Qiibee is a revolutionary blockchain-based loyalty ecosystem. It enables any company to build a blockchain application for the purpose of cross-brand reward redemption. The platform is already in operation and working with over 900 brands. Consumers gain transparency over their loyalty programs on the ecosystem.
Ever wonder how much a corporation wastes on those often useless coupons attached to your receipt. Even if it is not much, what has driven them to be a regular course of business for all this time. Most loyalty programs fall far short of providing consumers with anything but superficial benefits. That is, until now.
Reinventing the Loyalty Scheme by introducing an Ecosystem
Loyalty Reward incentive schemes are nothing new but they are ubiquitous and very popular. When I was a really small kid, my Mum used to get a roll of stamps at our local Co-Op when she did the food shopping. I'd help by licking the back of the stamps to fill in a book and when it was full, she would redeem it for a money off coupon against the next shop. it was worth 5%, a pretty generous loyalty reward scheme and a pioneering idea by the food Co-Op, but this was many moons ago. The Scheme was actually first rolled out way back in 1844 as a divi or dividend for members, based on what they spent. It was the forerunner of today's schemes; it was analogue, tedious and quite narrow focused but it did promote loyalty. A couple of years ago year my Uncle and Aunt very diligently did all their food shopping at Tesco and signed up their credit card for Airmiles. In 12 months they earned enough to exchange flights to Cyprus from the UK. Impressive and quite dedicated work !
We Love Loyalty Reward Schemes
Some are better than others. I have one for Holland & Barrett wholefoods which is quite generous. I like nuts, seeds and buy all kinds of health supplements, so each quarter I tend to accumulate quite a lot of points. You can see ow many points you have earned on the till receipts. We also have a Boots Pharmacy card which accumulates a lot of points. We buy all kinds of necessary family items like toothpaste, shampoo and moisturisers, etc. It can add up to be quite a cost, so the points we accumulate are a welcome bonus for a hardworking family. We also have a Tesco Clubcard, A Nectar Card, with which can collect extra points on Ebay and my Wife, who travels quite a lot for business is signed up to several airmiles schemes with different airlines. I also have a Costa Card. Coffee is my friend. As you can imagine my wallet is bursting with cards and keyfobs. My Dad has a Costa Card with almost a triple digit balance on it. I told him, "that's a lot of coffee and toast, Dad". He only ever spends the balance when we visit and treats us to a latte at his local Costa. What a SuperStar.
Problems with Traditional Loyalty Systems
So what is the underlying problem with loyalty programs and why do they remain in existence today? As far as finding a fundamental flaw, it can be surmised in a single word, fragmented. Corporations compete for the sale of similar goods. While this sets prices, it limits the potential of distribution channels. Simply put, a large superstore can dictate transportation schedules for the purpose of moving products that have been sitting on its shelves for too long. Its regular consumers have passed these by for a reason. Thus, coerced purchases via loyalty points is not very powerful.
The importance of repeat customers to a business can be compared to a stock or the equipment used for production. Customers who return with their money are a predictable financial asset. For some businesses this is more important than others. Take the airline industry for example. It is not limited by roads, and hence, is instantly flexible in its product (flight route). Airliners move to their consumers. Just one fatal incident, followed by the inevitable bad press, and immediately other airliners are scooping up once loyal passengers along with their repeat income.
It's a Lot to Organise
With so many loyalty cards and schemes, it's easy to forget about them, not bother so much with the ones we only use infrequently or worse, lose out, miss out or don't spend them before the points expire. That's probably not what the brands had in mind. Some schemes reward points which run out per quarter if you don't spend them. That can be really frustrating. Wouldn't it be nice if you could have them all in one place, keep track of them. Or even just convert them into spendable cash for purchasing anything you want or (importantly, may need). BlockChain would be a perfect use case for such a convenient and no brainer idea. It would be easy to use, easy for Brands to sign up for. It could theoretically dovetail seamlessly with existing schemes and would be fully trackable and easy to use for customers. You could in theory collect together points from different schemes and put them all towards a holiday, Christmas presents or just buy some ICO tokens for that excellent new Blockchain project about to launch.
They've Only Gone and Done it !
Some very bright sparks worked out that you could actually make this happen, brands would get it, customers would love it and qiibee was born. BlockChain Revolution, right there before your eyes. Socially and economically transformative is Blockchain's promise. Endlessly innovative and efficient is also often the outcome. As one famous brand who run a popular loyalty scheme in the UK would say, "Every Little Helps". Actually qiibee was not born as a BlockChain application. It was started in 2015 and it's come a long way in three years. qiibee points were originally envisaged as a way to consolidate existing loyalty schemes into one app but also encourage customers to get involved in earning points by participating in brand initiatives, like making brand related content.
Off-Chain Inception
This was all accomplished off-chain. BlockChain is a natural evolution for qiibee and they make perfect bedfellows. It's another classic WIN3 situation. (like win-win) but everyone benefits. Blockchain seems to be uniquely able to provide win3 solutions. You win, I win, they win. Everybody's happy.
Loyalty Reward incentive schemes are nothing new but they are ubiquitous and very popular. When I was a really small kid, my Mum used to get a roll of stamps at our local Co-Op when she did the food shopping. I'd help by licking the back of the stamps to fill in a book and when it was full, she would redeem it for a money off coupon against the next shop. it was worth 5%, a pretty generous loyalty reward scheme and a pioneering idea by the food Co-Op, but this was many moons ago. The Scheme was actually first rolled out way back in 1844 as a divi or dividend for members, based on what they spent. It was the forerunner of today's schemes; it was analogue, tedious and quite narrow focused but it did promote loyalty. A couple of years ago year my Uncle and Aunt very diligently did all their food shopping at Tesco and signed up their credit card for Airmiles. In 12 months they earned enough to exchange flights to Cyprus from the UK. Impressive and quite dedicated work !
We Love Loyalty Reward Schemes
Some are better than others. I have one for Holland & Barrett wholefoods which is quite generous. I like nuts, seeds and buy all kinds of health supplements, so each quarter I tend to accumulate quite a lot of points. You can see ow many points you have earned on the till receipts. We also have a Boots Pharmacy card which accumulates a lot of points. We buy all kinds of necessary family items like toothpaste, shampoo and moisturisers, etc. It can add up to be quite a cost, so the points we accumulate are a welcome bonus for a hardworking family. We also have a Tesco Clubcard, A Nectar Card, with which can collect extra points on Ebay and my Wife, who travels quite a lot for business is signed up to several airmiles schemes with different airlines. I also have a Costa Card. Coffee is my friend. As you can imagine my wallet is bursting with cards and keyfobs. My Dad has a Costa Card with almost a triple digit balance on it. I told him, "that's a lot of coffee and toast, Dad". He only ever spends the balance when we visit and treats us to a latte at his local Costa. What a SuperStar.
It's a Lot to Organise
With so many loyalty cards and schemes, it's easy to forget about them, not bother so much with the ones we only use infrequently or worse, lose out, miss out or don't spend them before the points expire. That's probably not what the brands had in mind. Some schemes reward points which run out per quarter if you don't spend them. That can be really frustrating. Wouldn't it be nice if you could have them all in one place, keep track of them. Or even just convert them into spendable cash for purchasing anything you want or (importantly, may need). BlockChain would be a perfect use case for such a convenient and no brainer idea. It would be easy to use, easy for Brands to sign up for. It could theoretically dovetail seamlessly with existing schemes and would be fully trackable and easy to use for customers. You could in theory collect together points from different schemes and put them all towards a holiday, Christmas presents or just buy some ICO tokens for that excellent new Blockchain project about to launch.
So How Does qiibee Work ?
Simple as 1- 2- 3. qiibee uses an app and it has a plug and play system which makes it really easy for brands to connect their own unique scheme to the ecosystem. You simply spend and collect your points. quiibee keeps track of them in one handy wallet and you're free to accumulate and spend your points on what you like. I'll be happy to spend them as Bitcoin, Ethereum or fiat currency. It's all money to me. This is the future and it's happening right now. I'm always interested in blockchain projects which act as a platform or build an ecosystem for others to utilise. They generally have factors more growth potential than singular apps,** in my humble opinion**, which as you might know is the correct acronym expansion of IMHO. As a Business Mentor who has helped over 100 companies develop their brands and roadmap, I'm also interested in an idea which you immediately get, one that contains an easy to identify USP and one which generates instant ideas about how it could be used in many different ways. Having read the whitepaper, I'd say this is one of those types of projects. So what's in it for Brands and Customers ? Quite a lot as it happens.
What Qiibee Brings to the World
Consumers are rewarded with useless points because the distribution of goods does not match the needs of local stores and their clientele. Any business model incorporating the idea that consumers will buy things they do not need, or desire, is flawed to the core. Qiibee’s approach toward maximizing reward programs encourages better distribution.
While there may be some initial excited over a new loyalty program, they are often dismissed by the general public. And yes, game theory is often involved that inherently encourages participation. However, to take advantage of conventional systems, a consumer would likely need a distribution channel of their own.
By connecting the world’s loyalty programs through Qiibee, consumers can redeem their previously useless rewards at a store which they have never before shopped. Products that would have otherwise remained on shelves would be sold to customers of another establishment, some of whom may even be from competitors. This is quite an intriguing concept. Doesn’t it seem like it could alter the business dynamic?
The Excitement over Frequent Flyer Programs
One industry that absolutely changed business dynamics was aviation. It was able to do this because it removes an important obstacle, roads. Blockchains also remove obstacles. Instead of a financial transactions based on credit ledgers being governed by a few in positions of centralized authority, it exchanges digital assets. Blockchains offers the opportunity for immutable, transparent, and decentralized ledgers. They are permanent and viewable by anyone. Decentralization adds to the empowerment of individuals. This is as much a benefit for consumers as it is for independent businesses. The blockchain is a means for getting what is needed more precisely. Qiibee makes loyalty programs tradeable so that loyalty points have a better chance of being used.
Logistics and Passenger Seat Miles
Not many people know that airliners do not take off unless a flight will be profitable. The concept of passenger seat miles is used to value the costs (fuel, salaries, maintenance, and other liabilities) involved in an individual seat. Frequent flyer rewards can be used to add incentives to filling off peak seating. This was the new logistics model.
Qiibee on Wings
So why would airlines want to risk loyal customers using their rewards on a foreign business network? For one thing, frequent flyer miles are very often held, doing nothing but growing a statistic. Sometimes tickets are purchased even when rewards are available for redemption. Qiibee on wings would encourage passengers to fly on-demand more since they won’t be limited to a single company routing schedule. Better yet, with Qiibee, loyalty points awarded while grocery shopping could be used for air travel and visa versa.
Loyalty is supposed to reward repeat consumption. Qiibee truly does. In supporting the use of loyalty points over holding them, Qiibee also rewards the best companies in a given sector! Amazing how business relationships are symbiotic. The prize winning farmer improves the desirability of the storefront which further improves the life of the consumer.
No longer will loyalty rewards be considered useless. Qiibee could help diminish the wrong type of advertising that attempt to push products. Producers will instead focus on meeting needs because the consumer will be empowered to choose.
Plug & Play
quiibee have developed an easy to use plug & play system so you can connect your existing scheme into their ecosystem. Using Smart contracts with an ERC-20 token and a developer kit, it's easy for Brands to lift and shift their schemes seamlessly onto to quiibee.
Engagement
It engages customers on a higher level and engaged customers are far more loyal. Business is not just about building but developing and maintaining trust. As the ecosystem promotes a synergy between customer's ability to aggregate their scheme points, loyalty schemes who fail to engage in quiibee are likely to lose out in the long term to their competitors. quiibee has the potential to be become a standard practice and a well understood platform, both by brands and customers.
Reducing Costs
By offering real live value in the exchangeable token, it frees up a marketing department's balance sheet, removing the liability of unknown quantities. Business likes certainty. Projections and predictions are for weather forecasters and horse races. This is not to be underestimated.
Secure Blockchain
Because BlockChain is SECURE it's an economical option for brands no matter their size. Large Brands could make big savings due to the advantages of BlockChain and this value can be re-invested into making loyalty schemes that bit more generous. Let's face it, some loyalty schemes offer less than 1% value in points where other schemes offer up to 5% with seasonal offers increasing it even further, like double or triple points on certain promotional items. Every Little Helps, not just the customer but the brand competing for your repeated attention, a share of the market and that all important lifelong loyalty, which makes customers come back time and time again.
One Location
Rather than a million separate loyalty scheme points stored on various magnetic cards (so 2015), everything's stored on an app in one place and available instantly to see on your phone (very 2018).
Loyalty Scheme Trading
Soon to become a sub genre of crypto trading, you'll be able to begin trading loyalty tokens against each other. How very novel, exciting and a totally new way to get your hands on some crypto. What's next ? micro blogging for crypto ;) oh yeah, we've got that already.
Real World Money
We're not all quite able to live exclusively off earning Intergalactic Credits, (yet) but you can sell your loyalty points for the very first time in $, ¥, € or bitcoin. I know what I'll be exchanging my Holland & Barret balance for !
The Team
qiibee was founded by two Brothers, Gabriele & Gianluca Giancola who between them have a deep understanding, knowledge and understanding of brands, loyalty and marketing. The third member of the Giancola family, Felicia Giancola-Teora founded her own global trading company and manages all legal and tax affairs. A very strong triangle, supported by a world class team of entrepreneurial spirits and technical wizards, the team has expanded as they head out into the BlockChain sector. Backed up by an equally illustrious team of advisors, qiibee is fully staffed and share a dream, to re-invent the loyalty sector with their ecosystem approach.
RoadMap
All good projects have a detailed roadmap and qiibees has clearly marked milestones for this year include the upcoming publishing of their developer kit, exchange and transfer functionalities (the exciting bit) and their very own loyalty conference and hackathon ! as well as onboarding 9 more brands on to the platform.
Thanks to @OriginalWorks for the opportunity to compete in this contest sponsored by Qiibee. Learn more about the revolutionary loyalty program by reading the Qiibee white paper.
qiibee2018