FESTIVE CAMPAIGNS

25 years of PAYBACK: Retail giants celebrate innovation and partnership

PAYBACK invited guests to its anniversary celebration, and everyone came: Leading figures from German retail, e-commerce, and industry gathered in Munich on Tuesday evening to celebrate the 25th birthday of Germany’s largest and most popular bonus program. Among those present were decision-makers from Aral, dm-drogerie markt, EDEKA, Netto Marken-Discount, Fressnapf, Sparkassen, Alnatura, Amazon, GALERIA, Globus Markthallen, and SKY, among others. “35 million customers, over 700 companies: PAYBACK has been a success story since its inception and an example of what is possible when many people pull together. During this time, valuable partnerships have been formed – one could even call it Germany’s largest economic alliance – to give consumers advantages when shopping,” said PAYBACK Managing Director Bernhard Brugger at the opening of the PAYBACK Partner Congress.

From discount card to intelligent customer connection platform
The event provided an entertaining overview of PAYBACK’s first quarter century – from its beginnings in the days of the Discount Act to the present day. In 2025, EDEKA, Netto Marken-Discount, GALERIA, and Sparkassen joined the program, which was already optimally positioned with many market leaders. In a panel discussion with the founders, PAYBACK inventor Alexander Rittweger, CEO of dm-drogerie markt, Christoph Werner, Prof. Dr. h.c. Roland Berger, founder and honorary chairman of the supervisory board of the Munich-based strategy consultancy Roland Berger, former CEO of Metro AG Hans-Joachim Körber, and Ralph Teckentrup, former managing director of Condor, discussed the challenging beginnings of the first multi-partner bonus program for retail and services. One month after its launch, PAYBACK had one million members, and one year later, it already had seven million.

PAYBACK is now also a tech company
What began as a plastic card in 2000 has developed into one of the world’s largest and most innovative marketing platforms, transforming PAYBACK into a tech company. Managing Director Dominik Dommick offered an outlook on the digital future and other services heavily influenced by AI. According to Dommick, a large part of PAYBACK’s success is based on the early digitization and mobilization of the program, which launched the first PAYBACK app on the market back in 2010. Today, over 17 million people already use the PAYBACK app as their daily shopping companion to collect and save. It is one of the top 3 shopping apps in Germany.

Customers always take center stage
One highlight of the congress was a customer panel: from particularly loyal PAYBACK users to scientifically structured point collection to a fan who can even show off PAYBACK as a tattoo at the checkout – the diversity and enthusiasm of the users was evident. In 2025 alone, PAYBACK points worth around EUR 700 million were collected, and since the program started, the total has reached around EUR 8 billion, with an impressive 95% of points being redeemed. The majority of these, 65%, are redeemed directly at the cash registers of partners when paying.

Quotes and congratulations from partners:

Achim Bothe, CEO of Aral:
“After almost twenty years of successful partnership, we can say with conviction: PAYBACK is an important multiplier and an excellent addition to our offering at Aral gas stations. We wish PAYBACK all the best on its anniversary!”

Markus Mosa, CEO of EDEKA:
“EDEKA and Netto Marken-Discount would like to offer their sincere congratulations on this anniversary! We are among the newest partners in this great program, and our customers have been telling us how enthusiastic they are about it from the very beginning. We look forward to many more years.”

Christina Stylianou, Head of Corporate Communications at Netto Marken-Discount:
“PAYBACK is an important partner for us in offering our customers real added value. The cooperation makes shopping at Netto Marken-Discount even more attractive – through exclusive coupons, promotions such as multiple points – digitally or with the familiar card. We would like to congratulate PAYBACK on its anniversary and look forward to continuing our successful collaboration.”

Rocco Bräuniger, Country Manager Amazon DACH & EU Expansion:
“What a bestseller, 25 years! We at Amazon wish PAYBACK all the best and look forward to continuing this partnership, rewarding customers with points, offers, and benefits.”

Dr. Joachim Schmalzl, Managing Director of the DSGV:
“Congratulations on your quarter-century, PAYBACK! By combining PAYBACK and the Sparkassen-Card, we are creating real added value: collecting points when paying – without any additional effort. Here’s to a strong partnership that will create many more services and benefits in the years to come!”

Petra Schäfer, Managing Director of Alnatura:
“With PAYBACK, we reach our customers exactly where their decisions are made – and can thus specifically strengthen organic shopping. We wish PAYBACK all the best on its birthday and look forward to continuing our successful collaboration.”

Roland Kölbl, Managing Director of Thalia:
“PAYBACK is a forward-looking, reliable partner for us and another relevant reason for customers to visit our bookstores.”

Tilo Hellenbock, Managing Director and COO of GALERIA
“We would like to offer our sincere congratulations on your 25th anniversary. We have been part of the PAYBACK family since October and are delighted to be able to offer our customers at GALERIA the great benefits of PAYBACK.”

Thomas Hewer, Spokesperson for the Management Board of Globus Markthallen:
“25 years is an impressive milestone. GLOBUS Markthallen is proud to have been part of this journey for several years and looks forward to continuing our joint success story in the large PAYBACK partner network.”

You can find images and video material relating to the PAYBACK Partner Congress and the celebration here.

Source: PAYBACK