I have to admit something. I never imagined that one day I would commission a prize wheel. Thirty years in distribution – and suddenly there's a colourful wheel handing out reward points. Anyone who has followed this blog series knows me well enough to understand that the wheel is not a gimmick. It is the most honest answer I have found to a question that has challenged us for years.
The question is simple: How do you reward loyalty without letting it disappear into an invoice?

The traditional answer is a discount. Two percent here, a special condition there, and eventually it all becomes another figure in your purchasing calculation before quietly disappearing into your accounting system. It works – for exactly one moment. Then it becomes part of the purchase price, gets booked, reconciled and forgotten. Nobody has ever proudly said: »Last year I received a 1.8% discount.« A discount creates no memories. It creates an accounting entry.

And that is exactly the problem when, as we do, you genuinely believe in partnership instead of merely talking about it. A discount treats every order as if it were the first. It makes no distinction between the reseller who has been growing with us for ten years and the one placing a first – and perhaps last – order today. Loyalty doesn't work like that. Loyalty accumulates over time. And something that grows over time doesn't belong on an invoice. It belongs in an account that you can actually see.

So that's exactly what we built. We deliberately kept the concept as simple as possible. No complicated calculations. No hidden formulas. For every euro of net revenue generated from selected core brands – currently Zebra and Elo – you receive one BOOST point. Those points don't disappear in a price list. They accumulate in your personal account and are redeemable for real rewards – not another credit note, but something tangible. Something that sits on your desk or on a shelf. Something you can actually show a colleague.

Before anyone assumes we've suddenly become overly generous by giving away our margin, let me assure you: The economics behind BOOST are calculated down to the last detail. The difference is not the value. The value is almost identical to what it could have been as a discount. The difference is that you actually notice it. A discount quietly disappears into the purchase price. A reward that you actively redeem creates a completely different experience.

So why build an entire programme – with a catalogue, a prize wheel and everything that comes with it – when we could simply have reduced prices by exactly the same amount? Because visibility changes everything. I've written before that true partnership doesn't mean giving everyone the same benefits. It means investing most in the partners who invest most in us. That philosophy needs a memory. A points account is exactly that memory. It shows you – in black and white – what your loyalty has been worth over the course of a year instead of hiding it across dozens of invoices that nobody ever adds together again. And the monthly prize wheel? It's exactly what it looks like. Not a mystery box. Not an auction. Not a game of chance. Just a small, transparent bonus on top – something that costs nobody much, yet still makes people smile.

I'm not suggesting BOOST will end discussions about pricing. Those conversations will always exist, and rightly so. But alongside price negotiations, we wanted to create something that isn't renegotiated every time a new price list appears. A balance that simply keeps growing as long as your business grows with us. No fine print. No annual reset. Just points that stay with you long after a discount has been forgotten.

So remember this: »A discount disappears into the calculation. A points account remains visible – as long as you're still counting.«