Edhat Staff
By the edhat staff
Santa Barbara’s longstanding discount book Axxess and fundraising platforms has now joined forces with a local tech startup.
Santa Barbara Axxess has been acquired by Twism, a Santa Barbara-based cloud-based loyalty management solutions provider for customers.
This new online platform aims to offers marketing options to smaller businesses that usually only larger corporations can afford. It aims to replace coupons, plastic cards, and point systems with virutal coins that can be exhcanged for exclusive offers and rewards.
Santa Barbara Axxess was founded in 1999 by Karim Kaderali, then a freshly graduated UCSB Gaucho. With more than twenty years under his belt he had grown the small company to over 75,000 members and 1,500 participating merchants.
“I’m equally proud of what Axxess has accomplished: we raised millions of needed dollars for local schools and nonprofits, while helping the merchants grow and our members save; plus we found more ways to support new businesses and mostly we had fun,” said Kaderali in a letter to members.
Kaderali stated that while he tried a few different opportunities to send Axxess to the next level, he realized he needed to “redefine what ‘success’ looked like” and instead focus on family and community. After the COVID-19 pandemic through a curveball for the majority of small local businesses, he decided now was the best time for change.
Current Axxess members and merchants will be automatically integrated with the Twism mobile app.
Click here for more information on the acquisition.
Idk if something got messed up or it’s by design, but ANYONE can download the Twism app and get every Axxess deal regardless of membership. What’s that about? Did Axxess take our $40 knowing they would open all deals to the public only 4 months later? Or is it a mistake, and businesses are the ones who will suffer as now all BOGO and other great deals are open to anyone? Either way, not a good look.
I’ve also noticed the new app is also missing multiple deals that were included with Axxess. Annoying.
And one last thing, DON’T use the option to sign into Twism through Google directly, it requires access to ALL your contact phone numbers. Shady af. Sign up via email address.
It also shares your location with third parties. Oh well, Axxess hasn’t been very useful in years, so the only thing we lose is the guilt trip of buying one from neighborhood kids and then tossing in the trash. Merchants finally realized giving deep discounts doesn’t create ongoing business, it just attracts cheapskates.
Hi there, Ben from Twism here! I’m sorry to hear that your first impressions of Twism were not ideal.
Twism has a different business model from Axxess in that yes, the app is available to anyone as our number one focus is supporting local businesses. Many businesses from Axxess have expressed their concern to us as they haven’t seen the same response from Axxess since before COVID.
If you are noticing any offers in the Axxess app that are not in Twism, please let us know! Unlike Axxess we are adding new businesses every week!
Please don’t hesitate to contact us at support@twism.com if there’s any other questions or concerns you may have. Your feedback is very valuable to us. Thank you!
Hi, it’s Ben from Twism! I wanted to clarify and assure you that Twism will neither rent nor sell your personal information in personally identifiable form to anyone.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you’d like more information on how Twism is supporting local businesses. We are not a “coupon book”, rather we use technology to help small businesses strengthen their relationships with their customer base.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at support@twism.com. Thanks!
Hi, it’s Ben from Twism! I wanted to clarify and assure you that Twism will neither rent nor sell your personal information in personally identifiable form to anyone.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you’d like more information on how Twism is supporting local businesses. We are not a “coupon book”, rather we use technology to help small businesses strengthen their relationships with their customer base.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at support@twism.com. Thanks!
Is twisim going to donate to our schools the same ratio as access does with their membership fees?
In the first few years, Axxess gave 50% back to the schools.
Per one of the communication emails I received, “at this time” there are no donations to be made.
Hi again, Ben from Twism here!
We’re thrilled to announce the release of our latest app version! Please update your Twism app to enjoy the latest interface and improvements.
At Twism, we believe in continually striving for improvement, and your input has played a significant role in shaping the transition from Axxess to Twism. We genuinely appreciate your time and effort in sharing your thoughts, suggestions, and concerns with us.
Thank you for all your support. If you have any questions or need assistance with the update, please contact us at support@twism.com.