![\"\"](\"https:\/\/assets.grab.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/07\/19174358\/asia-woman-barista.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Food and beverage brands have some edge in building customer loyalty. After all, everyone needs to eat and drink every day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The challenge then for these brands is how to keep their customers happy enough that they always come back, no matter how stiff the competition is.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Especially at a time when customers are constantly enticed with the next trendy drink, snack, or even restaurant every time they open their social media accounts, retaining and engaging them is key for F&B brands to ensure their businesses are not out of the conversation by the next season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For decades, a rewards or loyalty programme has been how businesses enticed these customers to stay.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In Southeast Asia, for example, according to an April 2023 customer intelligence report, <\/span>9 out of 10 consumers in the region<\/span><\/a> prefer to shop when a brand offers a loyalty programme. This sentiment transcends even to food and beverage (F&B) businesses. The report even argues that keeping existing customers, rather than attracting new ones, is less expensive for businesses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So it is unsurprising that many brands across industries have a loyalty programme. It is in crafting one that rises above the competition that is the challenge.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A <\/span>Mastercard executive says<\/span><\/a> the traditional and basic strategy of \u201cheavy discounting\u201d no longer bites with key markets in the region, such as Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. There is, however, a chance for brands to tap into the emerging middle class in these markets and craft a loyalty programme that can keep customers engaged.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n One of the rising approaches to do so is by employing an omnichannel loyalty programme. This strategy uses technology to provide a customer experience that <\/span>delivers relevant offers at the right time<\/span><\/a>. It\u2019s a way a brand can lend itself available just when the customer needs and wants it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Brands now foster loyalty not just in-store but through other channels, as well. Below, we share how some F&B brands employed this omnichannel approach.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n These days, brands are no longer just issuing rewards cards; they issue customer-centric apps, too.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n McDonald\u2019s, one of the world\u2019s largest fast-food chains, is one of the first movers in its category to introduce a customer app. When McDonald\u2019s launched the app in select markets in 2015, it only allowed customers to check the nutrition facts of menu items, or where the nearby branches are. Eventually, the app evolved and offered deliveries, which allowed McDonald\u2019s to craft in-app promos and discounts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The app’s introduction allowed the company to gather insights into its customers\u2019 shopping behaviours, from the items they usually order, to when and where they are when they do so.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In Thailand, such data allowed <\/span>McDonald\u2019s to iterate the app<\/span><\/a> to create personalised promos, offering discounts and deals based on how customers interact or engage with the app.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Another facet of the omnichannel approach is how brands make themselves available even in non-traditional channels. When the pandemic struck, for example,\u00a0 food and beverage companies also had to be innovative in keeping their products available to their customers, even in the comforts of their homes.<\/span><\/p>\n In some Grab markets in Southeast Asia, restaurants started offering a digital gifting option for users, which allowed them to send GrabGifts vouchers to a friend or a relative, with vouchers for a drink in their favourite cafe or fast-food chain.<\/span><\/p>\n While having a meal or a drink sent to a friend via GrabFood was also available, the GrabGifts voucher option provided a personal touch to such a gesture as it allowed users to also send a personalised digital card.<\/span><\/p>\n In the Philippines, for example, cafe restaurant chain J.Co has made itself available as a gift option via GrabGifts on the Grab app. This allowed the cafe to be a brand remembered at some of the most important moments of a customer\u2019s life, as it provided value at a critical time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Such a strategy is now essential in an innovative loyalty programme. As <\/span>a market survey says<\/span><\/a>, \u201cemotional loyalty\u201d is a key factor in turning customers into \u201cbrand advocates\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Starbucks, the world\u2019s largest coffee chain, is also a popular example of a loyalty programme done right, thanks to its innovative customer app. When Starbucks launched its app in 2008, it was mostly a lone wolf in the F&B customer app business.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In concept, it worked the same way as a loyalty card: a customer earns points \u2013 or stars, in the case of the Starbucks app \u2013 when they purchase goods in a Starbucks store. Aside from gaining points, a customer may also use the app to search for nearby branches and, in some markets, even load e-money to the app to make purchases in Starbucks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n By 2020, Starbucks reported that over US$2.4 billion was loaded on its customer app and remains unused. By the end of 2022, about <\/span>22 million customers worldwide have signed up<\/span><\/a> for the Starbucks app.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The rewards and customer programme is so popular among its customers, they even <\/span>expressed outrage<\/span><\/a> when Starbucks made some changes in its rewards programme in early 2023. Still, it\u2019s a prime example of a highly engaged customer base.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Lately, Starbucks has also been making key partnerships to enter a new age of loyalty programmes \u2013 the loyalty ecosystem. As Mastercard describes it, a loyalty ecosystem is <\/span>a network of organisations<\/span><\/a> that enables consumers to earn points at one organisation and use them at another. This allows Starbucks to be remembered by customers even when they no longer have drinks \u2013 the brand is now part of a customer\u2019s lifestyle.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nAn omnichannel approach to building customer loyalty\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n
Brand-focused customer apps to build engagement<\/span><\/h3>\n
The rise of the digital gifting\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n
From loyalty programme apps to e-money services\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n
Age of loyalty ecosystem<\/span><\/h3>\n