Strathmore listens for Kachingo! profits

By Phil Boeyen, ShareChat Business News Editor

Wednesday 10th October 2001

Strathmore (NZSE: SMR) will be hoping for big things from the expansion of Global Online's point-of-sale reward game Kachingo!, particularly in light of the recent demise of its Genie investment.

Following trials at liquor retail chain Super Liquor the customer reward programme is being expanded to more than 500 supermarkets, petrol stations, fast food outlets and liquor stores throughout the country.

The programme's new partners are BP, Woolworths and northern KFC outlets. They join Super Liquor in offering customers the chance to win up to $1 million in a monthly draw.

The system effectively rewards shoppers with a free lottery ticket when they spend certain amounts with the programme partners. The number of chances to win can depend on how much is spent or what products are bought.

Cash prizes include a daily amount of $1,000, a weekly prize of $10,000 and a monthly first prize of between $250,000 and up to $1 million.

Taking a leaf out of the state-run Lotto franchise, the monthly draws will take place live on television.

Strathmore owns a third of Global Online and Cullen Investments is the majority shareholder. Management also has a stake in the company.

Kachingo! spokesperson, Mary Vance, says the programme, which was invented in New Zealand, has already established operations in Australia as well as the US, where it is vying for a slice of a market worth billions of dollars a year.

The company also has plans to take the programme to Europe and Asia.

Strathmore's US-based software investment, Genie Systems, was last week placed in receivership after being unable to raise further funding to develop its e-commerce business.

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