Yoyo published a case study on September 16, 2026, reporting results from Platō’s South African card-linked loyalty programme. The programme began in June 2025; the new development is the publication of performance figures, not a fresh launch.

According to Yoyo, customers register a mobile number through the payment terminal and use the Platō app. Subsequent eligible card payments earn 5% cashback without a separate loyalty-card scan. The supplier reports 132 participating stores, more than 150,000 registrations in under a year and a 34.25% share of checkout.

What the numbers can tell a retailer

The figures describe adoption of a payment-linked rewards process. They do not show what those same customers would have spent without the programme. Existing regular customers may be more likely to enrol, so a comparison between members and non-members can mix the effect of loyalty with differences that were already there.

For a retailer considering a similar design, the practical attraction is one fewer action at checkout. But a simpler earning process still needs understandable redemption. A customer who earns automatically may not know when a benefit is available or how to use it. Registration, earning and spending rewards are separate stages worth measuring.

Redemption needs a denominator

Yoyo reports more than 301,000 cashback-earning transactions and more than 80,000 reward redemptions. Its separate 124.58% “upsell rate” is not accompanied by enough methodological detail to translate it into a sales-growth percentage. We have not done so.

Likewise, comparing a count of redemptions with a count of earning transactions does not measure the proportion of reward value spent. A single redemption might use value accumulated across several purchases. A useful financial measure would need the value issued, the value redeemed and a consistent observation period.

A design example, not a universal forecast

The case study is useful as an example of removing a separate loyalty action from a familiar purchase. Assessing profitability would require more: reward funding, gross margin, operating costs, repeat-purchase behaviour and an appropriate comparison group. The published vendor figures should therefore inform questions for a programme evaluation, rather than act as a forecast of another retailer’s returns.