At PI LIVE Europe, I caught up with Jo Hunt, Head of Affiliate Partnerships at Reward Gateway | Edenred, to discuss the company’s evolution, growth plans, and experimental approach to affiliate strategy.
This year’s show marked the first full year since Reward Gateway and Edenred merged into a single brand.
The platform now serves six million users across 46 countries, with £1.2 billion spent through the network last year alone.
Looking ahead to the holiday season, the company has ambitious targets.
“We want to try and double what we did last year in terms of average order value on our platform,” says Hunt. “We see that it's actually double what it is in the general affiliate channel, and it was last year in 2024. So we're trying to see if we can exceed those targets.”
The platform will be rolling out multiple campaigns over the next few weeks and months, with a major focus on travel in December and January.
“Obviously, tech is big for Black Friday,” says Hunt. “But what we see on our platform is that it’s not restricted to just one category.”
Reward Gateway | Edenred’s closed-user-group model offers a number of advantages. One standout, as far as I can see, is an immunity to a lot of the tidal changes that happen across search and social.
I ask Hunt if she feels that way.
“Definitely,” she replies. “The closed-user-group (model) does protect us to some degree from those challenges, especially around search. Users are not using any search function on the internet to find our offers. It is within a protective environment. That’s where we’re providing certainty in uncertain times.”
Reward Gateway | Edenred recently surveyed 11,000 users and found that 83% felt they could trust the platform to find the best offers in the market at this time.
“Everything is backed by trust,” she says.
Innovation also remains a key focus. The recent implementation of Braze, a marketing automation platform, allows for advanced A/B testing, personalised campaigns, and automated follow-ups that increase engagement and drive additional sales.
Hunt nodded to the successful TUI campaign in July, which doubled average order values and increased new customer reach by 70%.
With plans to roll out the platform in additional countries and continue experimenting with automated, user-led campaigns, Reward Gateway | Edenred is gearing up for a big 2026.
Watch our full conversation below.
