Plussa feature attached to Nordea's Visa Electron card
The K-Plussa Supercard development programme that started last spring is progressing. From the beginning of November, the Plussa feature can also be attached to Nordea's Visa Electron card. The increasing range of cards will provide a wider freedom of choice to K-Group customers concerning payments and the collection of Plussa points.
Visa Electron is an international payment and ATM card which can be used to pay at outlets accepting Visa Electron and to withdraw cash from ATMs in Finland and abroad.
After the Plussa feature has been attached to a Visa Electron card, a separate Plussa card is no longer needed. All purchases made with the card give Plussa points at K-Group stores and entitle to Plussa special offers.
"Our customers are clearly looking for solutions that make paying and collecting Plussa points easier. This has been proved by the popularity of the OP-Visa and OP-Visa Electron cards with the Plussa feature, for which more than 300,000 customers have already submitted applications. We believe this card too will certainly find its users," says Niina Ryynänen, Kesko Food's Vice President responsible for the Customer Relationship Unit.
An application can be filled in at Nordea's web pages, branch office or customer service desk. "Nordea wants to offer its customers more new options for using the card. Currently Nordea has approximately 750,000 customers, mainly young people, who use a Visa Electron card. The Plussa feature can easily be attached to the Electron card on the online bank. For the customer, renewing the card is cost-free," says Markku Siitonen, Head of Nordea's Cards unit.
When customers pay with their Nordea Visa Electron cards they get double Plussa basic points at all K-food stores until the end of 2007, and three 10-euro gift vouchers which can be used at K-citymarkets' home and speciality goods departments, at Kodin Ykkönen and Anttila department stores, and Asko stores.
Individual benefits to customers
To consumers, the K-Plussa Supercard development programme will also be reflected as chain- and store-level customer loyalty programmes, to be developed on the basis of Plussa customers' needs. Every chain will have a customer programme of its own, and Kodin Ykkönen, for example, already has such a programme loyal customers can benefit from. Furthermore, benefits provided by retailers to their customers will play an increasingly important role.
The Nutritioncode service (www.ravintokoodi.fi) which has received good feedback from K-supermarket customers will become Plussa customers' free-of-charge service provided by all K-food stores next year. The web service offers an easy way of monitoring and developing the nutritional quality of the family's food purchases.
K-Plussa's customer benefits
- Plussa points which customers can choose to get direct to their account
- immediate Plussa offers
- a wide choice of options for paying and collecting Plussa points
- Pirkka magazine
- K-Group chains' and stores' customer programmes
- 3,000 outlets which accept the card
- retailers' offers and events for the best Plussa customers
- support for responsible operations (e.g. cooperation with the Young Finland Association)
- Nutritioncode service (next year)
Press service: www.kesko.fi/materialbank > Current topics
Further information:
Niina Ryynänen, Vice President, Kesko Food Ltd, tel. +358 1053 37100
Markku Siitonen, Head of Nordea's Cards unit, tel. +358 9 165 24920, +358 50 68522
There are currently as many as around 3.5 million K-Plussa cardholders in nearly 1.8 million households in Finland. The K-Plussa card is accepted at nearly 3,000 outlets. Last year the number of K-Plussa cardholders increased by 185,000 and this year the number has increased further by nearly 100,000. In addition to the K-Group stores, the diversified Plussa network includes Neste, Sonera, Pohjola, A-lehdet, Helsinki Energy, Scandic Hotels, Finnkino, and Europcar.
Kesko (www.kesko.fi) is a Finnish retail specialist whose stores offer quality to the daily lives of consumers through valued products and services at competitive prices. Kesko has about 2,000 stores engaged in chain operations in the Nordic and Baltic countries, and Russia.
