Leeds businesses take advantage of revolutionary mobile payment app

Leeds-based retailers, bars and coffee shops will be among the first businesses in the UK to use a mobile payment app - launching this week.

Droplet Rewards, created by tech entrepreneurs Steffan Aquarone and Will Grant, is giving companies in the city the chance to take advantage of the world’s only fee-free system with payment made simply by the tap of a button.

Business owners will now be able to give customers the opportunity to collect rewards on their phone, creating their own loyalty scheme for a fraction of the cost normally involved.

Almost 25 local retailers have already signed up be part of the Droplet Rewards roll-out, including Café 164, Tall Boys, BangWok and several merchants in Leeds Corn Exchange.

Steffan Aquarone said: “Leeds is one of the UK’s fastest growing cities, with a thriving food and drink scene and an army of independent retailers prepared to be part of a ‘quiet’ payment revolution.

“Droplet was founded on the belief that you can do payments differently, with absolutely no transaction fees for merchants or consumers – unlike contactless, credit cards or Paypal.”

He continued: “We needed to move this forward even further and came up with the idea of ‘Rewards’, where the merchant could award the customer a virtual stamp every time they spend in store. This could then translate into a free cup of coffee, 20% off a meal or even a free product.

“This is a ready-made loyalty platform for just £20 per month and all they need is a web-connected device at the point of sale to make it a reality.”

To use Droplet, the consumer needs to tap ‘pay here’ when entering a registered outlet for the first time and the payment is taken directly from their chosen card – the consumer will then receive a notification on their phone to show how much they’ve been charged and the reward stamps earned.

Eventually Droplet aims to remove queuing from consumers’ visits with the ZeroTouch® technology, which will allow the retailer to know what they want when they check in, serve the drinks/products and then take payment automatically.

Café 164, located at the centre of Leeds’ arts quarter, was one of the first businesses in the city to embrace the app.

Amy Balderston, the manager of Café 164, explained: “Droplet was originally introduced to us under the umbrella of Leeds Indie Food, a city-wide celebration of independent food and drink. We relish the ethos behind it; the fact it is supporting companies like our own to build stronger relationships with our customers in a very affordable way.

“Droplet is very easy to use and holds a fairly big appeal to people who share the ‘geek’ based joy of being able to pay using their smart phones. As a small independent, the fact it is a fee-free way of taking payments was a massive attraction.”

Droplet, available on iOS and Android, is using £575k of Crowdfunding to take ‘Rewards’ national with Leeds joining Birmingham, Manchester, Norwich and Cambridge as one of the first cities to benefit.

More than 1000 merchants across the UK accept Droplet, with 150 of those already signed up and starting to reward customers for their visits.

The company’s growth is largely due to an innovative approach that focuses on local communities. Rather than hiring a remote sales team, the company appointed Ambassadors as a way of introducing the app to new locations.

Aaron Christie, who is responsible for the Leeds launch, added: “Droplet ambassadors tend to be entrepreneurial, well-connected individuals who are already active within their local community.”

“I was tasked with identifying the most influential small businesses in the City and engaging with them in a genuine way, thereby allowing Droplet to establish itself and grow organically through word-of-mouth.

“The emphasis is on building personal relationships and working closely with local merchants to train staff on how to get the most out of it. We want this to be a brand that people take ownership of and enjoy using.

“If we achieve this, then “Droplet Rewards’ will be a success and Leeds could be a springboard for entering other cities in Yorkshire.”

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