Topics covered: Update on last 12 months - Rebranding and transitioning to a technology corporation - On building a lifestyle brand - On partnerships - On building an ecosystem and super app - Noteworthy campaigns - AI and data analytics - On building a "platform for everyone" - On Rewards Exchange & marketplace - On challenges - On inflation & reward availability - What is missing in the loyalty market - One prediction for 2024
GLO00:00 – Update on the last 12 months
01:48 – Rebranding and transitioning from telecom provider to technology corporation.
02:40 – On building a lifestyle brand.
04:20 – On partnerships
5:27 – On building an ecosystem and super app
07:19 – Noteworthy campaigns
08:29 – On the use of AI and data anlytics
10:03 – On building a “platform for everyone”
11:35 – On Rewards Exchange & marketplace
13:59 – On challenges
16:18 – What is missing in the loyalty market
18:53 – On inflation & reward availability
20:30 – One prediction for 2024
00:00
GLO: Antonio, it is a pleasure to see you again. Thank you very much for welcoming us to your offices in Dubai. It’s been a year since we last spoke about your Smiles program. Could you give us an update? What happened in the last 12 months?
Antonio Ricciardi, SVP Consumer Intelligence & Engagement, e&: We have been very busy. It feels like yesterday that we had the meeting. This has been an exciting year. We are blessed to live in a country with many ambitions and aspirations. Specifically on the Smiles front, we’ve been adding a lot of services over the last 2 or 3 years. We went through a lot of transformation. I think the change has been constant. We went into this euphoria of launching delivery and then grocery. Last year, I think, we added 40 services. I think now we have more than 50 services. So, our focus has been on making our proposition richer and trying to tap into more moments that are happening in our customers’ everyday lives.
01:48
GLO: You have also undergone a rebranding, transitioning from a telecom provider to a technology corporation.
Antonio Ricciardi, SVP Consumer Intelligence & Engagement, e&: Yes. Smiles is one part of it, but you are correct. We are part of a larger organisation called e&. It is a large group, and the ambition is to move from being a pure connectivity player to becoming one of the largest technology groups. Anything beyond connectivity in telecom is very much taking a lot of attention these days from management and shareholders. Smiles very much fits the bill because we are purely a lifestyle platform or brand.
02:40
GLO: You mentioned a lifestyle brand, which brings me to my next question. With your marketplace, you have used the time during COVID-19 to grow your reach, set yourself up as a lifestyle brand, and become part of your members’ daily lives.
Antonio Ricciardi, SVP Consumer Intelligence & Engagement, e&: One metric that has become more important on our side over the last few years is the activity of the customer. We usually measure it as daily active users and monthly active users. We already had a large base and a sizable amount of money on the platform. What we lacked was the frequency of usage. The entire philosophy behind Smiles was to tap into the everyday lives of the users and make it as rewarding as possible. So we had to bring in what we call magnets, which are services that would impact our members day in and day out. We eat around 90 times every week, and we go shopping for groceries maybe once or twice a week. And similarly, we have to take care of our homes because we need all sorts of services. So that’s been our philosophy for going to the lifestyle place. On top of that, traditionally, we have been quite focused on leisure or entertainment for people on the go. That’s actually how we started. We had all this “buy one, get one free” offer at thousands of outlets. And that’s still pretty much one of the biggest attractions of the platform as we speak.
04:20
GLO: You mentioned how you’ve grown partnerships over the last 12 months. What’s next? What is your plan for partnerships?
Antonio Ricciardi, SVP Consumer Intelligence & Engagement, e&: We just want to grow as much as possible, to be honest. We love to connect with like-minded brands and try to bring that advantage to the people who use our platform. We are cognisant that we cannot always be top of mind, the platform for everything and anything at any particular point in time. So, we are very happy when we can complement our offering with additional valuable partners. This year, for example, we recently added a partnership with Booking.com, a brand-new category, and we are very happy. It’s still in the early stages, but we see a lot of traffic going in that direction. We have always been very open to partnerships, and we are so happy when we find a company willing to enter into this innovative, beyond-the-traditional-scope opportunity relationship.
05:27
GLO: You are very progressive in your approach to partnering and building an ecosystem. We have recently observed that more super apps coming to the market. Everybody wants to launch a super app. What’s your view on that?
Antonio Ricciardi, SVP Consumer Intelligence & Engagement, e&: It’s true. Super apps, especially in the East, have been the most successful apps. When it comes to the Middle East and the West, there are no big platforms like WeChat yet. I think there is an appetite for many players to enter that particular space. Everyone is tapping into the convenience aspect. Because the super app is supposedly simplifying the lives of consumers, I think that it is a must-have. So, if you want to be in that space, you need to be convenient. Our focus is to bring that rewarding aspect into it in order to have that differentiating element. First, it’s points, which is a very important element, a common gel across all the assets on the platform. But secondly, we also want to bring in personalisation. We want to make the experience frictionless and smooth so that the transition from one service to another needs to be so natural for the customer that they will find that experience rewarding. Because you eliminate all the hassle of understanding and finding out how to go from placing an order for food to booking a laundry service at home.
07:19
GLO: This year, the topic at the ATM was lifestyle loyalty—experiential loyalty. You already mentioned that’s what you are also aiming to deliver to your members. Last year, when we spoke, we talked about gamification and Spin the Wheel, which you were running with your customers. Are there any campaigns you’ve run this year worth mentioning?
Antonio Ricciardi, SVP Consumer Intelligence & Engagement, e&: So this year, we introduced a second game. Spin the Wheel is still there and is a very important feature to drive daily engagement. But nowadays, to push that cross-pollination, when you place a food order, for example, there is a small scratch and win card that you can play and that will give you a voucher typically to be used on some other service, it could be still on food, it could also be on some other verticals. We see it working very well for us. And I think you’ll see more of gamification if we speak next year. I’ll probably tell you about some more games that have come up.
08:29
GLO: That already semi-answers my next question about technology. What are you focusing on with the development of technologies and the rise of AI?
Antonio Ricciardi, SVP Consumer Intelligence & Engagement, e&: You are right. You have a lot of amazing tools. It’s just that they don’t come easy. I mean, you have to work really hard to ensure that the data is proper and clean and that you can really use those tools. And I think at this point in time, given that we have grown so much across categories in different ways, we are working a lot on creating that foundation for data and experimenting a lot on personalising the experience. We were talking earlier, before the interview, about how your personal page should not necessarily look the same way it looks for me. Your next best service probably differs from the one I have in mind. And the recommendations in a particular category might vary based on everyone’s preferences. So, at this point in time, there are several models that we are building, such as machine learning models, which help us increase conversion. In the end, we all do that analytically. And I think that’s also one part of the change we are undergoing. You have all this technology that is amazing. But in order to really make use of it, you need to become obsessed with data. We have a principle to make data king and queen and just listen to what it tells us.
10:03
GLO: You already have one of the largest and most successful loyalty programs in the region. You’re also the largest telecom in the Mena region. How can you grow your member base? You are already large, but then there’s competition coming in. How do you keep your members engaged?
Antonio Ricciardi, SVP Consumer Intelligence & Engagement, e&: Traditionally, we have been extremely focused on the UAE base because we used to be exclusive to the telecom operator subscribers, a sector in which we have a very strong presence. But more recently, we made a decision to become available to everyone. So now, even if consumers own lines from an alternative telecom provider, they can still onboard on our platform. We have also been quite successful in that segment, which is a more recent segment we started addressing. I think there’s a lot of room to grow in this particular one.
Given that the UAE is also a big tourist destination, there’s a lot of focus on bringing in a lot of visitors into our marketplaces. For example, this year, we launched a program called Smiles Tourist, which is particularly designed for people who come here on a short stay. Given the demographics and the number of visitors coming year to year, we see a lot of opportunity to grow numbers by penetrating that segment.
11:35
GLO: When they return the following year, they will already have your loyalty App. That’s a very good strategy. Last year, we also spoke about your rewards exchange. Have there been any developments there?
Antonio Ricciardi, SVP Consumer Intelligence & Engagement, e&: This year, we joined forces with Share, Majid Al Futtaim’s loyalty program, which brings additional variety to the ecosystem. We also teamed up with Bounz, the loyalty program of a grocery supermarket chain called Choithrams in the UAE. So, as we speak, I think we have 6 or 7 players, all top-tier brands, spanning from education to shopping, banking, and more to come.
It’s very rewarding (as we were talking about partnerships earlier) when you meet an organisation with an open stance towards bilateral exchanges and making the experience for the end users easier. One of the great things about the rewards exchange is that, as a user, you have this one-stop loyalty place where you can check the balances for all your programs. You don’t have to go and log in to multiple apps. You can also exchange freely with one another without waiting. It happens instantly, and the consumers love it.
13:19
GLO: Perhaps you can one day combine it with your marketplace. Then, there’s only a one-stop shop where you can exchange points, do your shopping, etc.
Antonio Ricciardi, SVP Consumer Intelligence & Engagement, e&: Because you cannot make it all. I don’t know if any organisation can tick all the boxes. We would all love to be the number one top-of-mind brand for a consumer. But we know that circumstances change. So, there may be a moment where, as a consumer, I’m more into travel, and there is a time when I’m thinking more about the tuition fees for my kids, and there is a time when I am into shopping or when I’m more into ordering food and groceries online. So that’s why getting together with other strong brands augments the proposition for everyone.
13:59
GLO: We discussed your opportunities in the last 12 months. What about challenges? Did you face any challenges this year?
Antonio Ricciardi, SVP Consumer Intelligence & Engagement, e&: Well, the challenge is that (I guess, it’s a nice problem to have) we’ve been growing so much. We also grew inorganically, as some of the growth that we have had on some of the verticals was happening inorganically. So, we acquired some companies, and then the initial focus was to integrate these services into Smiles. So we did that. But when you do that, it comes with an MVP. And on a longer, more sustainable base, you need to build that homogeneous experience across the board. So, the challenge is creating that, which, for us, is like moving from an aggregator of services to a proper super app. So, this is where the challenge is, and we are putting a lot of effort this year to create those global services to create that nice, consistent branded experience for the users.
15:15
GLO: And, if you look at the other loyalty programs with whom you partner, would you say that the approach to partnerships has changed in the last 12 months?
Antonio Ricciardi, SVP Consumer Intelligence & Engagement, e&: Yes, it sure did for some. We all went through different phases. Loyalty is a very popular marketing strategy. There are so many loyalty programs here in the UAE. Some of the programs, especially the bigger ones, now show an ambition to go beyond. They realise that core loyalty is very powerful, profitable, and important. However, to keep growing, you need to find more reasons for users to engage with your program. And that’s why the boundaries are being stretched. So, the more mature, larger organisations, many of them are taking a more open stance towards how they see the positioning of their program. There are some which are still a bit more defensive, but we will hopefully get them to jump on board.
16:18
GLO: Do you think anything is missing? What would you like to see in the next two years?
Antonio Ricciardi, SVP Consumer Intelligence & Engagement, e&: I would like to see a bit more of a democratised approach. A loyalty program is like a program for people who like to run marathons. But nowadays, if you think of the newer generation, they are even less inclined to wait for something. They want everything now – this concept of instant gratification. If you want your program to succeed, it must deliver that. So, I would love to see more brands bringing in that or lowering that barrier to start getting some benefit out of the program. I think that’s something that has to be seen at scale yet.
17:17
GLO: That’s so true. This year at ATM, we discussed how loyalty programs have evolved from point-based rewards (transactional) towards more experiential programs. I think around the globe, we are seeing the trend of brands recognising that just by being transactional, they can no longer stay engaged.
Antonio Ricciardi, SVP Consumer Intelligence & Engagement, e&: Yes, exactly. Some people are fine with accumulating points because they want that aspirational reward. But others just don’t want to wait. They are too busy, and it’s difficult to keep track of things.
We were talking about rewards exchange earlier. That’s one of the main reasons why it’s a successful platform. And yes, especially the newer generation, I believe, is more into instant gratification. I think also the transparency around the rules program needs to improve. Again, that’s another aspect certain segments especially appreciate when everything is simple and clear. Normally, when you have a program, that legacy is there. So that’s another area where I think we all collectively, as an industry, should make an effort to make things easier.
18:53
GLO: Airlines especially face the challenges of inflation and reward devaluation. How has it been on your side?
Antonio Ricciardi, SVP Consumer Intelligence & Engagement, e&: Yes. I was speaking recently to people in the airline industry. They are saying that because a lot of people are traveling, it’s difficult to redeem their points or their miles. On our side, it varies. I would say that certain rewards may have become a little bit less accessible than before. But, because we have rewards available from day one of you joining the program, we see increased engagement from our side. So maybe there is a shift in what customers use their points on.
20:30
GLO: I want to ask you one last question, and I will ask you again next year and we can compare what you said the previous year. So, if you were to make one prediction for the loyalty industry for the next 12 months and for your loyalty program, what would it be?
Antonio Ricciardi, SVP Consumer Intelligence & Engagement, e&: Based on what we see now, I think the one prediction is that there will be a proliferation of loyalty programs. That also means that loyalty programs have a high failure rate. But there are a lot of loyalty programs coming up. So, in terms of industry, it looks like more programs will be coming up in the coming years, as this has proven to be an exciting, attractive marketing strategy for many brands. So, this doesn’t seem to stop as a trend. From our end, what I would love to be able to tell you next year is that we have gone from, let’s say, initial stages of personalisation to almost early maturity stages of personalisation. That’s where we are putting a lot of effort. Aside from creating that consistent experience, our focus is to make it exciting for the customer. Again, moving away from the transactional aspect and making it more pleasant to deal with the platform. And I think that’s what I believe I should be able to share with you in a year from now.
