CommBank set to launch discount app for Westfield shoppers

The Commonwealth Bank has today announced that they will be partnering with Scentre Group to pilot a new innovative app that will provide Westfield shoppers with deals from retailers within the mall.

At a press conference this morning, CommBank’s Executive General Manager for Payments, Angus Sullivan said that the new app would be available for free and is designed to provide customers with timely and relevant offers from operators within Westfield shopping centres.

In order to access the discount offerings, Sullivan explained “CommBank customers will need to download the app and opt in to receive deals within the Westfield.”

“The theme of our new app is around how we can enhance CommBank mobile offerings to deliver a richer customer experience.”

According to Sullivan here are the steps of the customer journey:

  • A shopper enters their local shopping centre and receives pings across their screen with deals. For example, “Hi Angus, can we offer you a $4 coffee and toast offer?”.
  • If the customer is interested in this deal, they slide to the right and click on the offer. Customers can also slide away if they don’t like an offering.
  • Once they have redeemed the offer, they head on over to the merchant, show them the redemption offer on their smartphone screen and instantly redeem it by paying the merchant directly or if the customer has an Android smartphone they have the option of paying through the CommBank app.
  • If the customer wants to save the deal for later they can click on a love heart emoticon. Each offer will have a use by date, so the shopper will need to redeem it before it expires.

Want to know what other innovative banking products are in the works? Check out our banking hub or head on over to our debit card section to see some of the latest deals offering everything from "tap and go" functionality to cash back offers. 

Bill Burton, Scentre Group’s General Manager, Brandspace said that “retailers are really excited about more customers being driven to their stores through the app and the prospective of making their businesses as efficient as possible.”

“It’s also a great collaboration as Scentre Group has a large shopping base and CommBank has a large customer base,” he said. 

Burton described the new app as a “critical” part of Westfield’s IT strategy. “We are on a path, last year we rolled out “tap and go” payments in Westfield food courts and this year is all about how we will use mobile to bring retail offerings to customers.”

The new discount app for Westfield shoppers is currently in pilot stage and is set to be rolled out across Android first, followed be iPhone. The next step for CommBank and Scentre Group will be to ask customers to participate in testing at a chosen Westfield, yet to be revealed. As customers can’t access GPS within Westfield walls, Wifi networks and beacons will play a role to let the CommBank app know that the customer is in the building.

Burton said more details will be available in the coming months, so watch this space...