Caffè Nero launches first mobile payment and loyalty app: Caffè Nero has launched its first mobile payment and loyalty app in a bid to take its blue stamp card into the digital age. The app, which can be used in all Caffè Nero stores across the UK and Ireland, will provide a digital version of Caffè Nero’s blue paper stamp card, which has been in circulation since 1997 and rewards customers with their tenth coffee free. The card is used by nine million customers yearly, collecting in excess of 50 million stamps. The new Caffè Nero app will be the first UK coffee app to go beyond “top-up”, offering the ease of straight-through payment, automated loyalty stamp collection and digital receipts – in one quick scan. Yoyo Wallet, the UK’s most used mobile wallet, partnered with Caffè Nero to build and power the app. Existing Yoyo Wallet app users will also be able to pay and collect their loyalty stamps at every Caffè Nero store. Caffè Nero said, as well as improving the in-store customer experience, the partnership with Yoyo Wallet would allow it to identify every customer at the point-of-sale. This provides insight into purchasing behaviours, while also informing the app’s personalised engagement and rewards experience. Existing Yoyo Wallet app users will also be able to pay and collect their loyalty stamps at every Caffè Nero founder Gerry Ford said: “Making our loyalty card available on our customers’ phones while also including an integrated payment system is a win-win. It still rewards customer loyalty and makes paying fast and easy. We believe this will be a great step forward for our customer experience.” The app also helps to tackle the industry-wide issue of lost loyalty with five million Caffè Nero loyalty stamps and 500,000 coffees thought to be going unredeemed each year. Furthermore, according to a new survey by Yoyo Wallet, more than 87 million loyalty cards are lost every year. Yoyo Wallet co-founder Alain Falys said: “We have every confidence the move from the paper loyalty card to the app will contribute to a significant increase in customer loyalty for the retailer, driving a huge spike in loyalty stamp redemption.”