A strong first year for Vice Versa

The smart card programme, since its world launch at last year's ATM, has reached new heights and has been driving accelerated sales for its participating partner outlets. Kira Milan, founder and Managing Director comments on the year gone by,

"Rolling out a brand new concept like we did definitely raised brows of acceptability in the market. But once the ball started rolling and the market saw value in our concept, we experienced an unparalleled growth, especially in 2008. Our network of partner outlets and business partners has grown considerably, and we are able to provide visitors with the widest options possible. Over the past year, our programme has generated sales worth more than Dhs10m at our partner outlets."

Kira Milan continues, "We had set out to create the most attractive and transparent reward programme that benefits its users and participating merchants alike. We are happy to report that on an average, more than 75% of rewarded Card-Cash has been redeemed by our card users at our partner outlets, reflecting the acceptance of the programme by the tourist market. Approximately 10% of our card users have chosen to upgrade to our Gold Card programme for a membership and longer duration of benefits and an equal percentage of new card users have signed up based on recommendations by existing users."

Vice Versa has also solidified strategic relations with prominent business partners, like Arabian Adventures, Apparel Group, BinHendi Enterprises, Starwood Hotel Group, Mirage Promotions, du, Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF), and Dubai Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) both, locally and overseas.

With the concept gaining a strong foothold with visitors in the region as well as Europe and Asia, the company plans on expanding its customer base, adding more merchant categories to the partner outlet network and strengthening their distribution initiatives to maximize adoption of the Vice Versa programme through their affiliate partner programme.

Known for utilizing a strong technology platform in their solutions, the company's Loyalty & Event solution division and Franchise division had a great year as well. Their event solutions have left an impressionable footprint at the Shakira, P!NK and Santana Concerts, while they have also designed customized loyalty concepts for local and regional businesses. The Franchise division of Vice Versa has a great outlook as they plan to launch the Vice Versa programme to new destinations later this year, to build international usage of the programme.

To celebrate an astounding year gone by, Vice Versa will be launching the '4th Edition of its Premium Guide' for visitors along with exciting cross category promotions and special events at the Arabian Travel Market 2008. The company will be handing out Vice Versa silver cards at the ATM that will hide up to Dhs3,000 worth of Card-Cash pre-loaded into the card that can be used at their select partner outlets.

A Vice Versa card package can be requested via the Vice Versa website, www.viceversacard.com, where more information can also be found on the card programme and how it can complement and benefit retailers and businesses.