QUICKLY, A SHORT STORY
I was taking a walk down the street and decided to get an ice cream from a nearby store. On getting to the store, I found out I was the 20th customer of the day. The store has a tradition of giving the 20th customer of the day a free ice cream. I was excited. As a student, I'm always looking for ways to save money. Then they told me, I could only claim the price if I have a reward card. Ooops. I didn't have one and I was disappointed. The attendants comforted me and introduced me to their loyalty programs especially the ones for first time customers. It was juicy and I became a regular customer from then on, getting discounts and fortunate to be the 20th customer on two more occasions! Who doesn't love a free ice cream?
WHAT IS A LOYALTY PROGRAM?!
A loyalty program is a program designed by companies, merchants to reward customers that patronize them frequently. Infact, the program is aimed making customers patronize them frequently and thus they reward customers who do so.
The rewards include discounts, coupons, getting the next purchased item for free i.e they get a freebie and so on. Infact, a store in my area even offers a little cash reward to customers. A company may be losing a little money from loyalty programs but they more than make up for it by the increased sales they get.
Loyal members spend more on the brand and the truth is that it is difficult to win new customers. Also loyal customers can help companies get new customers by referring their friends and family. This 'mouth advertising' is more effective than any other form of advertising. The friends and family of these loyal customers are easily won over due to the fact that the brand has been tested and trusted by someone close to them.
But the state of modern loyalty program is pathetic. The current centralised loyalty program has a lot of problems some of which will be discussed below.
PROBLEMS OF CURRENT CENTRALISED LOYALTY PROGRAMS
• Large fragmented markets: People find it difficult to join the most suitable loyalty program due to the large number of loyalty programs out there. They end up joining many loyalty programs, most of which are not of benefit to them.
• Expensive cost to set up loyalty programs: Setting up a loyalty program is no small feat and is quite expensive. After spending a lot of money on loyalty programs, companies find it difficult to attract new customers. This is largely due to the large number of loyalty programs available to customers.
• Hassle of loyalty cards: Most companies use plastic swipe cards as their loyalty cards. The more established and richer companies may even use fancy cards. Now, most people belong to more than one loyalty program. Infact, I have a friend that belongs to eight loyalty programs. Just imagine what it is like holding eight loyalty cards. This same guy has just one credit card. The trouble of holding multiple loyalty cards and carrying them about cannot be overestimated.
• Loyalty points amounting to nothing: This happens to people that move around a lot or when you do not visit the same store regularly. You get your points when you visit but due to the fact you don't visit regularly, you don't reach the required point for you to get a reward, making all your accumulated points useless.
• Personal information required when using a digital point app: Using a digital point all requires you to reveal personal and sensitive information. There is no guarantee that the company owning the app will keep the data secure. The company may even decide to sell users' data without their permission.
• Tracking loyalty points is impossible: You have a lot of loyalty cards, you are using a number of digital points apps, you are also getting some loyalty points from a web app. It becomes impossible to know your know or manage your loyalty points. You have them everywhere and you can't keep track of them.
• Sticking to a brand even if it's an inferior one: To get loyalty points and rewards, you have to stick to the same brand. This can prevent you from buying or using superior brands especially of they do not have a loyalty program and you want to save money.
• Points have no value outside the brand context: Points gotten from a particular brand is only useful as far as the brand is concerned. The points cannot be used for another brand.
But as Cristiano Ronaldo said ahead of the 2018 UCL final, "There is a solution to every problem, except death'. There is a solution to all the problems above and the solution is Qiibee. You probably like " what is Qiibee?!". I will answer that question below.
WHAT IS QIIBEE?
Blockchain technology has infiltrated the financal sector, it is about to revolutionize the health and advertising sector. Its next stop now is something you and I participate in- Loyalty program sector.
Qiibee is a loyalty program built on the blockchain platform. Qiibee aims to solve the problems associated with modern loyalty programs. Qiibee will unify the current fragmented market. All companies will be on the platform through the blockchain. Brands will maintain full control over their loyalty program and all brands will use the same loyalty token. Brands can create their loyalty app which customers can use to participate in various brands loyalty program. 'One app, all loyalty programs' was how I described qibee to a friend.
HOW QIIBEE WILL CHANGE THE LOYALTY PROGRAM SECTOR?
• Tracking of loyalty points: Loyalty points will become trackable and accessible. With just a glance on your screen, you can know how much loyalty points you have.
• Bye bye to loyalty cards: Carrying a number of loyalty cards around can be a hassle. With qiibee, gone are the days of carrying a loyalty card. Everything will be done on the app designed by a brand. And I must say that an app designed by a brand will be able to collect points from different brands.
• Customers getting the freedom they deserve: With qiibee, customers have full control over their loyalty programs and reward(tokens). They can choose to live the loyalty program platform whenever they want and they can even trade their tokens for cryptocurrencies.
• Security of customers' data on the blockchain: The blockchain is very secure so customers can give out their information knowing it is secure. The blockchain is decentralized and not owned by a sigle entity and information is not kept on a single server making it kind of resistant to hacking.
• Companies save a lot of money: Setting up a loyalty program in this current market is expensive. Companies lose money when customers do not participate. With qiibee, customers just need to a budget which will be converted to tokens. Since the tokens have liquidity, companies cannot lose money on unclaimed tokens.
• Trading loyalty tokens: This is of great benefit to customers. This is one of the problems qiibee aim to solve. The current loyalty sector lack flexibility. Points accumulated from a brand applies to the brand only. On qiibee, customers can trade loyalty points from a brand for another brand. With this, loyalty points will never waste and should the customers desire, they can easily sell their tokens.
• Freedom to use any brand: Customers have to stick to a particular brand if they want to accumulate points and earn reward. This sometimes prevents customers from using other brands. With qiibee, customers can use as many brands as they want since they can exchange all the points to that a brand whose loyalty program seems most suitable to them.
• Easy to set up: As I said earlier, setting up a loyalty program is expensive and tasking. With qiibee, it is plug and play. Companies sets a budget and buy tokens, then sets how it want to reward loyal customers and how they redeem their tokens.
HAVING A FREE EXCHANGE BETWEEN DIFFERENT LOYALTY PROGRAMS WILL IMPROVE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Customers accumulate a lot of points everyday and sadly most of those points gets to waste. Being able to exchange points between different programs will improve customers' experience. They can easily make one time purchase at any store and exchange the points for that of their favourite store. They don't need to worry about their points going to waste. Meet Mr James who on his way to work gets a coffee from a shop and gets a couple of loyalty points. During his break, he goes to get an ice cream nearby and accumulates more points. On his way home, he gets a pizza and gets more points. He heads to a store to get groceries for his wife and get more points. He decided to take Metro home and by doing that gets more points.
On getting home, he goes through his points and realises he can get a Metro Gold card if he converts all his points to metro points. He does that, redeems his reward and he becomes a proud holder of the Metro Gold card, feeling fly and satisfied.
Customers will feel in control and they can patronize any brand they want. They can even sell their tokens for cash. The result of all this is that customers will get that satisfaction they long for.
MY EXPERIENCE WITH LOYALTY POINTS GOING TO WASTE
My case is similar to that of Mr James above. I accumulate a lot of points from different stores but I don't patronize one enough to get required points to redeem a reward. I also travel around a lot. So I've accumulated points in many cities I won't be visiting anytime soon. For me, loyalty points is a waste since I don't accumulate enough points to claim a reward.
I have also made a lot of one time purchase from many stores. The only time I claimed a reward was from an ice cream shop(Story at the beginning of this article) as that is the only place I visit regularly to accumulate enough points to redeem a reward. I have even stopped registering for loyalty programs. What is the use of accumulating points that will never be of benefit to me?
HOW QIIBEE WILL CHANGE THE WAY I INTERACT WITH LOYALTY PROGRAMS?
With qiibee, I know I can easily change all my points to that of a loyalty program I find most suitable. I know my points will never waste and I can even sell them for some cash. Until qiibee, I had already given up on loyalty programs but now I'm eager to participate. I hope to get my own metro gold card soon.
The fact that I can exchange a brands point for another is extremely appealing. Ha, lest I forget, I once won two pens from a loyalty program. Two useless pens if you ask me. With qiibee, I would just exchange points from companies like that for companies with better loyalty rewards.
THE BRAINS BEHIND QIIBEE
Qiibee has an experienced team. The team is made up of veterans who have been in their professions for over ten years. I appreciate them for bringing qiibee to us. I will raise a glass of champagne on their honour, do the same!
CONCLUSION
Qiibee will definitely revolutionize the loyalty program sector. Customers will get satisfaction and companies will save money. Customers no longer need to worry about points wasting or sticking to a particular brand. Points are transferred to tokens which can be used without restrictions. With qiibee, customerd can decide which brand's loyalty reward they want and how quickly they want to get the reward by exchanging other points for the brand's. A wind of loyalty program revolution is here, Qiibee is here!
I have uploaded a video on youtube sharing my thoughts on Qiibee and how it will change the loyalty program sector. Click here to watch the video. Enjoy!
You can get more information by visiting the qibee website
On their website, you can download their whitepaper and get more info.
To join the 
Qiibee2018