The recent announcement of the partnership between the Flying Blue loyalty programme and Mooncard offers great publicity for your corporate card offer.
Tristan Leteurtre - That's right. Even if we were already perceived as a credible playerThis partnership will give us a high profile with companies, and potentially make it easier for them to make decisions about our range of cards. No doubt some of our employees will also be touting its benefits to their companies. It's up to us to do our sales job and show how much a company can gain in terms of efficiency with our solutions. We're campaigning since our creation to bring benefits to companies and their employees, so that cardholders no longer have to pay in advance, to automate expense claim managementto simplify all your purchases. At a certain point, we said to ourselves "why not add to all this mileage benefits "It's a model for me. That's how we came up with the idea of a corporate payment card offering the possibility of accumulating miles for both professional and personal use.
How did you convince Air France to enter into this partnership?
T. L. - This partnership did not come about in a matter of weeks. We had been discussing it for more than 18 months.. Air France is a customer of our payment cardWe had some good discussions with a group that was keen to reinvent itself and find new models. They undoubtedly saw us as serious people, ambitious perhaps, with an offering that was going to take up market share. It's thanks to all that, I think, that we were able to come up with this new offering.
We offer business travellers the chance to collect miles in other ways, for example by buying petrol, or paying at FNAC or Amazon.
At a time when air traffic is still affected by the pandemic, and the gain in miles is therefore limited, isn't the timing of this announcement out of step with current events?
T. L. - On the contrary, we want people to be able to make the most of their journeys as soon as they become easier again. As planes aren't flying much at the moment, we're offering business travellers the chance to Collect miles in another formPeople are starting to think about the post-vaccination period, for example by buying petrol, paying at FNAC or Amazon, or even buying a sandwich in a bakery. With the start of vaccination, people are starting to look to the post-vaccination period. It's hard to say how long it will take, but we're going to get through this, whether it's in six months or a year's time. By then, they will have accumulated six months or a year's worth of miles and will be able to a breath of fresh airThese miles can be used to purchase flights with Air France and KLM, and also to benefit from the Flying Blue programme's partners by converting these miles into overnight stays, gifts or car hire.
How far have you got in developing your offering for businesses?
T. L. - We're approaching the 3,000-customer mark, with over 1,000 companies having signed up with us by 2020. Our customers range from major accounts such as Air France and Vinci to Cora shops, as well as small and medium-sized businesses. There are a whole network of small companies where purchases are managed by employees using their personal cards, and where travellers pay for their own meals, hotels and plane tickets. And this is before all these expenses are grouped together in an Excel file and the stapled tickets are taken to the accounts department before being reimbursed.
So it's all these companies that you're trying to convince as a priority?
T. L. - The playing field is enormous. We spend a lot of time meeting finance directors from SMEs and SMIs who are still reluctant to give their employees a payment card. What we're promoting is a corporate card that not only simplifies purchasing and expense management, but also which is also very easy and safe to fly. The settings make it very easy, for example, to activate restaurants and deactivate vending machines. We're creating the conditions for the corporate card to be more widely deployed in France.
Apart from the partnership with the Flying Blue programme, what else is new?
T. L. - We launched two new offers last year, starting with our top-of-the-range Mooncard X payment card at the beginning of March. Its launch was somewhat overshadowed by another global event! But we're very happy with this product. With this offer, we wanted to dusting off the premium cardIn order to make it as widely available as possible, the cost of the card and insurance has been kept to a minimum. To ensure that as many people as possible can benefit, the cost of the card and insurance has been kept to a minimum. Among the benefits associated with the Mooncard X card, we offer a personal assistant in partnership with Generali Concierge Services, a subsidiary of the insurer. At a time when there are fewer and fewer office managers or assistants in companies, our idea was to offer a solution for managing all the organisational aspects, such as booking a meeting room or buying IT equipment. These are all things that can make life easier for managers and sales staff. Some start-ups are also rolling out this premium card as part of their package to attract the best talent.
We wanted to dust off the premium card, traditionally intended for managers, by making it accessible to any employee.
As for the second, what is it about?
T. L. - The Mobility Card is a universal fuel card that gives you access to all service stations, the ability to pay for car parks and tolls without having to multiply the number of cards required, and even the ability to pay at electric recharging points. The announcement was made last summer, after the French government selected Mobility, following a call for tenders, to roll out the card to 500 public bodies. As our Mobility card is affiliated to the Visa network, its advantage is that it allows public sector employees to pay for petrol at 100 % service stationsIt also extends its use to meet new expectations, such as recharging a car at an electric station.
Can we expect more news in the near future?
T. L. - After a surprisingly dynamic 2020, we're going to digest all these changes. But we have reached a major milestonethat's for sure. And we have no intention of stopping there.
