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.
Thank you.
Welcome to Let’s Talk A Little Loyalty, my new shorter show for loyalty marketing professionals.
In this week’s show, I am reviewing my first ever interview with Sanjeev Nichani, which was released in September 2019.
Sanjeev has worked with some of India’s top loyalty programs and technologies, including Loyalty Rewards, a program for over 100 million Indian banking customers, as well as some of the top loyalty technology platforms.
And now he’s leading loyalty for Raymond Rewards, an Indian retail fashion brand for men with over 1,000 stores.
But before we talk about that, Sanjeev explained the loyalty proposition for loyalty rewards with a revenue model that leverages data and insights from the customer’s debit card spend, which created a whole new revenue model separately for the loyalty program.
The model was actually performance-based, so partner brands only needed to pay per transaction, and that proved hugely popular.
When Sanjeev joined the loyalty rewards program, it had 50 partners, but the portfolio grew to over 350 by the time he left.
The partners also loved the halo effect of partnering with such a reputable bank, and that alone proved to be a powerful selling point in building the loyalty partnerships portfolio.
In the second part of the show, Sanjeev talked about the increasing importance of rich loyalty propositions, particularly for premium brands like Taj Hotels.
In particular, Taj began focusing on luxury experiences as rewards, which are expensive for members to buy, but inexpensive for the brand to deliver.
With such high perceived value, these rewards became even more aspirational experiences.
And as members increasingly sampled them, they even began buying them.
Truly a unique way to leverage the brand’s premium assets in a way that members loved and value so highly.
Finally, we talk about Raymond Rewards, which has won several international marketing awards, including the best loyalty program in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
As a retail brand, Raymond’s is a premium store, offering a range of clothing brands across all price points.
Most of its stores are in fact owned by franchisees, who are essentially funding the loyalty program.
And they initially were extremely resistant to this new perceived cost to the business.
It was a huge challenge for the team to win their confidence and trust.
But the changes in consumer behavior proved compelling and valuable.
And now the program boasts more than 6.5 million members, who together drive 80% of the business.
Raymond Rewardz has three tiers, with richer rates of points earned, from 1.75% for the base tier, up to 3% for top tier customers.
Of course, the data that’s gathered is used to delight customers on their birthdays, anniversaries and on special occasions.
Finally, Sanjeev mentioned some upcoming innovations.
So if you’d like to know more about this award-winning loyalty program, head to letstalkloyalty.com and find episode two with Sanjeev Nichani and Raymond Rewardz, truly a global voice of loyalty.
Thank you for listening to this episode of Let’s Talk a Little Loyalty, all about Raymond Rewards.
This show is sponsored by The Wise Marketer, the world’s most popular source of loyalty marketing news, insights and research.
The Wise Marketer also offers loyalty marketing training through its Loyalty Academy, which has already certified over 170 executives in 20 countries as Certified Loyalty Marketing Professionals.
For more information, check out thewisemarketer.com and loyaltyacademy.org.
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This transcript was generated with the help of AI and podcast publishing tools such as Apple Podcast’s transcription service.
In the interests of efficiency and minimising our costs as a small business, it has not been checked by a human.
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