Pay would also have to work for customers in the long term, both in dm stores and in the dm online shop. Computop has been integrating payment methods from many European countries into the dm online shop since 2015, so it was only natural to continue the successful collaboration for this payment method and entrust Computop with this task as payment service provider. This was an innovation, as Payback Pay was not yet available in e-commerce at that time.
“To a certain extent, we also consider Payback Pay to be our own payment method.”
Stefan Langendörfer, Team Leader Payment Services at
The Solution
“To a certain extent, we also consider Payback Pay to be our own payment method,” says Stefan Langendörfer about dm’s strong identification with Payback Pay. It therefore quickly became clear during the project work that the aim was to integrate it seamlessly into the customer experience. Payback Pay was integrated into the dm app in November 2023, adding a payment function at the checkout. Just one year later, the payment method was introduced in the dm online shop. “The path to this point involved intensive, highly transparent cooperation between all partners, which also included the integration of other companies for financial transactions and certain backend processes,” adds Markus Burkard, Senior Key Account Manager at Computop. Computop is currently the only payment service provider that can implement Payback Pay in online retail.
A special feature is the link between Payback and the dm account, which forms the basis for using Payback Pay in the dm online shop. It was also important that points could be redeemed online when paying.
“Payback Pay with dm was our most comprehensive partner project to date,” reports Jana Pühl, Mobile Checkout Project Manager at Payback. ”We spent around a year and a half working on it, and then of course we wanted it to get off to a strong start. That’s why dm offered 33 times the points for every customer’s first Payback Pay transaction in the online shop.”
The Outcome
Payback Pay launched in e-commerce with great success. Around 100,000 transactions were recorded in the first month. “Following the successful launch, the focus is now on continuously improving the UX, particularly optimizing customer communication to differentiate between the ‘redeem Payback points’ and ‘pay with Payback Pay’ processes,” says Stefan Langendörfer. Another observation is that Payback customers like to take advantage of the benefits of collecting points, as their shopping baskets are larger than those of other payment methods when compared directly.
Following this successful implementation, Jana Pühl is already looking ahead: “The goal is to win as many partners as possible for Payback Pay in e-commerce.” Payback’s own rewards shop will soon offer payment with Payback Pay.
