Former Fairfax Media Metropolitan CEO Jack Matthews has taken a stake in emerging loyalty company Rewardle and has been named its chairman in his first major move in the Australian market since leaving the media company.
Matthews has joined the startup which is developing a retailer loyalty system using smartphones as the central hub.
Founded by Melbourne entrepreneur Ruwan Weerasooriya, the company is aiming to extend loyalty capabilities available to major merchants to small and medium enterprises using a secure platform.
Weerasooriya has previously been behind the launch of an in-taxi video advertising platform in Melbourne and the Cafe Screen wifi hotspot advertising platform in which he subsequently sold a majority stake to Ooh Media.
Matthews was pivotal to the early development of Fairfax Media's digital strategies and as metropolitan CEO was responsible for all print, online and mobile media products across metropolitan Australia including The Sydney Morning Herald, smh.com.au, The Age and theage.com.au.
He said he was attracted to the model of Rewardle opening digital loyalty and the underpinning data to smaller business around the country.
“It makes sense that smaller businesses will want to follow the digital strategy path set by large retail brands but the little guys can’t match their resources and marketing sophistication,” Matthews said.
“Rewardle is stepping in to service this market with tools and guidance. It is a huge opportunity and Rewardle is by far the leading player in the space."
Weerasooriya said Matthews decision to invest in the company was an added benefit to the digital experience that he brought from his years at Fairfax.
“Jack’s digital experience from Fairfax has obvious application at Rewardle but his time in the pay TV sector will also be very useful to us,” Weerasooriya said.
“I often describe the Rewardle business model as 'Foxtel for SME marketing'. Monthly services packages coupled with pay to play features. As we start to focus on monetisation, Jack’s experience and understanding of subscription based business models will come in very handy.”
Under the system merchants place a Rewardle tablet on the counter and customers use the tablet to update the information and deliver data to retailers.
Customers can use the system for a variety of transactions ranging from Loyalty points gathering to pre-ordering and even payment and the system also intergates into social media channels.
Since he left Fairfax as a result of a restructure, Matthews has become a director of two New Zealand-based companies – Network for Learning and Crown Fibre Holdings.
His stake in Rewardle has not been disclosed.
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