Paula: Welcome to Let’s Talk Loyalty, an industry podcast for loyalty marketing professionals. I’m your host, Paula Thomas, and if you work in loyalty marketing, join me every week to learn the latest ideas from loyalty specialists around the world.
I’m delighted to announce Capillary Technologies as the new title sponsor for Loyalty TV. Capillary’s mission is to bring the loyalty market out of the 1980s and into the present, ditching the slow, chunky manual services of the past. Capillary is all about making loyalty management easy with scalable AI powered tech that turns loyalty managers into superheroes. Say goodbye to outdated methods and check out the exciting new way to achieve loyalty excellence in 2024.
Paula: Hello and welcome to today’s episode of Let’s Talk Loyalty and Loyalty TV. Today’s episode comes all the way from India, a country which recently overtook China to become the world’s most populous country with 1.4 billion people.
We were delighted to be introduced to Metro Brands by our friends in Capillary Technologies. which is a household name in the Indian retail market. Metro Brands is one of the largest footwear specialty retailers in India, with more than 850 stores in 195 cities. And they both manufacture and resell local brands as well as international footwear brands, including Crocs and Footlocker.
Our guest is Biswajit Dutta, who is the head of CRM, loyalty and analytics for Metro Brands. And today he shares their current loyalty strategy, as well as some of the big ideas they’re reflecting on for their future growth and evolution. I hope you enjoy our conversation.
Paula: So, Biswajit, welcome to Let’s Talk Loyalty and to Loyalty TV.
Biswajit: Thank you, Paula. Thank you for having me here.
Paula: Wonderful. I know you’re joining us from Mumbai today, which I think is your corporate head office. It certainly sounds like a wonderfully busy city that it is.
Biswajit: Yeah, absolutely. It’s raining outside, so it’s an amazing climate today.
Paula: Wonderful. Great stuff. Listen, yours is a truly iconic brand, of course, in the Indian market. So I’m really excited to hear about loyalty. I actually feel that you guys are doing amazing work that doesn’t get the credit that it deserves on the global stage. So we’re here to address that as much as we possibly can with you today.
But before we get into talking about Metro Brands and your loyalty programs, of course, you know, we always start this show, try to get a sense of what you admire as a loyalty program professional. So if you were to single out maybe one or two, Biswajit, what would you say is your favorite loyalty program?
Biswajit: That’s pretty interesting. I mean, what happens I admire many programs. And generally I follow programs across different industries, different geographies and, but I mean, there are many programs that I really admire for their two, especially two things. One is their innovations. They continue to innovate themselves and how they engage themselves with their loyal customers. So these are the two areas that I always look forward to, to stick to any particular loyalty programs as my aspirational programs.
There are very names like Starbucks, there are Sephora, there are H&M, and recently I should name upon one program that Patricia Nash, you know, who deals into the sales handbaggages and designer handbaggages, you know, so it’s a small organization, but still it’s worth naming that because of their innovations into the loyalty.
But if you talk about my special loyalty program, two programs that generally I aspire for. One is Sephora because of their level of engagement and personalization that they’re really known for and how they leverage technology to make this personalization happen. And secondly, if you talk about the scale of a royalty program, then it’s definitely one of the program that I look at as a Blue Rewards in based off of Middle East, which is alpha 10 program.
Paula: Yeah.
Biswajit: So these are the two programs, I would definitely be, you know, I’m very interested, always learning from them.
Paula: Of course. Yeah, well, we’re hoping to have the Blue Rewards program on the show quite soon. Absolutely. So thank you for giving them a shout out. We’ll make sure we send this episode to them so that they can hear that you admire them so much. So so thank you for those examples. And always great to hear. I never quite know, of course, what’s going to be present in each individual market. But you’re absolutely right.
Certainly Sephora is one that comes across very regularly. And please God, you know, we’ll be talking more and more about Indian brands, especially what you’re doing there in Metro Brands is very, very impressive.
So let’s just go back to the very beginning. If you don’t mind, Biswajit, would you mind just talking us through your career and how did you get to this stage? Cause I know you really love loyalty like we do. So how did you fall in love with loyalty?
Biswajit: Oh that’s, I’d be really happy to, you know, quickly take you through what’s the journey that so far as an individual. Okay. I actually, you know, into the CRM and loyalty practice, you know, I’m leading the CRM and loyalty practice for Metro Brands for last two years.
But prior to that, my journey into the CRM and loyalty started in the 10 years back when I joined Payback which is actually what’s one of the largest coalition loyalty program and most successful loyalty program. And it’s a household name in Germany. Though I was part of the Indian business.
And, after that the journey continued to be even more exploratory, even more enriching when I joined Accenture. And in Accenture, I got an opportunity to, so various clients from multiple geographies, multiple industries, right from the fuel and retail, and telecom, then consumer gaming companies also of them. So it’s a diverse industries and the geographies like, you know, North America, then Latam for some time. And then Southeast Asia also, I got an opportunity to work with some organizations to help them in predominantly into the design and redesigning their programs. So it’s an enriching journey with all of these organization.
And then definitely what excites me into this role is that I’m able to deliver value through by engaging the loyalty members. At the same time, it’s even more enriching when you see that your customers are getting the right experience from the brand. That’s the journey and I’m still learning.
Paula: We’re all still learning. So absolutely. Thank you for that. And I totally agree. Can I ask you, by the way, is Payback still operating in India? I know we had them recently on the show in Germany. Of course we had the CEO but I can’t remember. Are they still operating in India or not?
Biswajit: No, they are being acquired by some other FinTech companies. After Amex actually exited the business.
Paula: Okay, got it. Okay. Yeah. Well, as you said, it’s a world famous coalition and given the kind of work you’re doing, of course, now on the brand side with Metro it’s really amazing experience that you managed to gain.
And of course the likes of Accenture as well. I mean, that’s a brilliant, again, global consulting brand and absolutely incredible to have that diversity of the consulting side. But I think there’s nothing as exciting as going and building a program for a business and seeing it grow over time.
Biswajit: Yeah, true. True. That’s precisely that I was really, my journey into the loyalty has been always full of learning. That’s what I say.
Paula: Lovely. Lovely. Well, we’re going to continue that today. So listen, for our global audience, of course, Metro Brands won’t be as well known as it is domestically for you there in India.
So before we talk loyalty, do you mind just introducing the company to us just so we get a sense of maybe the scale and the kind of business that you operate?
Biswajit: Well, that’s a, that’s amazing. I’ll be really excited to talk about my organization because I’m passionate about what we do and how we engage. How we offer experience to our customers.
So Metro Brands Limited is India’s, one of the largest fashion and aspirational footwear and accessories company, retail brand. And with a portfolio of multiple brands, you could see some of the brands, you know, at my background, if you’re watching, it’s that Mochi, Crocs, Metro, some other own in house brands, and then some of our international partners that we exclusively sell the products in India. And we actually operate more than 800 stores, physical stores. That’s the kind of scale. And also within India, there are 200 cities where we serve our customers.
Paula: Incredible.
Biswajit: We, that’s an extensive network that we operate. Along with that, we have multiple G2C and the presence, and we also sell through marketplaces.
So, and if you were possibly heard about the news recently, we added HeyDude, it’s actually entered India through us and we are selling HeyDude products and footwear as well at our Metro Mochi outlets. And very soon we’ll have Foot Locker first tour coming in India with us. And that’s an exciting time for us. And FILA is definitely one of them where we are focusing into the sports and athleisure section.
Paula: Brilliant. Wow. So definitely a growth story. I mean, I know India from an economy point of view and a population point of view is absolutely growing. I saw your latest annual report, for example, as well. Unbelievable. Again, you guys have like 4 billion US dollars in terms of market capitalization, and as you talked about an extensive network of real world stores, and I know the marketplace strategy in terms of, as you said, D to C, direct to consumer you’ve got your own websites, you’ve got the marketplaces as well. So online I saw is growing at 62 percent compound annual growth rate. So growth on all fronts by all accounts. Yeah.
Biswajit: Yeah, true. And all this growth comes from two you know, two fundamental objectives that we always follow in all our actions. One is improving the customer’s experience every next time. And secondly, we are focused on our shareholder values and how we can drive all the KPIs that, you know, for our businesses that we are supposed to.
Paula: Of course. Of course. And just for clarity then it is 100 percent footwear. I know it’s a premium focus. But just, you know, it’s not fashion in its broadest sense in terms of you know, actual clothing. It’s purely footwear. Yeah.
Biswajit: It’s a footwear plus accessories predominantly.
Paula: Okay. Yeah.
Biswajit: Where we want to focus and we wanted to continue to focus on that these two spaces. But primarily it is put where that where is power strength lies.
Paula: Amazing. Great.
Biswajit: We are new for that in Indian market and customer trust us for, for, you know, since 1955.
Paula: Incredible. Well, I certainly know the international brands that you said that you brought into India, the likes of Fitflop, Footlocker, and Crocs. They’re all unbelievable on the international stage. So great success, obviously. So congratulations.
Biswajit: Also to share with you, New Era is also coming to India with us.
Paula: Okay. Amazing. So you’re continuing to just bring international brands and bring them to Indian consumers.
Biswajit: The whole objective for Paula is to look at the all sort of footwear needs, fashion footwear needs across the horizon for the entire family. But focusing predominantly towards the fashion and aspirational footwear side of it, rather than being a completely value based footwear.
Paula: Got it. Got it. Great stuff. Okay, so we’ve got a sense of the business. Talk us through now the loyalty propositions as they currently stand, because I know you told me in preparation for today, you do have three loyalty programs. So I’d love to get a sense of the programs you are operating from a proposition or brand perspective, and maybe a bit about the scale in terms of how many members you have at the moment.
Biswajit: That’s a proud moment for us that we offer three loyalty programs, one for Metro, one for Mochi and one for Crocs. But sooner we’ll be adding other brands also, you know, into the loyalty scheme of thing. But at an overall level right now we have close to 13 million unique customer base that Metrogram forces combining all three loyalty programs.
And I mean, some of the metrics that, that actually it’s really encouraging for us and which helping us our, you know, to focus more and which encourages us to, you know, focus more and more on the loyalty to, to drive to, you know, business values for our stakeholders.
Paula: Got it. So it sounds like, commercially as a business, you’ve got like senior level buy in that loyalty is a strategy that’s going to drive the growth for the company.
Biswajit: Yeah. Correct. So essentially, like I was talking about, there are two fundamental things that we follow. One, how we can extend the enriching experience to our loyalty member base.
And the second one is how we can drive the, some of the key KPIs for our respective businesses. These two things we try to make it correct and rest everything falls in place in our entire canvas.
Paula: Yeah, brilliant. So KPIs is one of our favorite topics on this show, Biswajit. So, tell us, what do you focus on? What are the loyalty KPIs, I suppose, that you focus on in order to give that, I suppose, business support that we’ve alluded to?
Biswajit: Well, there are many KPIs and we look at the KPIs, uh, into different directions to understand the customer’s behaviors, to understand where we are improving, where we are, we need to improve further.
So most important KPI is possibly the incremental revenue that we are getting from our royalty program. So like, and some of the other metrics, for example, which industry as a standard follows, which is like, retention rate, repeat rate, all these metrics are standard metrics. We definitely, those are followed by my organization as well.
But on top of that, we also look at some of the engagement metrics, like what is the redemption rate? Look at some of the customer experience metrics, which is industry follows like NPS, CSAT, and all those things. But, we are not really going on about, or nearly excited about the NPS and CSAT because we always see a really amazing results out of it.
Paula: So it’s quite a controversial view. I think I said to you that we did have the creator of NPS, as you said, Net Promoter Score. It is a metric that an awful lot of loyalty programs do prioritize and love. But you’re saying in your context as a retailer, NPS can be a little bit misleading from what you’ve said.
So I’d love you to explain that because I definitely agree. And as I said, we had Fred Reichelt on the show. It was a couple of years ago now, and he fully admitted NPS is not perfect. He said it’s the most perfect, of course, compared to all of the others. And I’m not surprised for him to say that, but what do you find is the main challenge with the NPS as a measurement of loyalty?
Biswajit: NPS is definitely undoubtedly one of the strongest KPIs that the industry follows, but in my opinion, NPS needs to be, you know, now the time has come that industry needs to look at combining multiple, you know, KPIs, customer experience, KPIs together, but needs to be relevant for their own industry.
Now, let’s take an example. If I’m the store associate, and Paula, you know, entered our store and had a really great experience, while, you know, completed the journey and shopped a beautiful pair of footwear, or even at the time, what happens? Most of the cases the customers are also human being. When they are being requested to offer the scale, the, uh, on a NPS for the NPS score, it’s very likely that most of the time you will get the positive responses towards seven, eight or ninth or 10th. Which will definitely skew your NPS score towards always on the highest side, mathematically.
But when you combine it with other metrics, like the kind of redemption that you are having, possibly look at what’s the customer’s CSAT score, and also definitely once the purchase has been done, do some survey, conduct some survey, and then find out how customers are experiencing their footwear usage. If we are able to bring those together, and even if it is an online space, then possibly we can talk about the customer, we can combine it together with the customer efforts, a score.
Possibly we can bring it together and come up with a better customer experience metric. And we are actually working towards that direction immediately at our end. Possibly we’ll follow that in our organization to, to measure our customers true experience.
Paula: Yeah. So if I understand you correctly, then what I think you’re hearing is that the flaw in the NPS approach is that people want to be nice to that sales associate.
And there is an inherent temptation, I guess. At that point of sale for the sales associate, for example, to say, you know, please give me like a top score, like 10/10 on my rating. So there’s that opportunity for the the results to be less than honest because everybody wants to have that kind of, you know, support the person who was nice and took care of them, even if that might necessarily deserve that high of a score, they might give it anyway.
Biswajit: Yeah, exactly. So that’s the reason we all at the end of the day, we all are human beings. We want to be, we want to be good at others. We want to be a better human to others. So those, whether there’s a customer, whether it’s my sales colleagues at the store, customer will also be trying to be a better human being towards the other person. So that somehow influences the NPS score or the CSAT score at the store.
But at the same time, that’s why I was talking about the many other metrics like customer effort score and then Google reviews where you don’t have any influence at a later stage, whether the customer is shocked or not shocked, if you are able to bring it together and look for a better scoring mechanism of your customer experience, that would potentially reveal the true you know, areas to work upon.
Paula: Of course. And you did start, of course, with the single most important thing that we, as loyalty professionals, need to think about, this whole idea of incremental sales. Is there anything you can share in terms of how you measure that? Because one of the big discussions, and actually I always say it’s one of the main reasons I started this podcast was I always struggled with proving the attribution.
When I was running programs back in Ireland and telecommunications and our CFO would always challenge me and he would always say, well, just because you have members in your loyalty program and they’re spending more maybe than the non members doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re spending more. You know, in the stores because of the loyalty program.
So really kind of proving the link is something that I think is quite challenging. So anything you can share in terms of how you think about that would be very useful, I think, for the audience.
Biswajit: It’s a good question, Paula, and I’m sure it’s not only you, it’s me and all the loyalty managers must be fishing and they will continue to face these kind of questions from their CFOs.
So, so one, one interesting metrics that can be really worked upon, which is customer’s lifetime value, the CLTV. If we really, if we truly focus on that particular metrics and we calculate it properly, and if we look at the customer lifetime value from non members versus the members, then possibly that supersedes to all other metrics at the end of the day.
Paula: Yeah.
Biswajit: Because if even if you have a really high MP score or the CSAT score, but if your customer lifetime value against your non members customer lifetime value is not improving, which means that there is something which is not working underline.
But as a loyalty professionals for the youngest, I would recommend when the CLTV is a very high level metrics, which actually it’s kind of a guiding lights. It’s actually telling you that whether you are program is actually working or not working or your actions are not working on a day to day life.
That’s why I always tell us no metrics is perfect. You can look at the metrics in combination. There must be some metrics needs to be operational metrics. There’s some metrics which needs to be looked at from a customer’s engagement perspective. There are some metrics which can still be looked at loyalty metrics.
So for an example, we can talk about is that we internally at an operational level for our CRM practice into along with the loyalty differently when I see CRM, it’s we follow almost 20 to 25 metrics and all these metrics have certain objectives. And then finally, all these metrics unlocks certain good thing and the bad thing about our function, that’s where it’s actually adds value on your day to day life.
Many people look at, for example, the redemption rate, how much, I mean, that’s a direct indicator to your loyalty member basis engagement with your brand. But at the same time, we also add one more metrics that we closely follow is that which is called the incremental sales value from each points that we get. So it’s like if I say 10X, which means that for every single dollar that customer redeems, they give you 10 off a bill.
So now let’s take an example quickly. It’s for the audiences is that if the redemption rate is your, for your fashion brand is 70%, let’s say, which is quite high. You’ll be really encouraged and amazed and you’ll announce it across your board of members that saying that we have reached 70 percent of redemption rate. But if you see that the underlying bill, total spends towards, total spends per points redeemed or points, reward points redeemed, which is 2x or 3x, how that would actually interpret? Which means that the customers who are redeeming those points, they are not giving you incremental business while they are redeeming.
Even the more number of customers coming back to you to redeem. But essentially they are not generating enough value. What would be translated is that your sale to be will not also essentially will improve. It will not be increasing over the period of time. So now it’s a simple example that’s how to metrics is to go hand in hand to really get to a point that what’s working, what’s not working.
Paula: Yeah. The job is never done. That’s for sure. So, yeah, good to hear that you’ve got an eye across all of those different metrics, including the operations.
And I think the ultimate loyalty, which I think you talked about when we spoke in preparation for this call, was really, you know, at that moment of truth as well, in terms of your sales associate in the store really being empowered to take care of every customer. So even if it is, for example, an extreme cakes, somebody brings back a pair of shoes they bought five years beforehand.
As again, you know, probably quite a, an unusual example, but they seem to be very empowered to do anything that is needed to really give that beautiful experience alongside the loyalty program. It’s something that seems to come through, I suppose, the whole business as a philosophy for you.
Biswajit: Yeah, that’s true. I mean, my organization is always been a customer centric right from the top at the end until the customer associates at the store.
Paula: Amazing. Amazing.
Biswajit: We are always focused on towards the improving the experience wherever the customer touch points are, whether it’s an e-com, whether it’s a store, whether even when they call up to us call centric. We ensure that they get the right experience and the uniform experience across our brands. And that’s how we aspire for. And that’s where, you know, when we, when I look at our repeat customers behaviors, that reflects.
Paula: Wonderful. So it’s working.
Biswajit: It’s working. Absolutely. It’s working. I mean, I will say that we are doing the best thing in the world, but definitely there are areas to improve, which and that will continue to be, you know, continue to be there that we are improving every day, every time. And that’s why this is a kind of a cycle where innovations takes place. Innovations take place.
Paula: Yeah, exactly what I was going to say. It is an evolution. And I know we’re going to talk about your evolution. But before we get there, actually, it would be remiss if I didn’t ask you just to maybe briefly talk us through, you know, what’s the kind of structure for each of the three programs that you’ve mentioned?
And I know they have different models behind each of them. So I’d love just to maybe just a simple explanation. Are they all points based or voucher based, or what are the underlying mechanics that you have for each of your programs?
Biswajit: So Metro and Mochi to be precise, they are an acquiring based program, right now it’s there is no tier. And for Crops, it is it is a milestone based program, but the currencies are not points. It is voucher. So that’s all the programs are going to be structured, but we are definitely working towards making the programs even more enriching for our customers. And that work is actually on and sooner, definitely we’ll come to you with many more updates.
Paula: Oh, you’re teasing now. Yeah. You’ve got something new coming by the sounds of it. Yeah.
Biswajit: Correct. So the whole point is We are hearing our customers. We are learning from our customers. And we also always evolve ourselves. And we that’s one step that we are taking possibly the next evolvement of our programs that we want to be.
Paula: Okay. So what are you thinking about? I mean, there are so many different levers of loyalty that we talk about on this show. There’s so many different directions you can go. So how are you starting?
I suppose, you know, alongside the listening, which I’m hearing I’m listening to you is obviously a key starting point. So listening to the customers and what they’re asking for, of course, is extremely important, but also then, you know, considering new models, new program design, especially as a multi brand company, you must be thinking about the possibilities perhaps of looking, you know, similar to what we talked about at the beginning, for example, like Al Futtaim might do in terms of having a loyalty brand that spans different companies and different organizations within your business.
So what is it that you’re thinking about that might serve the future evolution?
Biswajit: Yeah, that’s interesting, but possibly, you know, I would love to keep it for, you know, under the wrap for a moment.
Paula: Okay.
Biswajit: Yes, but we are actually learning from the best practices across the organization. We are learning from our customers. We are reaching out to our customers. We are talking to them. What they exactly, you know, look from our loyalty program. What’s their aspiration? Like we said, we are a fashion and aspirational footwear and accessories retailer.
Paula: Okay. Okay.
Biswajit: Now, we, but at the end of the day, we would like to ensure that Whatever the, you know, transition of our program looks like it will be completely aligned towards our customers.
They should be enjoying every single interaction. I’m not even talking about transactions. I’m talking about that. They should be enjoying and every single interaction will be rewarding. That’s a commitment from our side that we are working on.
Paula: Okay. Yeah. And I know you’re working with our friends in Capillary Technologies as well for a very long time, actually, if I’m not mistaken. I think it’s about a decade that you’re working together. So I guess, I guessing you’re tapping into their expertise as you’re thinking about how you might evolve for the future.
Biswajit: Yeah. It’s been an amazing journey with Capillary. We have been working with them more than a decade and, uh, I should mention that, you know, Capillary has been shoulder to shoulder friend for us to what we have reached the level with, you know, till today and we have been using a couple of functionalities and couple of features of, I mean, I would say that a couple of products of Capillary like Insight Plus, Engage Plus and loyalty is their foundational product. So all these, we have been extensively using.
And, we continue to use those to leverage our engagement with our customers, learning the insights from the data that, that resides with us. That, that, that’s an amazing journey. And I’m sure that we’ll be working with the Capillary for our, you know, new to near futures, you know, and for many aspirations to come in our way.
Paula: Well, that is always the proof of the pudding. Absolutely. You know, I mean, choosing a loyalty technology is such a big decision for most program owners and operators, of course. So to have it feel like they are, you know, they’ve got your back side to side, shoulder to shoulder, as you’ve said, that is higher praise than I think you could ever imagine, because it means they’re in it for the long haul and ultimately for your success. Which of course means they’ll be successful as well. So really happy to hear about that partnership for you.
Biswajit: It’s a great partnership. And in our organization, the kind of culture that we carry is everyone who is partnering with us or providing some of the other solution we consider them not as a vendor, we consider them as a partner and because we feel that everyone is there to add value to our function, add value to our overall organizational goal, add value to our customers at the end of the day, whatever the role they play with us.
Paula: Wonderful. Wonderful. So listen, Biswajit, we’ve talked about a lot, I suppose, we’ve got a great sense of your business, the scale, the growth, whether it’s in store, whether it’s online, and of course, how you measure success, which is incredibly thorough. So that’s incredibly impressive.
As you said, you’ve got your partnerships, you’ve got your international brands, you’ve got your membership. You’ve got a laser focus on the direction you’re going. And for me, certainly footwear is something I just always love, you know, it’s one of those kinds of things that you know, there’s a famous quote, actually, I’m just remembering that I think Marilyn Monroe was famous for saying that if you give a woman the right shoes, she can like rule the world.
So like the fact that you’re specializing in this beautiful experience of footwear and particularly premium footwear is something that I’m sure I would enjoy. And I must make sure to come and visit your stores next time I’m in India.
Biswajit: Yeah, please. I will welcome you to, you know, our stores wherever you’d like to.
Paula: Amazing. So that’s all the questions I have for you today. Is there anything else that you wanted to mention for our audience before we wrap up?
Biswajit: For the audiences who is actually listening as Paula today is we can, I mean, one message that I would convey to all the loyalty practitioners is just stay focused towards the customers, what they are actually the kind of a mindset that they carry, it’s not about that, what they talk about or the, I mean, what they, you know, provide to you in the form of transactional data, it’s beyond them. But you need to be always focused towards having us right. Sorry. It’s looks like a little bit of cold and cough and it’s actually bothering me.
Paula: That’s okay. Yeah. Just start your answer again. Take a pause for a few seconds and then I’m going to clap my hands and then you can just answer again. Yeah.
Biswajit: So, Paula to answer your questions and the people who, and the audiences, loyalty practitioners who are watching us today, I have one recommendation for them possibly is that look at the fundamental metrics that reveals a lot and that gives you a kind of a strategy and the kind of a directions that we’re to heads were to focus on and at the same time, keep talking to the customers. Keep looking at conducting surveys and many other things so that you can combine these together and then possibly come up with a offerings, what they’re liking, what they’re not liking all together. That would make the program even success.
And one last thing from my side is that so far the organization always believed in the loyalty program as the cost center. In these ways the loyalty practitioners will always think about how loyalty could be a business. So that’s the area that every loyalty practitioner should be striving to reach rather than becoming a cost center.
You can be a profit center. It could become a loyalty as a business altogether. And one thing that is happening at this moment in the industry, which also it’s really important for us to include into our loyalty scheme of canvas is that partnering. Partnering with the right brand, which are non-con, you know, competing with you.
Because at end of the day that customers may not be coming to you after the first purchase or second purchase, but they are doing their something in their life. How would you partner with them? And you can collectively drive a bigger value to the customers. And while you ensure that the customer is coming back after a certain point of time.
Paula: Very well said. I certainly started in loyalty coming from the partnership side. So you are preaching to the converted and it is very powerful strategy. So absolutely no, no issue there. I think it’s a very good advice and a great way to close off our conversation.
I will make sure of course, to to link to your profile, of course, in the show notes for today’s episode just to make sure if anybody wants to reach out and swap notes or partner there’s an amazing opportunity.
So from our side, I want to say a huge thank you for coming onto the show, also to Capillary Technologies, of course, for the introduction. I know you guys are working so closely together, so it’s really a wonderful story.
So Biswajit Dutta, Head of CRM, Loyalty and Analytics for Metro Brands, thank you so much from Let’s Talk Loyalty and from Loyalty TV.
Biswajit: Thank you so much, Paula. And it was a pleasure talking to you.
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