Amplifying CHINA MOBILE’S Loyalty Program With Personalized Commerce Capability

With nearly 5 million subscribers in Hong Kong, China Mobile Hong Kong (CMHK) is one of the most prominent telecom service providers in this highly competitive market, with 7 million residents. In light of better engaging and retaining its customers, in 2019, CMHK commenced a platform transformation initiative starting with its Mobile Application – MyLink. This initiative aimed at modernizing the platform from a traditional data usage checking and bills paying portal to a digital-driven full-service Engagement Hub that offers loyalty engagement and personalized commerce capability to their loyal customers. Today, MyLink is one of the market's most dynamic behaviour–driven loyalty platforms. Its users have access not just to a wide range of consumer-centric products (including consumer goods, hotels, F&B and other lifestyles) and services but also a loyalty program that offers each MyLink user the unique value of loyalty points in personalized ways. As a result, enhanced loyalty programs and customer experience have significantly increased customer engagement and retention rates.?

Table A – MyLink Performance*

FreeD Group (FreeD) has been CMHK's long-term preferred partner and tech provider since 2019. FreeD has been working closely with CMHK to amplify My Link's loyalty program and customer experience with a personalized and extended commerce capability.??

CHALLENGE?

Traditional Service Providers’ Demand For Personalized, New Value-added Services To End Users?

With 89.4% internet penetration**, Hong Kong is one of the most digital-savvy cities in Asia with colossal digital commerce growth potential (e-Commerce, Mobile Commerce, Chat Commerce and Social Commerce) - expanding at a CAGR of 10.2 per cent**. Digital commerce has been embedded into the daily lives of locals, from dominant OTAs to the shopping and food delivery platforms.???

The traditional digital commerce approach does not maximize the values and benefits of technical and operational resources in the market. For instance, e-Commerce and Mobile Commerce remain the primary channels for customer engagement and generating revenues, but data show that Chat Chat Commerce and Social Commerce contribute to the highest growth since the pandemic. Hence, a full-suite SaaS solution which covers omnichannel strategy, AI Data Capability, Payment Gateway and many other vital functionalities creates ultimate benefits.??

With CMHK's existing member base, CMHK aimed to build a new commerce revenue stream to maintain sustainable business growth and enhance customer engagement avenues apart from the traditional telecom business. To stay ahead in the competitive telecoms market, CMHK intended to transform MyLink into its subscribers' go-to shopping destination for lifestyle goods.??

The right partner for CMHK would have to offer the engineering and technological capacity to build an e-commerce platform, bring along an extensive supply chain network, and fulfil operational obligations. FreeD Group's one-stop proprietary AI-driven Smart Commerce solution and its network that cuts across verticals like travel, F&B, leisure, beauty and consumer electronics proved to be the right fit.?

SOLUTION?

Telecom Industry Specific COVID-19 Recovery Strategy – Improving Customer Engagement & Ancillary Revenue Performance via Smart Commerce & marketplace CVM Solutions?

Eyeing the growing potential of the Greater Bay region, scalability was one of the critical concerns of CMHK. FreeD integrated its HARMONY engine and merchant marketplace into MyLink, empowering a full-service Digital Commerce capacity that can simultaneously handle a high volume of transactional demand for its end users. With FreeD's one-stop-shop smart commerce solution, CMHK can now capture additional sales potential from its subscribers.??

Prioritizing marketplace CVM (Customer Value Management), FreeD's dedicated account management team helps CMHK secure the most suitable and seasonal-specific products and coordinates with its internal team on fulfilment and shipping, after-sales customer service, and marketing campaigns. Take the Mid-Autumn Festival, one of the important festivals in the Chinese community, as an example. Early preparation work is started in Q2 every year to prepare for this festive event, sourcing mooncake gift boxes from multiple bakeries and hotels in the city. FreeD also works closely with CMHK to launch marketing campaigns promoting the festivities and offering promotional bundles that include mooncake gift boxes and other lifestyle items to help drive sales on MyLink. All the actions are being automated and managed via a data-driven HARMONY system simultaneously to maximize efficiency for CMHK and provide personalized value-add service to its end users.?

RESULT?*

• Current total subscribed users: approx. 5 million?
• Average monthly platform engaged users: 2.5M (engagement rate 50%)?
• Average monthly inquiries processed: 4.1M???

To understand more about what our solutions and products can contribute to your company's growth, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] for a free demo session and speak with one of our experts.?

Reference:?

*The result was reckoned based on FreeD’s Data Processor for the period of Jan – Jun 2022

**E-commerce Payments Trend, Hong Kong, JP Morgan, Sep 2021?