This is the same player who, almost 10 years ago, launched through the EuroLine credit card the first in-store financing solution on the Romanian market. Today, EuroLine – which has meanwhile become EuroLine American Express ® - has convinced over time 780,000 Romanians to use it, mainly for the purchase of electronics, appliances or DIY products. This large consumer base provided ERB Retail Services with the critical mass necessary to register, even in a crisis period, an overall increase in the use of credit cards by about 55% in volume in 2012 compared to 2011.
"These results are due to a consistent strategy focusing on 3 directions: the relationship with customer, the relationship with merchant partners and the product. Projects meant to educate the Romanian consumer on how to use credit cards for their benefit have generated a significant increase in the share of payment operations out of the total transactions. One reason for this shift is that EuroLine American Express® cardholders choose more and more to benefit from the purchases with different interest-free or light instalments, instead of withdrawing cash which is more expensive. If in 2009 only 1 of 7 transactions was a POS transaction, today we are witnessing an equalization of payments and cash withdrawals from ATMs" said Mr. Aris Papathomas, General Manager of ERB Retail Services.
The permanent loyalty schemes, bringing customers part of their money back at every card payment, and the multiple seasonal annual campaigns have contributed to an increased use of credit cards in the case of ERB Retail Services. "EuroLine American Express® is a complete product that combines the benefits of a consumer loan with those of a classic card to which we added, year after year, new ways of usage such as the Interest-free Instalment or the Light Instalment systems. We have also collaborated with our merchant partners, major international or local retailers, to stimulate card payment in the more than 8,000 stores accepting our product" added Papathomas.
