PAYBACK is an important and regular shopping companion in Germans' everyday lives: 31 million customers - almost one in two over the age of 16 - use the bonus programme at more than 700 partners such as Amazon, Aral, C&A, dm-drogerie markt, Alnatura, OTTO and Decathlon. On average, customers collect PAYBACK points with five partners per year - in 2025 they will also have the opportunity to earn points at EDEKA, Netto and the Sparkassen Finanzgruppe! The current PAYBACK Collection Atlas shows the astonishingly large regional differences in how and where PAYBACK services are used in Germany:
Berlin is also the capital of PAYBACK points millionaires
Since PAYBACK was launched in March 2000, many customers have become points millionaires. In the past five years alone, almost 400 users have collected more than 1 million PAYBACK points each, which equates to 10,000 euros! Most points millionaires are in Berlin. The highest density of points millionaires in relation to the number of inhabitants, however, is in the municipality of Grünwald in the district of Munich, which only has around 11,500 inhabitants.
Hamburg and Schwanewede are very online
PAYBACK offers the opportunity to shop and earn points online in many different areas. Customers from Schwanewede in Lower Saxony have perfected the start of their shopping journey via PAYBACK.de. At over 60 per cent, they have the highest rate of collecting points via online shopping. But the people of Hamburg are also keen online shoppers: they collect PAYBACK points with purchases worth 264 euros per customer per year.
Elmshorn is extremely mobile
A massive 12.5 million PAYBACK app users collect points with the PAYBACK app. Elmshorn in Schleswig-Holstein is the most mobile in Germany: more than half of Elmshorn residents collect their PAYBACK points using the PAYBACK app! It is also particularly practical, as the entire PAYBACK programme, including collecting points, redeeming points, activating coupons, mobile payments and much more, is always available on the smartphone.
Cloppenburg is coupon king
Many customers use the opportunity to multiply PAYBACK points when shopping with coupons - but Cloppenburg is particularly enthusiastic about coupons: 78 per cent of points are collected here as coupon points. PAYBACK offers many different options for redeeming points, from deducting the points value directly at the till to redeeming them in the PAYBACK rewards shop or donating them to a good cause. Incidentally, the residents of St. Katharinen, a small town in Rhineland-Palatinate, are the absolute rewards champions.
The real PAYBACK pioneers live in Brandenburg
Most of PAYBACK's first customers come from the small town of Rangsdorf in Brandenburg. There are 900 ‘pioneers’ here, with a population of only around 11,000. They signed up to the PAYBACK programme back in 2000. The programme has the greatest everyday presence in Recklinghausen: 59 percent of households here use the multi-partner bonus programme.
You can find a PAYBACK graphic here.