Brandpay Logs 65 Million Impressions Turning Retail Shoppers into Ad Channels

Australian retail technology platform Brandpay has logged 65 million organic impressions across 250 brands by turning regular shoppers into measurable advertising channels. The platform generated an average 4.2 times return on reward spend across 12,894 pieces of customer content.

Instead of hiring professional creators, the system pays shoppers in store credit when they post authentic social media content about products they bought. That credit circulates back through existing checkout systems, encouraging repeat transactions.

Micro audiences and store credits

Brandpay co-founder and chief executive Dr Mike Haywood said the model distributes reach across regular buyers rather than concentrating budgets on a handful of high-profile influencers. More than 80 per cent of rewarded participants have between 100 and 5,000 followers.

The mechanics produce measurable cost advantages over standard digital ad inventory. Brandpay reported an average cost per mille of $2.48 and a cost per click of $2.62 across its network.

A brand’s own content describes itself. A customer’s content is evidence.

RetailNews Asia has tracked a sharp regional pivot away from high-fee influencer contracts across Asia-Pacific e-commerce operators, as rising customer acquisition costs on major ad platforms force merchants to monetize their existing customer bases.

Measuring return on reward spend

Shoppers rewarded under the program return to buy twice as frequently as non-rewarded customers. The resulting data allows merchants to test specific reward tiers against basket size increases.

Brandpay is now testing automated reward calibrations to determine how different credit amounts influence basket size and repurchase frequency across retail categories.