T-Points & V-Points merge, rank among Top Five point ecosystems

The customer loyalty program market in Japan is becoming increasingly competitive. In a bid to strengthen their position, two major players offering points-based reward systems have merged. Culture Convenience Club and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group officially combined their T Point and V Point programs on Monday, retaining the V Point name for the new unified system.

Culture Convenience Club, which operates a chain of movie rental shops and bookstores, launched T Point in 2003 as a pioneering program that allows users to collect points from partner businesses like convenience stores and online shops, and redeem those points as a form of currency. However, T Point has faced growing competition from mobile phone companies’ loyalty programs.

The V Point system, on the other hand, enables users to accumulate points through credit card purchases.

Customer loyalty programs are a significant business in Japan, with over 110 million accounts registered with Ponta Point, operated by KDDI and others. Rakuten Point and D Point, operated by Rakuten Group and NTT Docomo respectively, each have around 100 million registered users, while SoftBank’s PayPay Point has over 63 million users.

As of March 2023, T Point had 128 million registered accounts, and V Point had 26 million.

Analysts predict that the merger will intensify competition for users, as major retailers, airlines, and rail operators are also developing their own loyalty programs.

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