Tranxactor is proudly a New Zealand-owned and operated company, trading since 2002.

It has designed and developed a processing platform that provides comprehensive services for the operation of consumer loyalty and gift card/payment programmes. Its platform, branded Thor, combines a range of functions that include CRM, reward and points management, a promotion and campaign toolkit, financial transaction processing and more.

Tranxactor has played a pivotal role in developing the electronic gift card market in New Zealand, working with some of New Zealand's leading retail and hospitality brands, as well as providing consumer loyalty services for other prominent brands in Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and France.

Gift cards are an important part of Tranxactor’s offerings, but they should be viewed as more than just a payment option. They bring financial benefits to the industry and should be used as a powerful marketing tool. 

John Norrie, CEO of Tranxactor, stated that Tranxactor provides an end-to-end solution for issuing and redeeming right the way through to inter-store and HQ settlement.

He added that the digital evolution will see a decline in physical plastic cards, moving more towards a purely digital model.

"Tranxactor offers everything needed for a business to transition from plastic to digital seamlessly," said Norrie, "Every business in the hospitality sector should have a gift card or stored value card. Tranxactor can help implement a solution that is highly competitive, cost-effective and fast. We can set this up to run on any EFTPOS terminal in New Zealand.”

The other core part of Tranxactor’s business is the provision of technology and services to support consumer loyalty programmes.  Implementing a loyalty programme will change a business' perspective of its customer,   focusing on identifying and understanding customers and their purchasing habits and preferences. This enables more effective marketing initiatives through segmentation and targeting.

Tranxactor's experience in operating consumer loyalty programmes across many sectors of retail and hospitality has found that the top 30 percent of customers can represent 75 to 80 percent of gross sales. Norrie said it was a fact that it could cost five times more to market to an anonymous customer than to a loyalty programme member.

"Tranxactor's Thor platform can capture transaction data down to the individual items in a 'shopping basket', aiding the smart marketers to understand at a very granular level what customers are doing and how they respond to marketing and promotions."

This will provide businesses with powerful benefits, such as higher average per-ticket spend, increased frequency and repeat purchases, reduced marketing costs, more efficient marketing investment, invaluable insights, and lifetime value.

Norrie added that the Thor platform fully integrates with point-of-sale systems, processing transactions in real-time and allocating and redeeming rewards and digital vouchers.

A well-designed loyalty programme, combined with a comprehensive CRM system, is no longer just a nice-to-have for businesses; it has become a strategic necessity. Consumers now expect personalised experiences, and a loyalty programme will help to capture valuable data to deliver just that.

The most tangible benefits include increased customer retention, higher average spending via targeted rewards, and improved marketing efficiency.

A robust CRM platform will enable tracking of customer preferences, help anticipate or predict trends and resolve issues proactively.

Norrie stated that the primary objective is to convert casual customers into loyal advocates and repeat buyers.

"Our advice has always been 'incentivise and reward your best customers better'. Nothing has fundamentally changed with the principle. What has changed is the availability of technology to facilitate interesting and engaging initiatives. Digitisation is at the forefront of loyalty programmes today."

Norrie added that, globally, loyalty programmes in hospitality and QSR have shifted toward personalisation, flexibility, and experiential rewards. He said it was no longer just about collecting points for freebies.

One of the biggest pitfalls small businesses make is overthinking or overcomplicating a programme. Norrie said if it is too complex to join or confusing to use, customers will not engage. Another common mistake is launching without a straightforward way to measure success. If the business does not track metrics such as redemption rates, customer frequency, or ROI, it will not know if the programme is working and will likely relegate it to the "too hard" basket.

"Tranxactor can guide on how to 'keep it simple' and yet operate an effective and powerful loyalty programme. Remember, a great loyalty programme is not just about issuing points. It is about building lasting relationships through engagement."

What does the future hold? Increased automation, app-less loyalty, self-service kiosks for gift cards and gamification were in the pipeline for Tranxactor.

A final word from Norrie, “After 23 years, we are still fully committed to the industry, and helping hospitality rebuild following the challenges of the past few years."