Discounts and promotions are common activities for retail and F&B businesses, but they also come with the risk of diminishing a brand’s value in the eyes of customers if not executed properly. How to discount “gracefully”? How to discount to enhance the customer experience? How to discount without “devaluing” the brand?
The Ideal Master Channel For F&B and Retail Chains
In the retail industry, competition is inevitable. The continuous emergence of numerous brands and businesses offering similar quality products/services has created a fiercely competitive environment.
As consumers have more choices of similar quality, factors like price, service, and experience will influence their purchasing decisions. Faced with the challenge of consumers being overwhelmed with choices, all retail brands need new methods to attract and retain customers.
Moreover, as mental well-being becomes increasingly important and public consciousness rises, the retail industry quickly realizes that competition among brands revolves not only around product quality or price, but also about the creation of the best shopping and customer service experiences to dominate the market.
Discounts and promotions are common activities for retail and F&B businesses, but they also come with the risk of diminishing a brand’s value in the eyes of customers if not executed properly. How to discount “gracefully”? How to discount to enhance the customer experience? How to discount without “devaluing” the brand?
When retail and F&B businesses ponder these questions, it’s also the time they need The Master Channel, specifically The Master Channel in its ideal state.
In the illustration, most customers “choose” a main channel when interacting with a business. Depending on the industry, if over 60% of customers interact consistently through the “main channel” monthly, it’s considered to have reached the ideal state.
More importantly, it’s the ability to contribute to sales revenue, as The Ideal Master Channel can directly or indirectly contribute 25-50% of orders.
Online interaction channels such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc., will direct customers to The Master Channel.
For offline interactions, customers will interact with QR codes at stores, on receipts, or on products to lead users directly to the main interaction channel – The Master Channel.
For F&B and retail chains, Mini Apps related to voucher wallets, points accumulation, and rewards will be the “face” of The Master Channel. Both online and offline customers will be directed to experiences tailored to their needs, such as hunting for discount vouchers, checking accumulated points, and using offers, or playing games with friends to win prizes.
For customers who have engaged with the Mini Apps of The Master Channel, businesses can craft follow-up interaction scripts with them after a certain period based on their purchasing cycle. By sending promotional messages, providing customer care, or introducing promotional programs, businesses can pull customers back to the next interaction with up to 60% lower costs compared to re-engagement through other digital channels.
Interactions through messages with colorful and creative content, as illustrated below, are also supported by the Customer Data Platforms (CDP). With the ability to collect, integrate, and segment data, businesses can create unlimited automated and personalized scenarios to reach customers at the right time and meet their needs.
Colorful promotional messages through The Master Channel. Image: CoupleTX
Promotional messages customized to avoid SPAM customers. Image: Pango Team
The Journey to Building the Ideal Master Channel
The Story of Binrou Bakery
In the context of the rapidly growing F&B business, having an ideal main interaction channel gives Binrou a distinctive advantage.
Instead of implementing conventional promotional programs like direct 10% or 20% discounts, Binrou made receiving promotions more exciting with a variety of offers through the mini-game – The Lucky Wheel. Binrou launched the Lucky Wheel campaign (Pango Wheels) on Facebook and TikTok with the aim of converting unidentified followers into identified data on The Master Channel.
Pango Wheels is a Mini App on the Zalo platform, operated by PangoCDP. Pango Wheels serves as an entertainment and promotional activity used by many fashion retail stores and F&B chains to attract customers and increase sales. These programs will direct and collect user data, enriching the customer database to support future sales campaigns.
Binrou leveraged TikTok’s popularity among young people to reach their target customer base and direct them to The Master Channel on Zalo through a simple game—spin the wheel to win prizes. Simultaneously, Binrou also directed traffic customers by running engagement/interaction ads on Facebook and TikTok with content inviting customers to participate in the Lucky Wheel, follow Zalo Official Account (OA), and receive gifts.
In stores, cashiers invite customers to scan a QR code on a tent card (tabletop advertisement) and experience the wheel to receive gifts.
Customer data collected through The Master Channel is automatically stored on the Customer Data Platform (CDP). Combined with data from other systems such as orders, preferences, and habits, Binrou gradually gains a comprehensive understanding of each customer. This holistic customer data allows Binrou to re-engage customers more cost-effectively while enhancing their experience.
With just the lucky wheel campaign on Pango Wheels, Binrou gained over 2,000 followers on The Master Channel on Zalo. The vouchers distributed through the lucky wheel had a high redemption rate, boosting sales for Binrou.
Many readers may have never heard of the small bakery Binrou. The author chose this business to evoke the image of a modest-sized business that can still implement and bring The Master Channel close to the ideal state.
The Story of Highlands Coffee
Read more: Highlands Coffee x PangoCDP: Chiến dịch Voucher Drop trên The Master Channel
According to the survey of 3,940 Vietnamese consumers on spending behaviors conducted by iPOS, up to 70.1% of them favor promotional activities. Therefore, distributing vouchers has become a priority strategy in the F&B industry to encourage customers to make purchases and boost sales.
The increasing competition in an industry with too many “players”, coupled with the pressure for discounts for F&B ordering apps, has posed the challenge of balancing costs for businesses amid market economic difficulties. Moreover, traditional voucher distribution via SMS adds to the burden of beverage brands like Highlands Coffee due to high costs. This method proves to be less effective as it is too monotonous and does not bring much emotional value to customers.
Unlike Binrou, after dominating the market for a long time, Highlands Coffee has already amassed a large number of users on Zalo. Recognizing the advantage of owning a large community of followers on Zalo OA, Highlands Coffee leveraged the Zalo Broadcast feature to send discount vouchers to this customer group, increasing interaction rates and stimulating customers’ purchasing needs.
Customers receive a message introducing the discount program along with a link to receive vouchers from Highlands Coffee’s Zalo OA. After confirming some basic information via Pango Form, customers receive personalized discount codes via SMS, which could be used to place orders at Highlands Coffee stores.
The information collected is automatically segmented based on the Customer Data Platform (CDP). From there, Highlands Coffee can effectively re-engage and send personalized messages to each customer group.
The voucher drop campaign through The Master Channel has helped Highlands Coffee achieve high conversion rates and optimize marketing costs.
Facing fierce competition in the beverage/coffee business market, innovative voucher drop methods via the main interaction channel − The Master Channel − will help businesses gain a sustainable advantage and effectively retain customers in the current landscape.
Highlands Coffee applying The Master Channel for promotion campaigns. Image: Highlands Coffee
Through the examples of two businesses in the F&B industry with completely different scales, the author wants to emphasize the value of The Master Channel when applied to the F&B and retail industry.
It can be said that The Master Channel is ideal for the F&B and retail industry as “The Promotion Channel”. Businesses can gather all promotional and discount activities into one place with a superior experience, saving up to 60% on costs, and achieving conversion rates 2-3 times higher.
The content belongs to Main Interaction Channel-The Master Channel’s, Volume 2.
If you are a business owner, marketer, digital transformation department, or post-sales service, this book series will provide different perspectives and high applicability for industries such as FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods), retail chains, F&B, services, manufacturing, and distribution.
The book series is now available at Fahasa, Phuong Nam, Hai An, Ca Chep, Minh Khai bookstores, 24h book stalls, and e-commerce platforms Tiki, Shopee, Tiktok Shop, or you can quickly order the book here!
