Case study reveals success of Visa-Metro promotion

The data indicates that the promotion, which ran from September 1st through October 15th 2007, provided a marked sales increase at Metro's 30 stores across Egypt as the customer stream strengthened and sales per customer increased.

'We're very happy to have partnered with Metro to implement this promotion which provided encouraging results and a valuable experience,' said Tarek Elhousseiny, Visa's General Manager for North and West Africa. 'The campaign is part of Visa's ongoing effort to help merchants increase sales and ease customers' transition to electronic payments. Visa worked closely with Metro to develop a campaign that appealed to customers and helped drive traffic and sales.'

The Ramadan promotion rewarded customers who used their Visa and Visa Electron cards at Metro supermarkets with prizes ranging from T-shirts and mugs to MP3 players, mobile phones, and laptops depending on the value of their purchases.

Compared to the same period of 2006, Metro Markets realized 52% sales growth.

The promotion also witnessed Metro customers purchasing more-sales volume per customer rose 14%.

The sales up-tick proved a lasting phenomenon as Metro realized 56% year-on-year growth during the months following the promotion.

'The Visa-Metro promotion generated tangible business results for Metro's supermarkets,' said Mohanad Adly, Metro Markets Trading and Distribution Managing Director, 'Customers responded enthusiastically to the promotion and Visa worked with our staff to offer benefits to everyone involved. Working with Visa proved to be a great relationship and one we are looking forward to developing.'

'Accepting and encouraging the use of payment cards benefits merchants and their customers. It offers customers a more flexible, convenient and secure way to pay and allows them to track their spending and stay in line with their budgets,' said Elhousseiny.