jö Bonus Club misses out on plastic cards – data protection advocates rejoice!

jö Bonus Club misses out on plastic cards – data protection advocates rejoice!

The Rewe Group's jö Bonus Club is at the center of public discussion following recent criticism from data protection advocates. With over 4.5 million members, the club is one of the largest customer loyalty programs in Austria. As part of measures to improve data protection, plastic cards will no longer be issued to new members from June 2025. Only an email address and date of birth are required to register. This is in response to ongoing criticism and high penalties from the data protection authority, which has prosecuted the jö Bonus Club several times for violations of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The authority imposed a fine of 8 million euros in 2022, which is not legally binding, as well as an earlier fine of 2 million euros in 2021, which is also still under legal challenge, reports courier.

The complaints are primarily directed against the inadequate information provided to two million customers regarding the use of their data. Rewe International AG, the parent company, objected to the allegations and emphasized that the jö Bonus Club operates legally and economically independently and that no customer data is passed on to Rewe.

Changes in data processing

In order to record the feedback from data protection officers, the jö Bonus Club now states that it only collects the most necessary data. Existing members have the option to convert their physical cards into digital memberships. With this change, personal data such as gender, last name and postal address will be deleted, which can be seen as a step towards data minimization and compliance with the principles of the GDPR.

These principles include “purpose limitation” and “data minimization,” according to which data may only be processed for specified purposes and only to the extent necessary. “Privacy by Design” and “Privacy by Default” are new principles that ensure that data protection is built into technologies from the outset and that the default settings are privacy-friendly. The Rewe Group invested in the jö Bonus Club, but had to accept significant losses, which cumulatively amounted to almost 28 million euros. A bright spot was the reported annual profit of 1.5 million euros in 2023, like vienna.at reported.

Future vision and challenges

The jö Bonus Club will continue to face data protection challenges. Members will continue to receive cash on purchases, which can be converted into rewards or donated. The new requirements of the GDPR impose clear requirements for consent to data processing. This must always be voluntary, understandable and accessible, which increases transparency for the customer. Key consumer rights, such as the right to information and deletion, were also highlighted. These rights can help to regain customer trust in the company.

The coming months will show whether the changes and the resolution of data protection issues can increase customer trust and whether jö Bonus Club can successfully overcome the critical data protection challenges while maintaining its position in the market.