#614: Stix: el punto de las grandes marcas

PAULA: Welcome to Let’s Talk Loyalty, an industry podcast for loyalty marketing professionals.

PAULA: I’m Paula Thomas, the founder and CEO of Let’s Talk Loyalty and Loyalty TV.

PAULA: As I don’t speak Spanish, I’m introducing our host of this show in English.

PAULA: Alex Saul is an independent loyalty consultant and advisor based in Mexico, whose loyalty career spans more than 25 years in various countries across Latin America.

PAULA: As a guest host, Alex is now creating episodes each month in Spanish for Let’s Talk Loyalty.

PAULA: Interviewing top loyalty voices in the region.

PAULA: If you work in loyalty marketing, you can listen to Let’s Talk Loyalty in English every Tuesday, every Wednesday and every Thursday to learn the latest ideas from loyalty experts around the world, and also look out for our new monthly episodes in Spanish.

ALEX: Hola, bienvenidos a Let’s Talk Loyalty en español.

ALEX: Mi nombre es Alex González Saul, founder y CEO de Leal Hub, la oficina especializada en diseñar, implementar, operar y medir estrategias y programas de lealtad para diferentes industrias como retail, aerolíneas, financieras, entretenimiento, entre otras.

ALEX: El objetivo que Leal Hub busca con sus clientes es conectar a la marca con sus consumidores a través de beneficios transaccionales y emocionales que logren crear embajadores de marca.

ALEX: En el episodio de Let’s Talk Loyalty en Español, tenemos a Eduardo Leonidas, quien es founder y CEO de Stix.

ALEX: Stix es el programa de lealtad con un modelo de coalición basado en Brasil fundado en 2020, que integra a grandes cadenas de retail como Pao de Azucar, Extra, Droga Raia, Drogasil, Shell, C&A, Sodimac, entre otros.

ALEX: Anteriormente Stix, Eduardo fue director de estrategia del Grupo Pao de Azucar y previo a este rol fue vicepresidente de desarrollo corporativo en Grupo Casino.

ALEX: Trabajó más de 10 años en JP Morgan.

ALEX: Eduardo es un apasionado de la lealtad y en el episodio de hoy nos comparte su visión, así como los fundamentos para que un programa de coalición sea exitoso.

ALEX: Espero que disfruten de la conversación.

ALEX: Hello, how are you?

ALEX: In today’s episode of Let’s Talk Loyalty, we have Eduardo Leonidas.

ALEX: He is the CEO of Stix, a fidelization program based in Brazil, founded almost four years ago.

ALEX: We are very happy to have Eduardo, Edu, with love.

ALEX: He is a very good friend of mine that I have known for a long time, who will tell us about Stix, what is the evolution and what has happened since its foundation.

ALEX: Thank you very much, Edu, for accepting the invitation to Let’s Talk Loyalty.

EDU: Alex, good afternoon.

EDU: I am grateful for the participation, for being here with you.

EDU: It is a great pleasure and honor to participate in Let’s Talk Loyalty.

EDU: One only observation is that, in fact, we have the first episode.

ALEX: Of Let’s Talk Loyalty.

ALEX: It is very interesting to know the vision of a CEO in the loyalty industry, in the fidelization industry, and I would love, Edu, to ask you, what is your most admired loyalty and fidelization program?

EDU: Alex, when we created Stix, I did a lot of research and benchmarks to know programs, and there are two that I love a lot, because they are precisely very connected to the day-to-day of the consumers.

EDU: One is called Flybys, and it is in Australia.

EDU: The other is Payback, which started in Germany, but it is in several countries.

EDU: What I am impressed and admire is that precisely in these countries, a large part of the population uses the programs.

EDU: In Australia, there are 8 million participants of the population of 25 with Flybys.

EDU: In Germany, I have friends in Germany who say to me that I don’t think about points, I think about Payback, which is synonymous with points.

EDU: So, it is very integrated in the day-to-day.

EDU: In both countries, approximately 35% of the population participates in the program.

EDU: So, for me, it is an ambition that Stix is so present in the day-to-day.

EDU: And I just admire myself because it is very, very integrated in the day-to-day, in the consumer’s path.

EDU: Of course, there is also a more recent example that you know as well as I do, from Punto Colombia, a slightly younger company that has, I think, six to seven years.

EDU: So, it is on the same path as creating a long-term success program.

EDU: But the two I mentioned, Flybuys and Payback, have more than 20 years and a participation in the population that I admire a lot.

ALEX: Thank you, Edu.

ALEX: I agree with you, these two examples that you mentioned, I think, and along with Punto Colombia, have a common characteristic, and that is that the value proposal that they have created, precisely, seeks this daily life, this everyday spend of people, to be present in their day-to-day life, and that is why they become so relevant, and that is why they have a high participation of the general population.

EDU: Exactly, exactly.

EDU: We have, like Stix’s mission, exactly this, to be in the day-to-day life, to participate in a very integrated way to create value for the consumer, and the value proposal is daily, exactly, of micro-accumulation, micro-redemption, so that we are always, always close to the consumer.

ALEX: Interesting.

ALEX: We will talk about exactly what you are talking about, about micro-accumulation and micro-redemption, and the effect it has in having these users active in their vast majority.

ALEX: And before going to these central Stix topics, I would love to know what is your vision of loyalty?

ALEX: That, from your point of view, with the trajectory you have as a consultant and also as a loyalist, and now as CEO of Stix, I would love for you to tell us what your vision of loyalty is.

EDU: I love loyalty because it doesn’t have a formula.

EDU: Loyalty is different for each consumer, for each ally, for each company.

EDU: So, what I love is that the importance of loyalty is getting bigger and bigger for the strategy and execution of companies as a whole.

EDU: And because there is no formula, we are at this moment developing new business models, new products, services.

EDU: So, in my opinion, this part is what I love, but it is also a challenge.

EDU: Because in my point of view, for Stix, for example, we must be a good tool for the customer, for the ally.

EDU: In our strategy, the key to the relationship cannot be Stix.

EDU: We are a company, a point that is very strong for having a strong ecosystem.

EDU: But the loyalty relationship, we are enablers.

EDU: We are enablers.

EDU: The supermarket, the pharmacy, has to have the main relationship with the client.

EDU: So, in my opinion, for our business model, it is very important that we know our place in the value chain, which is clearly very important, but it cannot be, it cannot eclipse the relationship between the companies, our allies and our clients.

ALEX: Yes, I agree with you, Edu.

EDU: It is important not to be dogmatic, to be prepared to make changes.

EDU: And we at Stix are very different today from the PowerPoint that we had designed five years ago.

EDU: It is very interesting because in half a decade we have completely pivoted the model.

EDU: So, be aware of the changes and do it in a very dynamic way.

EDU: Let’s change the subject and do it in a very dynamic way.

EDU: It’s essential for the success, and it’s important to listen to our clients to change and quickly execute what they demand.

ALEX: I really like what Edu says about the client’s voice and the feedback they received during these four years.

ALEX: Indeed, I remember four years ago, when we were talking, you and I, me in my previous role at Punto Es Colombia, and you as the founder and CEO of Stix.

ALEX: Let’s say we have different points of view and different experiences that today, as you say, have changed, have evolved.

ALEX: And I really like what you say about listening to the client’s voice, because that is part of loyalty.

ALEX: That is, the client is always in the center and always, in this case Stix, listening to what they say to evolve, to accept those changes that the client itself is asking for.

EDU: It is true, completely, completely.

ALEX: Edu, do you think if you tell us what Stix is, what relevance, let’s say, Stix has within the Brazilian market?

ALEX: We were saying at the beginning, the Brazilian market in terms of loyalty is a very evolved, very mature market.

ALEX: I would even dare to compare it with markets that are also equally sophisticated, like Canada, like UK, like Australia itself, that you mentioned at the beginning, and Brazil seems to me to be at the same level.

ALEX: The Brazilian consumer understands very well the loyalty programs and has made them part of their day-to-day life.

ALEX: So we would love for you to tell us what Stix is and how it has evolved during these four years and today what relevance it has for the Brazilian consumer.

EDU: Perfect.

EDU: Stix is, I would say, a coalition of programs.

EDU: We are one point.

EDU: In Portuguese, our slogan is the point of the big brands, the point of the big brands.

EDU: We have started precisely with the day-to-day consumer, with the supermarket and pharmacy.

EDU: Stix has been founded by a chain of supermarkets that is called Pao de Azucar, which has Pao de Azucar and Extra, and the largest chain of pharmacies in Brazil, which is called RD Saúde, with the stores Raia and Droga Raia.

EDU: So, both are very important in Brazil.

EDU: Five years ago, we realized, I was in Pao de Azucar as the one in charge of strategy.

EDU: We realized that the Brazilian lealtad market.

EDU: In Brazil, with the Stuario, with C&A, and also in construction with Sodimac, which is the arm of Grupo Falabella in Brazil.

EDU: And we are still growing our ecosystem.

EDU: We also have the financial partners who feed the ecosystem with points that come from the credit card.

EDU: We are with Banco Itaú and also with Livelo.

EDU: You know Livelo well, it is JP, which has been created by Bradesco and Banco do Brasil.

EDU: So today we are a coalition with a point called Stix, which is present in these, let’s say, allies, who are very big and banks are also very important for the Brazilian day-to-day, with the idea of being at all times of consumption.

EDU: So if you go to the supermarket, pharmacy, post office, you earn some points, you always have the opportunity to use them to either exchange for a product at the supermarket, pharmacy, or to use it as a discount when it comes to paying your bill.

EDU: So with this, in these four years, we created a very present coalition in Brazil.

EDU: Our numbers are quite exponential in growth.

EDU: We are now approaching 11 million of clients for a young company.

EDU: We have a very important participation there.

EDU: And considering that our clients effectively use the points, we have a level of activation that is higher than 90%.

EDU: So they are not just clients in a database, they are clients who are with us, who earn points and use them very frequently.

EDU: To give you other numbers, we have per month more than 2 million redemptive transactions, which is the largest number in Brazil, and more than 25 million monthly accumulation transactions.

EDU: So we may not be the largest coalition in financial volume, because we have micro-rescues, micro-accumulations, but as an operation, in 4 years we will create a very robust operation that is very, very linked to the Brazilian’s daily life.

EDU: And another thing that is worth mentioning about Stix, is the point of view of transformation.

EDU: Our initial strategy was to completely reduce the amount of money that was sent to the digital catalog, to the app.

EDU: And we have it, it is very important.

EDU: But when we connected our system with the point of sale of the car, of payment to the stores, the acceptance was huge, it was very impressive.

EDU: This was in 2021.

EDU: We call it Stix no Caixa.

EDU: So, Stix for payment, as a means of payment, but a means of payment with intelligence.

EDU: It has been a tremendous success.

EDU: And we have been doing the partnership with Livelo for exactly a year.

EDU: The Stix coalition is connected to the Livelo coalition, and we allow the Livelo clients to use their points in the Stix ecosystem stores.

EDU: When we do this, we double the number of transactions.

EDU: And instant ratification.

EDU: It is very simple to do, and with confidence.

EDU: So, Stix today is a company that still has very big growth ambitions, but we are already in Brazil with a very sedimentary position, with the number of clients that are with us, that do not stop growing.

ALEX: First of all, let me congratulate you for this great transformation and evolution that Stix has had in such a short time.

ALEX: Four years, well, that surely for you and the team have been a very challenging trajectory, but in terms of time, as you say, it is relatively short.

ALEX: But so many things have happened and you have given us some very interesting data that I would love to go into a little more detail.

EDU: About the distribution of supermarkets, pharmacies, so we have more than 10,000 stores that supply Stix, linked to us in all of Brazil.

EDU: All the states of Brazil have Stix, be it gas, pharmacy, so we are very present from the point of view of consumption of the day to day.

EDU: Livelo is a very, very successful company, also a young company, I think, with six years, but its genesis is linked to banks, to loyalty of credit cards, generation of a very impressive financial volume.

EDU: So, if we compete, if we are in loyalty, with different angles, but when we saw the power of the point for payment, to use it in the store, we saw that doing this cooperation between competitors, this competition, we saw that there was a sense of doing it together.

EDU: We installed it in September 2013 with the 23rd, we achieved an instant success of adoption and satisfaction of the level clients and Stix as well.

EDU: So, I think it is the only global solution in this sense.

EDU: I don’t know another one where a coalition uses the points of another coalition in cooperation, but it has been a model that for us has changed the level of satisfaction, the level of adoption and even the financial volume of Stix.

ALEX: 100%.

ALEX: Yes, it is a paradigm, as you say.

ALEX: It is a subject that I had not heard before, but that surely arose precisely thinking about the client.

EDU: Exactly.

ALEX: And the client, which is like the best of two worlds.

ALEX: And finally, you told us.

ALEX: And here I would love to hear from you, Edu, because you have told us, chains of supermarkets, pharmacies, fuel, obviously a marketplace or the possibility of earning and using your points to acquire products in a market place, trips.

ALEX: You are present practically in all the big categories of consumption of a person.

ALEX: And especially in a very interesting challenge that is the Brazilian market being so big and you are practically in all the national territory.

ALEX: And just as a reference, we have other failed coalitions.

EDU: And we allow free transfer between clients.

EDU: We don’t charge anything for this, for that point to be used.

EDU: We have a very clear value, there is no change, no inflation, no deflation.

EDU: One point Stix, to each supermarket, pharmacy, gas station, is worth a penny of real and it will always be worth a penny of real.

EDU: It is very clear that if the client chooses to exchange for a wine or something different, the client may have a higher value, but if he uses it as a means of payment, the value is very clear.

EDU: We have the expiration date always the same, September 30th.

EDU: With this we can tell the client not to lose his points, go today, go next week, before September 30th, to use his points.

EDU: It is the month Stix, September.

EDU: All this for the point to be used.

EDU: Our mission is for the client to be with us.

EDU: In Paia, in Shell, in C&A, in Sodimac.

EDU: So, for us, the main thing, there are many metrics, but the main thing is to know that our point is really used by the clients.

EDU: So, in a very sophisticated market like the Brazilian one, which has several options for redemption, several options, several models, online, offline, on the OmniChannel, we find our mission.

ALEX: Our activity, our breakage.

ALEX: And I think you have applied these two concepts very well, if you agree, in the design of your value proposal in Stix, which is transparency and simplicity.

ALEX: That is, making it transparent for the users and simple for them to use it.

ALEX: Would you agree on that?

EDU: I completely agree.

EDU: It is the essence of the model.

EDU: And that thinks, above all, that the client uses, that makes the redemption to capture the value, is essential so that we can be in the day to day, in the client’s head when they think about loyalty.

ALEX: You think that, Parti, you told us a moment ago, Edu, you studied very well different markets and there are coalitions that don’t work.

ALEX: What are, from your point of view, the main reasons why there are failed coalitions that, in the end, don’t manage to rise up and or end up with a complicated value proposal and that doesn’t work or they just end up turning off the initiative and killing, let’s say, the program?

ALEX: From your point of view, why doesn’t it work?

EDU: From my point of view, Alejandro, there are two elements, one of context and another of execution.

EDU: I think that not all markets are suitable for a coalition.

EDU: For example, if the market is very popularized or very concentrated, it is difficult to have a coalition that adds value.

EDU: For example, China has two big players of means of payment, it is difficult to have a coalition program with two big ones.

EDU: Or even in the United States, which has Amazon with the Prime model, which has a completely different value proposal.

EDU: So these are markets in which it is more difficult for context to have a player and you need national players to have relevance throughout the country.

EDU: But even with this reserve of context, there are many countries, here in Latin America, in Europe, in Asia, where, yes, the context is very conducive to coalition programs.

EDU: And the second point comes, therefore, of strategy of value design and also execution, of not having difficulties of governance, of being very close to the client, of having the coalition, from my point of view, as a tool for the allies and for the clients, as the end.

EDU: I position myself as an enabler for the success of my allies.

EDU: I am not the end, I am not the reason for the existence of the loyalty distribution.

EDU: So, from my point of view, it is not automatic that it will or will not work.

EDU: Coalition depends on context, and if it happens on purpose, and there are many markets in the world that are on purpose, there you have a question of value design and execution, which has also been a challenge for many companies.

EDU: But we have a world outside, as you know very well, better than me, many cases of success, like Punto’s Colombia in our region, and I think Stix is going to follow this path as well.

ALEX: Yes, Edu, I agree with you, and I think you have also said an element that is fundamental for coalitions to be successful and it has to do with governance.

ALEX: And governance, in your case, which should not be simple, because you have two big brands, you told us at the beginning, Grupo Pao de Azucar and the Droga Raia group, and please tell me if I mention it right or not, because my Portuguese is obviously pretty bad, but precisely how you balance two big brands that are the founders of Stix, but that you also have other brands in the coalition that are equally big and important.

ALEX: How do you maintain that balance?

ALEX: How do you maintain that there is no ego in the sense that my brand is more important and then it has to stand out from the others?

ALEX: That ego is also a challenge when you are negotiating with these brands, because a big brand would think that the commercial terms should always be in their favor.

ALEX: How do you maintain that governance?

ALEX: It must be an easy task.

EDU: Yes, it is a constant challenge and I return to the issue of transparency.

EDU: We had closed transparency for the consumer, but transparency for the ally is equally important.

EDU: When we say Stix, where does Sugar and Drogasil come from?

EDU: It is very clear the rules for the Stix actuation.

EDU: It would even be an autonomous company with an actuation to generate value for the allies and with accumulation, retention, and brand exposure rules.

EDU: So, from the beginning, we had the direction to do it in a very autonomous way, balanced between the shareholders and future allies.

EDU: So, when we attract other brands, for example, we already have in Track Record that shows that we are a company at the service of Pao de Azucar, or Raia de Drogasil, or Shell.

EDU: We are at the service of our mission to help the distribution, loyalty of the retail, of the supermarket, the pharmacy, of course.

EDU: So, the transparency of the rules and an actuation, this is a constant execution that shows in our day-to-day that we don’t have to favor one or the other, but we have to be faithful to our mission.

EDU: It has allowed us to gain the trust, not only of our clients, but also of our allies.

EDU: It is a constant challenge, because there are tensions, there are, of course, tensions.

EDU: But our work, we, Alex, we are diplomats of the corporate world.

EDU: A coalition of loyalty is, the truth is, diplomacy every day.

EDU: Our work is diplomacy every day.

EDU: And diplomacy is also a work of building trust in the long term.

EDU: We are here to make short-term profitability.

EDU: I would really like to see Stix as long-term as, for example, Flybys, which has been in Australia since 1994, more than 30 years.

EDU: And we built Stix thinking in the long term.

EDU: It is long-term with the transparency and trust of the clients and allies.

EDU: But it is a challenge every day.

ALEX: It is a challenge, but I think that whenever you have the client in the center, those conversations are still clearly challenging, but with that vision of the client in the center, I think there should always be a point at the end of a common agreement.

EDU: Exactly.

ALEX: You have told us, Edu, about Stix, obviously, how the such a large and irrelevant group of brands was created that you have within the coalition and also some relevant and revealing statistics, unique in the loyalty market, with these two data you have told us.

ALEX: Do you also consider that Stix has other attributes that make it so successful in front of the user?

ALEX: And let’s also talk about the ally.

ALEX: You have said it very well.

ALEX: Stix is a B2C value proposal, but it is also a B2B value proposal.

ALEX: How do you consider these attributes both to B2C and B2B?

ALEX: If you can tell us.

EDU: Yes, exactly.

EDU: We see each other today with a B2B2C company.

EDU: Part of the answer is linked to the value proposal, with transparency and clear value.

EDU: We also know very well the importance of the assets that our allies bring to us.

EDU: We are a multi-channel company.

EDU: We have digital channels, but we know that the presence of physical stores is very important to us.

EDU: This is a huge factor of difference.

EDU: We have, with our allies, presence all over Brazil.

EDU: I would say that there are almost 200,000 collaborators of our allies, who are also ambassadors for us.

EDU: The update of Stix, all the PDVs, the sales points that are technologically integrated with us.

EDU: For example, if a client has level points.

EDU: So, it’s a combination of value proposals with the assets that our allies bring to the table.

ALEX: Okay, Edu.

ALEX: And in the face of B2B, that is to say, the allies, I imagine they have taken, with great acceptance, the point Stix, or Stix being like this facilitator of other loyalty programs.

EDU: With an adequate and safe proposal.

EDU: So, it has been very good, because it is a product that is not a commodity, it is not simply a purchase, a middle payment without all the work behind it.

EDU: And it is important to say, as we have, not only the supermarket, pharmacy, we also have the points of Livello, Itaú, there is a pocket of very important points.

EDU: And if you think of the banks, they really like the distribution channel of points to the stores, because it is day to day, it is an instant gratification.

EDU: So, for them, it is to make a lot more reductions than accumulations is not a problem.

EDU: And for the stores and our allies, also because the allies buy an X value of points, but the reduction is 2X, because there are all the points that come from the banks.

EDU: So, it is a win-win for all those who are involved in this ecosystem.

ALEX: And 100% Edu, you have created a value proposal with a very harmonious balance, precisely because of what you say.

ALEX: You have the points of sale that become an interesting channel of reduction, but you have the issuers, in this case the financiers, that become a super important channel of point generation.

ALEX: So you have a mixture that in the end lives very well in the entire ecosystem and you have the allies happy in the same way.

ALEX: You could tell us then that within a coalition, part to be successful within this harmonious balance, it is important to always have an ally or some financial allies that are emitting in a large number of these points.

EDU: I think, Alex, I think it is very important, if not, there is always the worry of the CFO, of the ally who asks how many points I have bought, how many points have been redone.

EDU: We know the most important is the Lyft, the loyalty, the share of wallet.

EDU: There are more important metrics than the flow of the box, but the flow of the box is also important.

EDU: We can say that thanks to the financial partners, we have a very positive balance, and it helps us in our model, in perpetuating the holdings of the distribution allies.

EDU: This is really very important.

ALEX: It is important.

ALEX: I fully agree with you, Edu, about, let’s say, the ally, the importance of the financial ally in a coalition model.

ALEX: The concept of personalization is something that has also evolved rapidly in the last few years.

ALEX: How do you implement it in Stix, and how can you measure it?

EDU: For us, personalization is key to the success of the program.

EDU: I would say that there are two key angles for us.

EDU: One is communication.

EDU: As we have many allies and a number of clients that grow, our communication rule has to be very personalized so that we can impact the client in a very positive way.

EDU: So we use AI tools to know the best communication, in what moment of the client’s life in the Stix cycle is there, so that we can also encourage the migration of clients between an ally and another.

EDU: Our goal is also to take a client from Pao de Azucar to Shell, from Diceversa or Shell, from C&A, from C&A to Droga Raia, and for us, therefore, personalization is essential and we use AI tools to do so.

EDU: And it is also clear when you think about re-decision, not only from the product catalog, which we can make personalized offers, but also this solution that I mentioned, which is called PagStix, which is the payment medium in the C&A, there is a lot of intelligence in this algorithm to make a relevant offer and to be safe too, because we cannot create friction, we don’t have very complicated validations, because the store cannot wait, it cannot have a call.

EDU: So for us, the important thing is to have an algorithm that makes the offer with low friction to the consumer, and we also use tools that are sophisticated to make it so that we can be personalized and relevant to our consumers.

ALEX: Personalized, relevant and safe, right?

ALEX: Because I imagine that with these micro accumulations and especially micro-redentions, you become very, very, let’s say, very interesting as a way to pay your purchases.

ALEX: So it’s a very interesting balance.

ALEX: And precisely speaking of technologies, Edu, four years ago when we were talking about Stix, artificial intelligence surely existed, but not in a commercial way, easily accessible to be used massively.

ALEX: How is it that you are now implementing these new technologies in favor of the operation of the program?

ALEX: I imagine, and also important in the analytical part, if you can tell us a little bit about how the adoption of artificial intelligence has been for Stix.

EDU: Of course, of course.

EDU: I think there are two elements, one that is very common for the corporate world as a whole, which is the gain of productivity.

EDU: And we, of course, use, for example, AI in our chatbot with very positive results and it also allows us to have service efficiency.

EDU: There are other things like the use of tools for coding, Databricks AI to make programming codes.

EDU: We use AI for everyday tools, like Office Copilot.

EDU: But this is normal.

EDU: From my point of view, it’s almost essential, if not, that all companies do it to have productivity and more interesting costs.

EDU: Honestly, we also know that AI, with its transformational power, will impact loyalty more than other businesses, because we have a charge of intelligence, of data, of visibility of the consumer, which is unique.

EDU: We can know the client’s day in different moments of consumption.

EDU: So, for us, AI will not only be a tool for productivity, but also for generating new businesses.

EDU: So, we are starting, for example, a MAPOC, a concept test, to try to generate more coalition, the navigation of our customers between different flags, based on their consumption behavior.

EDU: Of course, we are starting with these tools, but from our point of view, it is important as a strategy to put AI in the center, not to have AI or to say that there are cases in the middle, but really, we, in Loyalty, have a privileged position for having a lot of intelligence data that, with the good use of this AI tool, will be a business generation, and the importance of Loyalty is even more important.

ALEX: And surely, with the data that was telling us, 11 million customers, 90% of assets, 2 million transactions in retention a month, 25 in accumulation, that amount of information and data that you are collecting is getting bigger and bigger.

ALEX: And if you don’t have this kind of tools to simplify and, above all, optimize your understanding and your application in the face of the consumer’s or Stix’s user’s benefit, it would be very challenging, right?

EDU: Exactly, exactly.

ALEX: Edu, clearly, in these minutes of conversation with you, you have given us some very interesting lessons and, above all, I thank you very much because there is precisely this thought of, no, coalition programs don’t work, they are always complicated, and you have made us see how not necessarily what they say, no, well, many people really take place.

ALEX: On the contrary, you have given us a lesson of how a coalition is successful and how it grows over time and how it becomes relevant to users but also to allies.

ALEX: Are there any other ways of how you measure the performance of Stix in front of the user but also in front of the ally?

ALEX: Something you can complement us with, besides what you have told us?

EDU: For us, there is an important element, which is the cross-navigation of our client in different allies.

EDU: So, we, of course, I am following the volume of redemptions every hour.

EDU: I receive reports every hour.

EDU: I am a bit paranoid to know that everything is going well.

EDU: It is important to know the operation, but there are elements that are a little more strategic for us.

EDU: One of them is the coalition index.

EDU: It is important for us to know that a supermarket customer is also using Stix or accumulating Stix in the other allies or pharmacies.

EDU: In short, we encourage and use the tools to make the coalition index something relevant, be it every month, every six months, every year.

EDU: We would like to see our base very transversal, not simply navigating in a single ally.

EDU: We measure breakage as a success metric for us, because our mission is to have a point that is very used, so breakage.

EDU: We have the annual cycle, we celebrate September 30th.

EDU: Every year we measure it, and three times we can celebrate a breakage that is at 4%.

EDU: And clearly, as with all companies, the MPS is important and guides a lot of our decisions.

EDU: But we also have another metric, which is the return metric for the ally.

EDU: We have our ROI measurements, the return on investment, because of course, our allies buy the Stix points and we want to guarantee that the investment is very simple, very positive.

EDU: So we, in partnership with the allies, also look at this carefully.

EDU: But I would say that with differentiation, for us, the coalition index and the breakage index is very important for our success.

ALEX: Edu, you have given us some lessons.

ALEX: I really love this conversation with you because you have revealed a lot of elements that are considered fundamental for when you want to carry out your coalition successfully.

ALEX: I appreciate this a lot.

ALEX: And Edu, to finish our conversation, I don’t want it to end, but for a matter of time, we have to say goodbye to this talk.

ALEX: I would love it if you could share with us a little bit of what are those future plans that Stix has with this evolution so accelerated, so important that you have had in this 4-year period.

ALEX: Intense, I imagine, but also very rewarding.

ALEX: What are you seeing as the CEO of the company towards the following years?

EDU: Alejandro, we have a mission of growing and expanding, even though it is just beginning.

EDU: 4 years is not enough for a company that I hope will have many decades of life.

EDU: So there is a growth of allies.

EDU: I would like to be in every moment of consumption.

EDU: So we are already in the high frequency, but we have to expand to the medium frequency, for sporadic purchases, expand our presence in shopping centers, in other consumer verticals.

EDU: I would like, my ambition is that it is a, in Portuguese there is metonymia, I don’t know if there is a same in Spanish.

EDU: It is a language figure in which there is a synonym.

EDU: The product remains as a synonym of its category.

EDU: I have been with a lot of people since we founded the company.

EDU: So we have more degrees, more paths to go.

EDU: And it has been a pleasure to be able to talk to you.

EDU: I love the subject of loyalty, I love, of course, to talk about Stix and to be with a friend who also knows the market like you.

EDU: So it has been a huge pleasure to be with you, Alex, to talk about loyalty.

ALEX: Edu, el agradecido soy yo, de verdad.

ALEX: Una charla interesantísima, muy reveladora, de muchos aprendizajes, de cómo justamente gestionar exitosamente una empresa de fidelidad en un mercado tan maduro y evolucionado como es el brasileño.

ALEX: Te felicito por estos grandes resultados.

ALEX: Yo sí auguro muchos años de crecimiento, de éxito de Stix.

ALEX: Seguramente lo veremos, como bien dices, ya posicionado en la mente del usuario como una forma más de convivencia cotidiana en todos los momentos de consumo.

ALEX: Felicidades a ti, al equipo de Stix, por esta gran labor.

ALEX: Y gracias nuevamente por aceptar esta charla en español.

ALEX: Salió perfecto.

ALEX: Te agradezco mucho.

ALEX: Y gracias por estar con nosotros.

EDU: Yo agradezco una noz.

EDU: Muchísimas gracias.