Key Takeaways

•  BrandCash™ are points secured by blockchain technology that enable real-time payments and customizable economics
•  Businesses can build a loyal customer base by investing in their own micro economies with BrandCash™
•  Customers earn BrandCash™ points when making everyday purchases using Rimark’s debit card
•  BrandCash™ points have the flexibility of being redeemed for products, services, or cash  
•  Each unit of BrandCash™ is a smart contract on the Solana blockchain

Introducing BrandCash™, a revolutionary points-on-the-blockchain technology that transforms customer acquisition for businesses. This innovative solution enables brands to align their interests with those of their community, creating a mutually beneficial relationship. By utilizing Rimark's transformative peer-to-peer rewards model, BrandCash™ enables brands to turn customer acquisition and retention costs into investments that fuel growth and cultivate loyal, long-lasting connections with their customers. In a market where customer satisfaction is key, BrandCash™ offers a forward-thinking solution to help businesses succeed.

What is BrandCash™?

BrandCash™ are points secured by blockchain technology that enable real-time payments and customizable economics, giving each of our partners a truly bespoke tool with which to craft tailored solutions. They power features like redemption price, USD liquidation, and yield generation that can be toggled on or off to suit the needs and specific uses case for each  partner. BrandCash™ points can be used as a financial incentive to drive customer acquisition and retention as they have the flexibility of being redeemed for products, services, or liquidated for cash.  

A staggering ninety percent of American brands have loyalty programs, but attracting new customers to participate in these programs can be challenging. To stand out in a market with an abundance of choices, brands must offer a unique value proposition and differentiate their customer journey. Rewards can be most effective as an incentivize when they have monetary value or real world utility. This is especially effective when the rewards do not expire, are not at risk of becoming worthless due to inactivity/program changes, enhance the customer's brand experience, and make the customer feel valued.

Brands must find new and innovative ways to engage their customers to succeed in this competitive and rapidly evolving market. This is especially challenging due to the increasing importance of data privacy and the restrictions it places on advertising and community building on major platforms. One way for businesses to effectively reach new leads and build a loyal customer base is by investing in their own micro economies through the use of BrandCash™. Rimark's peer-to-peer rewards model helps businesses connect with their customers, build a stronger sense of community, and encourage customer loyalty. By leveraging this model, businesses can reduce the cost of customer acquisition and retention, and reframe these expenses as investments rather than costs.  

Frictionless Rewards

Brands must inspire loyalty and nurture repeat business by offering customers an exceptional brand experience. Rewarding customers for their loyalty is a cost effective way for brands to lower marketing costs, promote brand advocacy, and encourage higher sales. However, it can be challenging to incentivize customers to change their shopping/spending behavior or participate in marketing activations to earn rewards.

At Rimark we deeply understand this problem. We designed BrandCash™ with two main goals in mind: to make it easy for businesses to implement and to make it convenient for customers to use. We wanted to offer a rewards tool that would add value for businesses without requiring customers to make any extra effort to participate. In other words, we wanted to create a solution that was both beneficial for businesses and hassle-free for customers.

To elevate the shopping experience and make it easier for customers to earn BrandCash™ points, Rimark offers a BrandCash™ debit card. This allows customers to easily earn points while making everyday purchases and enjoy the rewards and benefits of the BrandCash™ program.

Before or at the time of purchase, Rimark's debit cardholders can select BrandCash™ from the list of exclusive businesses, communities, and non-profits that Rimark partners with, as their preferred cashback reward. This creates a personalized points ecosystem for each cardholder. In addition, once cardholders have accumulated enough points, they can redeem them for products and services from the issuing brand or share them. Not only does this provide value for the cardholder, it also leads to virality and network effects for Rimark and its BrandCash™ partners.

The network effect fosters a sense of community and encourages more people to get involved. It's a win-win-win for Rimark, our partners, and their customers, leading to word-of-mouth marketing as satisfied customers share their experience and reward points with their friends and family. Rimark's rewards program is a powerful and effective way to drive customer loyalty and increase sales.

The BrandCash™ Debit Card

Rimark's co-branded debit card is the ultimate online to offline connector that can be used anytime and anywhere within its extensive network. It offers the low risk of a debit card along with the benefits of a premium credit card, including physical and virtual options that are compatible with Apple and Google Pay.

One of the key partner benefits of the Rimark debit card is that points can be earned as a cashback on any purchase. When a cardholder chooses to receive their cashback rewards in the BrandCash™ of a specific business, the cashback is deposited into their account in that BrandCash™. This not only benefits the cardholder, but it also gives the business more touch points with their customers and creates a unique new revenue stream as the business can opt to have those points be redeemable only through their business.

For cardholders, the Rimark's debit card removes friction and amplifies their earning potential by allowing them to use a single card and wallet to earn rewards from multiple brands. And, because BrandCash™ is backed by USD and USDC, it provides added security and stability.

Ownership and Redemption

By far, the most effortless way to accrue BrandCash™ is by using Rimark's debit card to earn cash back rewards. However, BrandCash™ can also be bought directly, similar to airline miles. Should a user not have enough points for the full cost of a product or service, they can purchase the needed amount directly in app.

Let's look at an example: A Rimark BrandCash™ partner has a special offer on a limited edition hoodie that can be redeemed for 100 points—it's an exclusive deal for points holders only. What's a user to do if they only have 80 points but really, really want the hoodie? They're in luck because Rimark has a buy feature—BrandCash™ can be purchased in incremental amounts—which means the points needed to buy that exclusive hoodie can be purchased and redeemed for the hoodie. Awesome!

This type of use case allows a brand to provide exclusive offerings to customers and be fully compensated for the product or service, as the cash used to purchase those points will be automatically sent to their account using Rimark's real-time payments infrastructure. This is an exciting use case because, unlike traditional points systems, BrandCash™ is fully backed by USD and USDC, which means each point has an intrinsic cash value.

Technology and Transparency

Each unit of BrandCash™ is a smart contract on the Solana blockchain, the fastest blockchain in the world. Solana is an innovative layer 1 blockchain that uses a unique Proof of History consensus mechanism, which enables it to process transactions faster and cheaper ($.00025 per average transaction) than other blockchains. The entire Solana network uses as much energy as 1,038 US households in a year, whereas Visa uses almost 20x more energy, equivalent to that of 19,304 US households each year. To break this down a step further, a single transaction on Solana uses 1,837 joules (J), a single Google search uses 1,080 J, an Ethereum transaction uses 692,820,000 J, and one Bitcoin transaction uses 6,995,592,000 J. That means that trading BrandCash™ is neither energy intensive, nor expensive.

Blockchain’s distributed ledger technology enables Rimark to reduce costs, create a frictionless system, make transactions near real-time, and provide a secure environment for the peer-to-peer exchanging of BrandCash™ points. Blockchain transactions also improve trust and transparency: for example, a brand that offers a traditional reward program can, at any time and for any reason, remove unbacked points from your account, or change the program and say points have expired or are no longer accepted, leaving you with little to no recourse. With BrandCash™, you own your points from the moment they are deposited into your account.