Nedbank’s Avo ‘super app’ has garnered over 250 000 South African users in 12 months, as the bank accelerates the use of digital solutions.
Nedbank, which scored big with its technological innovations in its 2020 annual financial results, says thousands of businesses and individuals now rely on Avo to access essential services as the COVID-19 lockdown continues.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, banks and payment service providers have been introducing various measures to combat the spread of the virus by reducing the direct handling of cash during transactions.
For Nedbank, it says in its first month, 10 000 customers joined Avo and during level five lockdown, groceries and essential services were delivered to more than 1 000 households on a regular basis. By the end of 2020, the app had 100 000 active users.
Further, the bank says, to date, over 20 000 merchants, mostly small and medium enterprises (SMEs), have gone digital with Avo Business.
It adds that over three million Avo Points were issued over the past year, each worth R1, allowing users the ability to spend their points with a growing list of partners on the app.
“We have achieved in just one year what other e-commerce businesses achieved in five years. As Avo continues to evolve its environment and user experience, it will offer consumers even more, from health solutions, to virtual vehicle shopping and big business solutions. As our user base grows, so does the range of products, service providers and functionality, to deliver an all-encompassing journey powered by intelligent data,” comments Ciko Thomas, managing executive for retail and business banking at Nedbank.
“The rewards and cashback not only benefit users, but small businesses as well. Every time a user buys from that merchant, they receive Avo Points, which incentivises them to support the same merchant again.”
The uptick in Nedbank’s Avo use comes as the bank has been pushing innovative digital solutions to enhance the customer experience, such as integrating quick response code technology into its Money App, which enables customers to make contactless withdrawals at ATMs around the country.
Nedbank also introduced more retail digital onboarding capabilities to new products, such as investments, cards and overdrafts, and it started the rollout of juristic client onboarding.
The bank has since made inroads with digital solutions to enhance customer satisfaction and entrench its services.
The bank also has the Rola digital finance offering, which is built on the bank’s vehicle asset finance application programming interface (API) for clients in Nedbank's API Marketplace.
Nedbank said at the time of the launch, by linking into the API, Rola made it possible for visitors to the Rola website to get an accurate idea of the vehicle finance amount they may qualify for.
Clients can then shop for the car they want before applying for the finance they need – all enabled online.
Nedbank launched its API Marketplace in 2018, with several products available, including vehicle and asset finance, personal loans and payments.
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