When two B2B powerhouses come together, the impact is hard to ignore.
Edenred, an international payment service provider, acquired the employee engagement platform Reward Gateway in 2023. The move brought together two established players with complementary strengths, creating one of the world’s most effective and forward-thinking employee benefits and rewards platforms.
Today, Edenred operates in 45 countries, serving more than 2 million corporate clients and 60 million users. The combined business now reaches 6.5 million employees in the UK and 1.2 million in Australia, with rapid expansion into the US, Europe, and beyond.
Through partnerships with thousands of global and local brands, the platform drives £1.2–2 billion in annual spend in the UK alone.
But scale is only part of the story. What makes Reward Gateway | Edenred stand out is how it engages employees with a trusted, exclusive roster of brands.
I caught up with Andy Philpott, Chief Merchant Strategy Officer at Edenred UK, to learn more about the platform, its innovations, its successes, and what it's working towards in the future.
A trusted, high-intent marketplace
Amidst a competitive publisher landscape, Reward Gateway | Edenred provides a distinct and valuable proposition for advertisers: a platform where employees can access offers provided by their employer.
What distinguishes the platform is the trust that users have in it, and the high purchase intent of employees who access it.
Employees know that the deals are trustworthy, and as they are included as part of their employee benefits packages, users go there to seek exclusive access to offers.
“Our platform brings brands closer to millions of high-intent consumers in a trusted, exclusive environment,” says Andy Philpott, Chief Merchant Strategy Officer at Edenred UK. “That trust, both in the employer and in the platform itself, is what sets us apart.”
As Philpott states, the combination of both trust in the platform and high-intent traffic marks Reward Gateway | Edenred as particularly effective in today’s crowded marketplace.
It’s a trust borne out in the data:
- 83% of users trust the platform as a reliable place for offers.
- 64% say that trust comes from the fact it’s provided by their employer.
- 78% say the deals they find aren’t available elsewhere.
What this also means is that the platform offers a full-funnel opportunity for brands.
Whether it’s driving awareness of a new service, boosting conversion on seasonal campaigns, or nurturing long-term loyalty, advertisers gain access to a consumer base that is already primed to engage.
Campaign success stories
Philpott shared some examples to show how this model works in practice.
With TUI, Europe’s largest holiday company, Reward Gateway | Edenred has become a long-term, strategic partner for building loyalty and reaching new customers.
Over the past several years, TUI has leaned into the platform’s ability to target employees at key seasonal moments, whether that’s summer breaks, Easter getaways, or the January booking surge. Instead of blanket discounts, the campaigns are timed to the natural rhythms of holiday planning. Tapping into this has unlocked measurable growth for the brand.
The results are impressive. During one summer campaign on the platform, TUI saw a 2.5× uplift in sales year-on-year, with an impressive 70% of those bookings coming from first-time TUI customers on the platform. What’s notable here is the demonstration that affiliate marketing can deliver both new acquisition and loyalty. It’s a perfect display of full-funnel affiliate marketing.
Another interesting facet of the partnership is the use of content-led engagement alongside offers. Personalised emails were sent to users, featuring an animation of a beach. As the shore rolled back, the user's name appeared in the sand alongside a deal.
“These simple things bring richness into the engagement,” says Philpott.
Even more interestingly, the platform uses data in a really valuable way to create personalised journeys for users and cross-brand, behaviour-triggered campaigns for advertisers.
By tracking users booking holidays on the platform, Reward Gateway | Edenred was able to trigger HelloFresh subscriptions, ensuring groceries were delivered right when employees returned home.
“Brands are increasingly looking for innovative ways to engage with consumers,” says Philpott. “We can offer that through data-led targeting, personalisation, and a trusted platform that people use every day.”
Innovation and expansion
The merger has also accelerated innovation. Reward Gateway | Edenred is currently rolling out a single, unified app that brings together discounts, recognition, wellbeing, and engagement content in one place.
It’s also investing heavily in AI-driven personalisation, ensuring that employees see the right offer at the right time.
For advertisers, that means more opportunities to test, learn, and refine. Workshops with partner brands, A/B testing, and emerging retail media capabilities are opening new avenues for creativity and performance.
Why they’re in the spotlight
Reward Gateway | Edenred is offering a truly innovative, full-funnel approach to affiliate marketing. Its combination of:
- Closed, trusted employee audiences
- Integration of benefits, discounts, and content
- Proven campaign results for global brands
- Forward-looking investment in AI and personalisation
Philpott describes Reward Gateway | Edenred plainly as a “closed user group where high-intent employees meet your brand – at work, with attention, purpose and trust.”
But what’s clear is that there’s potential here for long-term loyalty, acquisition, and sophisticated personalised content-led strategies. And these aspects are where the platform plans to lean in the future.
With a trusted, engaged audience and a platform built for innovation, Reward Gateway | Edenred is actively shaping the future of employee engagement and brand partnerships.
You can learn more about the platform by getting in touch with Head of Affiliate Partnerships, Joanna Hunt, here.
