Saurabh Swarup, General Manager Asia Pacific, Liquid Barcodes
As the only two countries in the world that each boast over one billion people, both India and China are markets we watch closely to identify trends and innovation in the world of convenience retail. We’ve written previously about exciting developments in both markets, and recently took the opportunity to hear some insights in person from our very own General Manager for Asia Pacific, Saurabh Swarup. Having already attended the NACS Convenience Summit in Asia earlier this year, Saurabh was attending the USA NACS Show for the first time, this year held in Las Vegas. He took the opportunity to chat to Dan Munford of Retail Vision to share his insights on the future of retail in Asia and where he sees opportunities emerging.
Insights from India
With such a vast area under his leadership, Saurabh was excited about a number of countries whose population demographics bring important opportunities for any brand that notices the clear changes in the market. The markets that are most exciting for Liquid Barcodes right now include the Middle East, Malaysia and India – particularly with India projected to become the world’s most populous country by 2024, even surpassing China. Even more relevant is how young the Indian population is, with 70% of the population below thirty years of age. Saurabh highlighted how much consolidation there is in the market, with increasing overlap between the convenience and grocery sectors.
It’s also a country of incredible diversity, but one thing these digital natives share is that technology is simply not an optional or occasional channel they use, it’s the dominant channel through which they expect to connect with their favourite brands. Whether it’s stamps or coupons, communication or loyalty points, consumer’s relationships with their favourite stores is very quickly evolving from the traditional transactional approach to a more engaged and connected one.
Clearly convenience retailers that cater to the needs of these younger consumers are also safeguarding their future revenues, as digitally-savvy customers access more and more products and services directly on their mobile. One such brand that has truly embraced the digital channels so loved by customers is 24 Seven – a leading convenience retailer in the Indian market. We’ve written previously about the ideas and insights that are driving the brand’s investment in digital loyalty, and earlier this year, the team took the opportunity to celebrate their annual 24th of July celebrations with a unique and fun ‘brand day‘ and drive increased engagement with their customers.
From a positioning point of view, 24 Seven’s round-the-clock service is clear in terms of its promise to customers. This year, the idea was extended to create four days of fun and focused excitement around July 24th. A comprehensive campaign was planned in-store to drive registrations for the brand’s mobile app, led by games and giveaways as shown below.
One of the Stunning Stores run by 24Seven India
The Results
Having soft-launched the app several months earlier, this was the first time that the chain of seventy four stores rolled out a comprehensive range of games and customer communications across all channels – both online and offline. And the results were fantastic.
The app was downloaded over 100,000 times, with over 67,500 in-store transactions completed. The games and campaigns included give aways (“Buy Five, Get One Free”), spin-the-wheel and scratch cards, as well as a refer-a-friend campaign which is always incredibly effective.
Some of the fantastic 24 Rupee Offers from the 24Seven Campaign in July this year.
Key Learnings
These figures are incredibly impressive for any digital campaign. For this one in particular, achieving such engagement in just four short days was the most exciting result to see in action. Whatever strategy you use to captivate your audience, a soft launch followed by focused customer communications makes the most sense. It allows the technology to be launched and tested and also introduced to your staff to ensure they are trained to talk about the app. It’s also critical to agree KPI’s in advance to ensure internal alignment on what success looks like.
Innovative brands like 24Seven have fully embraced the benefits of mobile for their network of stores, and now boast a direct communication channel to over 100,000 customers any time they choose – sending relevant and fun communications to them in the palm of their hand.
If you’re interested in exploring how simple, easy and cost effective it is to create a simple gamification campaign or loyalty programme in convenience retail, please check out our new pricing page on our website, or simply contact us for a full demonstration.
Fantastic Results for the ’24Seven Raid’ Campaign by 24Seven – captivating customers in India.
About Us:
Liquid Barcodes is a leading global loyalty technology company specialized for the convenience store and foodservice industries. Our proprietary cloud-based technology platform allow retailers to create and manage their digital marketing campaigns with a proprietary process we call the “customer connection cycle’ to engage, promote and reward customers activities in real-time across digital and media channels.
How we do it:
We have developed the most advanced loyalty and digital marketing technology platform specifically for convenience store and foodservice retailers globally.
Retailers use our self-service dashboard to create and manage loyalty driven marketing campaigns that increase purchases with their existing customers, as well as effectively target and acquire new customers through partners or paid media channels.
One core component of live loyalty is gamification. We have gamified branding, loyalty and promotions. We believe this approach is essential in order to get customers’ attention and ultimately truly engage them with repeatable actions thereby winning their loyalty.
Check out some of our exciting/proven results here:
About Me:
Chief Content Officer, Liquid Barcodes and Independent Loyalty Consultant.
With over twenty-five years marketing experience, I specialise in loyalty marketing consulting, managing consumer loyalty propositions, strategy and operations. In addition to working with Liquid Barcodes, my clients have included Telefonica O2, Three Mobile, Electric Ireland, Allied Irish Bank and The Entertainer, as well as Avios – the global points currency for some of the world’s top airlines. I am also a judge for the Loyalty Magazine Awards.
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