Flux: thank you and goodbye

So how will it work when Costa come on board, am I going to be able to delete the costa app from my phone and my card will automatically be linked to my costa account for the points/ rewards. How will the Monzo app tell me im due a free brew?

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It’ll just be Costa receipts when it launches. But yeah, I imagine that is the end goal.

They’ll eventually know when you are due a free drink and the amount will be refunded automatically/instantaneously when you use your card and are eligible I believe.

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I think all he’s saying is that flux have been trialing for over a year now and now they’ve just gained 1.5 million extra customers they should be working with national chains (not corner shops in Grimsby) to work for all of Monzo’s customers.

They mentioned they’re working with new unnamed retailers (other than Costa who are national :+1:) so hopefully we’ll be seeing this soon. With flux’s access to all Monzo’s customers hopefully retailers will pay a bit more attention and they’re hopefully through the chicken and egg phase.

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Succinctly put, better than I did!

What was interesting from the launch event was the discussion about retailers opting in as the receipt data is their data.

Might be a jump, but it seemed like Matty was inferring they’ve had some trouble getting retailers to share that data.

Absolutely and I have no doubt that they would and want to. I’m simply saying I can see objectively why they would start the way they have while also knowing “”there’s more outside of London” in some oddly passive aggressive phrase that’s too easy to put out.

Flux are a separate company, not a part of Monzo. They are wanting to rid the world of receipts (good!) but with what… 4/5 retailers they are nowhere near that yet.

It’s possible to say “Can’t wait until retailers near me join up, but I understand why they have done what they have done - oh hello fellow fintech user in London, enjoy!”

Just to add into the discussion, flux is available across the UK. The fact is that the retailers that have signed up so far are heavily concentrated in the London area… however, look at the map and you’ll see where the retailers are spread. There is an itsu in Leeds and a Eat. in Liverpool for example.

Yes, they need to take on more retailers, but doh! that’s what they are trying to do. It’s not London focused for any other reason now, so far as I can see.

I’m most looking forward to the Costa integration which will bring digital loyalty (although I understand that Costa Club isn’t going anywhere, so can we use both loyalty schemes in one transaction?), but also the ‘big unnamed’ retailer that is ‘outside of food & beverage’.

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The problem is not that it started mainly in London, it’s that the pace of new additions is glacial.

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I can only imagine the difficulties in getting a company on board. As much as I love this idea, I don’t see it becoming a mainstream thing.

However, they did mention about allowing everyone to utilise the API so if it’s more ‘open source’ then possibly.

My main concern really is I don’t see how they make money - not enough to sustain themselves.

Same could be said for Monzo :slight_smile:

Still early days for them, they’re providing a service im pretty sure most people will want? So im sure retailers will pay for them to put this in place once they have some reinforced data to back it up.

Hey everyone:wave:, this is Veronique I’m one of the founders at Flux. Got to meet a few of you yesterday which was cool! I wanted to send an overall reply to the above and provide some insights from my point of view before going back individually. Specifically around the questions and comments about retail coverage across the UK. The absolute challenge with the problem we’re solving is that the data just doesn’t exist today. Visa don’t have it. Mastercard don’t have it. Google don’t have it.

First we have to build the receipt data rails and now we are starting to really scale the network. You’ll see that come into effect over the next 2 months. In the meantime we’ve worked with Monzo to ensure that only customers who shop at enabled merchants are encouraged to activate Flux which ensures Flux is only really available for customers who can actually use it. Of course some of you curious beavers are hunting down ways to activate it from the help section of the app. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

The details of what we buy in the offline world, e.g. a Flat White or Blueberry Muffin, exist purely on the retailer’s side and there is no scalable way today to liberate it and get it to the customer in a format that’s not on paper without the customer giving additional input at checkout like an email or scanning a barcode/QR code. Until now.

Flux is solving a marketplace problem and face the classic chicken and egg challenge. We’re building the network and as a customer we are only encouraging on-boarding to Monzo when you shop at currently enabled Flux merchants, to ensure you’re getting value from Day 1.

The B2B cycles for large retailers is long, like Matty mentioned in yesterday’s talk. Rest assured we were very very busy last year and you’ll start to see the fruits of that labour over the next 2 months. In the meantime for those EAT. pod Pure and itsu lovers we can’t wait to hear your feedback!

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no idea why youre reply was flagged but glad to hear we can expect more retailers very soon :smiley:

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I doubt any members flagged it, I would assume it is part of the forums anti-spam prevention?

In the eyes of the algorithm she has created an account and instantly made 1 lengthy post namedropping a brand throughout. This is typical of a bot, like those that sell prescription drugs.

Obviously that isn’t the case here so I’m sure a hoooman will be along soon to sort it out :slight_smile:

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I have a horrible feeling it was use of a word on the banned list :joy:

Probably that word. Knew they were evil.

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Definitely beavers LOL

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I’m quite interested by Flux. It appears the North isn’t something that interests them though.

Here’s a shot from their own ‘tryflux’ page.

Screenshot_20190131-112415

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This is wonderful :joy:

Welcome to the community :wave::grin:

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I’m sure now there’s good Monzo integration they’ll be able to rapidly attract new retailers

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I love the concept it’s a shame that I don’t use any of the retailers they have on board though haha

Sad to hear you think that but it’s not the case! North is of interest and the national retailers we’re working on next will increase that coverage. For my own interest which 3 chains would you say you visit most frequently right now?

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