Revolut Targets Building Consumer Confidence With New Plus Plan

I don’t hide that I’m a fan of Revolut. The online-only bank has taken aim at poor experiences offered by “traditional” banks and built their whole experience around simply being better. Now, Revolut is launching some revamped premium plans including the new Revolut Plus and personally, I think it’s great news for retailers, specifically online retailers and consumers.

Online Shopping In Ireland

Retailers frustrate me. Broadly speaking, I mean shops who happen to have websites. Many of the experiences offered in Ireland are rather poor with a few exceptions. The result is rather unsurprising. People in Ireland do indeed spend their money online, but they just don’t spend it in Ireland. 

Revolut recently released figures for Black Friday in Ireland which show sales were up in 2020 versus 2019. On the surface this is good news however, dig a little deeper and it’s a tale of miss opportunity for Irish businesses. Spending is indeed up, but Irish shoppers are spending far more on international websites than they do on Irish websites.

There is a willingness to buy once you get your experience right, but Irish retailers generally aren’t doing this. From the actually shopping experience itself to terrible delivery and returns processes, consumers simply don’t have the confidence to shop with Irish retailers like they do the international competition.

Revolut themselves will play a part here by growing consumer confidence in general buying but specifically online. Felix Jamestin, Head of Premium Product at Revolut, expects the new Revolut plan introduced today “should give a big boost to our customers’ confidence”.

Revolut And Online Shopping

I’ve been using Revolut a lot while shopping online. I use disposable or virtual cards for trials to ensure I don’t forget and pay when providing card details is mandatory. My favourite thing in the world is using Revolut on websites like ASOS or Amazon.co.uk to save a small fortune by avoiding their awful Sterling to Euro exchange rates by using the Revolut interbank exchange rate. I’m not exaggerating either, you save loads of money by doing this.

Ultimately, Revolut has greased the wheels of online shopping by offering things your “local” bank could only dream of.

And now, they’re doing it again.

Revolut Plus: Peace Of Mind Shopping

Revolut is tweaking their premium subscription plans and adding a very interesting €2.99 option. Basically, for €3 per month 1.2 million Irish customers can now buy peace of mind for all purchases made while paying with Revolut. Here’s what that means.

Damage And Theft Cover

Revolut Plus customers have their purchases covered for up to €1000 for a 12 months. This means if you were to buy a new phone with your Revolut card and it’s stolen or broken, you can claim for the loss through the digital-first bank.

Revolut Premium customers are protected up to €2500, and Metal customers get cover up to €10,000.

Enhanced 90-Day Returns Window

When you shop online, you’ve usually got yourself some decent rights like distance selling. However, not all retailers are nice to deal with and some will even argue with you over your basic rights. For me, how a retailer handles refunds is the biggest measure of their organisation and a poor experience here will result in me never dealing with them again.

Rather than wait for retailers to get their acts together and become more consumer centric, Revolut is adding new layers of returns protection for Plus customers. For items you’ve bought between €50 and €300, Revolut will refund you if the shop you bought from refuses to take the goods back. You can do this up to 90-days after your purchase.

Concert Ticket Protection

I had this weird moment the other day where I was asked what I was looking forward to in 2021. The answer was “all the gigs I’d hoped to go to in 2020!”. Rammstein, Lewis Capaldi, The Book of Mormon and more are all gigs I was going to in 2020 that have been moved to next year. I feared lots of things with these gigs. What if I can’t make the new date? What if I have some symptoms and can’t make it or if something very normal just comes up on the day and I can’t go.

Buying tickets to a gig can actually be rather stressful. If I can’t go, I have to see my tickets. That’s a pain. A while back, I remember an Ed Sheeran gig where reselling of tickets was banned to stop ticket touts, but the impact on genuine people being unable to go for genuine reasons was crappy too.

Revolut Plus customers will now be able to claim a refund up to €1000 when something outside of your control stands in the way of you attending a gig or event.

Revolut Junior For Plus Customers

If you’re less Rammstein and more Disney On Ice, there’s more good news for you too. Revolut Plus customers can add two Revolut Junior accounts.

More generally, as a Plus customer you also get priority customer support through the Revolut app.

Compare Revolut Plans

Revolut now offers four plans in total. Here’s a comparison what you get (and don’t get) with each.