With Yunar, Deutsche Bank is now launching a large copy of this wallet under its own new brand.
Big in Berlin
The Germans are not only a people of the cash payer, but also the austerity fox. Where previously diligently discount coupons were cut out, have set the loyalty programs for many loyalty programs in German wallets for many years. The most well-known representatives such as Payback, ADAC card or Miles & More each reach millions of customers in Germany and clog the wallets of their users together with many other loyalty cards. The German FinTech Stocard has already transferred these cards out of their wallets to their smartphones with his Wallet app of the same name a few years ago.
As a rule, hardly any innovative climate can be found within the big banking groups. The innovators encounter too fast internal resistance from the core business. This has also recognized the drivers in the Frankfurt headquarters and therefore let the app develop in a new subsidiary company.
This sits with her 80-member team not in the banking capital, but in Berlin. “With our headquarters in Berlin, we deliberately chose Germany’s number one digital location. The city is attractive for innovative talent, and people with the right experience are easier to find than anywhere else, “says Yunar manager Caren Genthner-Kappesz.
Well made app …
What the Yunar team did is really well done. The onboarding after the download is very easy and intuitive. The most important loyalty programs are available directly on the start screen. With a touch on the corresponding logo opens either a barcode / QR code scanner or an input field for the card number and immediately the card is stored in the app.
Many other bonus programs are already stored in the catalog: from the ADAC card to the DRK blood donor card to the Zweibrücken Fashion Club. Overall, according to company information about 200 bonus programs are deposited. If you do not find the bonus card of your choice in the catalog, you can enter it manually – unfortunately without a logo.
Tobias Baumgarten Tobias Baumgarten is a trained banker and a graduate in business administration. He is currently working as a specialist in multi-channel banking on digitization issues. He is passionate about FinTech topics in his professional & private life and blogs and tweets privately on FinTech. You will find Tobias Baumgarten is a trained banker and a graduate in business administration. He is currently working as a specialist in multi-channel banking on digitization issues. He is passionate about FinTech topics in his professional & private life and blogs and tweets privately on FinTech. You can find Tobias Baumgarten on aboutfintech.de and Twitter
… but without your own USP
To encourage users to deposit as many loyalty cards as possible, the corporate startup relies on gamification in the form of achievements.
But that is – in addition to the more modern design – even the essential difference of Yunar over the model Stocard. So if you are already using the original, you will hardly find an opportunity to switch to the offer of Deutschbänker.
And then there are also the offerings of the two major mobile ecosystems: Apple and Google. Both the Apple Wallet and Google Pay support the digital storage of loyalty cards, so that many potential users should ask the question of the added value of the solution.
The thing about privacy
For Android users, the issue of data protection should certainly be an argument. If you do not want to feed the data ghost Google with even more data, you can use Yunar to split your data stream between different companies. That should hardly be a strong USP. Apple users should not address that anyway, because Apple like geriert as the spearhead of data protection. Many users prefer their data to Apple rather than a third party.
Speaking of privacy: the Yunar app itself comes with two tracking tools on board on your smartphone: Firebase and Adjust. Both are enabled by default, without the app asking for permission beforehand”.
Both tools may be valuable from a developer point of view, but a brief note in the setup process would have been nice. After all, both tools can be turned off in the settings.
Only the beginning of Yunar
Overall, the app, as already written, is already doing quite well. But it is also clear that the current range of functions can only be a start”.
However, this can also be assumed because the company is still looking for employees: in addition to software and product developers, data scientists and UX / UI designers, etc. also experts in payment transactions.
The latter could be a clue as to where the journey might go. A connection to the points accounts of the bonus programs should also be included in the roadmap.
The big challenge will be to develop innovative features in order to break away from the Wallets of Apple and Google on the one hand and Stocard on the other hand. It will be interesting to see what the Yunar team think of here.
Also published on Medium.