Why loyalty programme integration is crucial for retail success

In Thailand, consumers are keen to upgrade their membership tiers in pursuit of greater benefits.

CUSTOMER loyalty, a marketing mechanism that earned rewards and spiced up business promotion, has come a long way from being just a perk. At the recent Retail Asia Forum held in Bangkok, Thailand, loyalty programmes are more widely seen as a necessity.

According to Joel Pham, CEO of Magenest, a whopping 70% of Thai consumers are willing to spend more if they’re part of a loyalty programme. That’s a consensus amongst seven in 10 Thai consumers.

“If you already have a loyalty programme in-house, then the customers will always be willing to upgrade their membership or their loyalty programme,” he told attendees of the Bangkok forum.

Further driving the point, Pham said that 70% of Thai consumers are also more likely to recommend a brand with a loyalty programme.

“Expectation of loyalty is going higher and we think that this is a necessity for all the brands, not just in Thailand or Vietnam or SEA, but globally to have a loyalty programme in place,” he said.

The CEO underscored the necessity of integrating loyalty programmes across all channels, both online and offline. “Customers should be able to reap their benefits no matter where they shop,” he said.

He outlined a simple customer journey workflow, emphasising the importance of a unified customer database, great UI/UX, and seamless integration of order management systems across various platforms, including Lazada, Shopee, and TikTok Shop.

Also, Pham cited the importance of data integration, personalised customer experiences, as well as omnichannel loyalties. 

“Data is a very important part of every business, not just for retailers,” he said. “The more data that we can gather across all channels, not just e-commerce or a physical store, we can gather data of our customers on marketplaces.”

For a successful loyalty programme, he said retailers should have a robust e-commerce website not only facilitates online orders but also gathers valuable customer behaviour data and order management tools like Odoo.

Pham also said that platforms like HubSpot provide excellent tools for marketing and customer engagement and mobile apps offer a convenient shopping experience and allow businesses to gather extensive customer interaction data.