Payback staffs up to grow its FMCG commerce-media business
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
Munich loyalty and commerce-media firm Payback has created a Lead Sales & New Business FMCG role, hiring ex-Bertelsmann manager Maximilian Aigner — a sign of how Germany's loyalty platforms are staffing up to compete in the fast-growing retail-media market.
What happened
Payback, the American Express-owned loyalty and commerce-media company based in Munich, appointed Maximilian Aigner as Lead Sales & New Business FMCG in a newly created role that started in June 2026. Aigner joins from Bertelsmann.
The move deepens Payback's push into fast-moving consumer goods and its broader commerce-media revenue — the advertising business built on top of its loyalty data.
Why loyalty platforms are chasing commerce media
Payback sits on exactly what advertisers now crave: first-party purchase data at scale. As third-party cookies fade and retail media booms, loyalty schemes are perfectly placed to turn that data into targeted, measurable advertising for FMCG brands.
Creating a dedicated FMCG new-business role is a clear statement of intent. The prize is a slice of the budgets consumer-goods brands are shifting from traditional media into commerce and retail media, where targeting and closed-loop measurement are strongest.
The data-advantage race
Germany's retail-media landscape is heating up, and the players with the richest first-party data have the edge. Payback's cross-retailer loyalty footprint gives it a view of shopper behaviour that individual retailers' own networks can't fully match.
Hiring for sales and new business rather than just tech signals the platform believes the product is ready and the bottleneck is commercial: getting FMCG brands to buy in. That's a maturing-market move.
Our read for marketers
For FMCG marketers, the takeaway is that loyalty-data platforms are becoming serious media channels worth testing alongside retailer networks. Their cross-retailer view can offer targeting and reach a single retailer can't.
More broadly, watch where first-party data concentrates — that's where the next advertising power sits. The brands that build direct, permissioned data relationships now will depend less on renting audiences later.
Quick FAQ
What did Payback announce?
Payback created a new Lead Sales & New Business FMCG role and hired ex-Bertelsmann manager Maximilian Aigner (starting June 2026) to grow its fast-moving consumer goods and commerce-media business.
What is commerce media?
Advertising built on a company's first-party purchase data — here, Payback's loyalty data — enabling targeted, measurable campaigns for brands as third-party cookies fade.
Why do loyalty platforms have a retail-media edge?
They hold first-party purchase data at scale. Payback's cross-retailer loyalty footprint offers a view of shopper behaviour that individual retailers' own ad networks can't fully match.
— Oliver Nikolla-Casado, International Markets Reporter at Marketing Minute
As cookies fade, first-party-data platforms become serious media channels — watch where that data concentrates, because that's where the next advertising power sits.
Are you building direct, permissioned data relationships now, or will you be renting audiences forever?
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: Payback, Horizont, OneToOne, Lebensmittel Zeitung.
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Written by Oliver Nikolla-Casado, International Markets Reporter at Marketing Minute
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