With 100K VIP slot in upcoming sale, Jabong is testing loyalty programme

Along with achieving scale, building loyal consumer base has been a top priority for e-commerce companies in India. Be it horizontal e-tailers, food-tech and payments firm, launching a special programme for frequent buyers is the new trend.

After Amazon, Zomato and Paytm, Jabong is the latest one to come up with a loyalty program. The Flipkart-owned company is all set to launch the program along with its fourth edition of end of season Big Brand Sale (BBS).

The online fashion store plans to give away 1,00,000 VIP slots to frequent buyers, reports Business Standard.

The programme would be primarily based on number of time a customer had shopped. A customer can also gain points by taking part in games on the platform, said Gunjan Soni, head and chief marketing officer of Jabong.

It eyes 100 percent growth over last year sale edition beginning next week (July 27).

Gaining customers through a loyalty programme in India is something experts have always warned against as customers here care more about deals that have enticing discounts and cashbacks.

However, Amazon has come out as one successful example, who through loyalty programme has made a mark and recognition amidst its users.

In July 2016, Amazon had launched its loyalty programme. Initially, it was termed as something that Indian consumers would be wary of. On contrary, within a couple of years, Prime subscription service became a differentiator in driving growth.

During a recently concluded sale by Amazon, the e-commerce marketplace claimed that 35 per cent of new Prime members hailed from tier-II and smaller towns.

The success of Amazon has given hope to many players irrespective of segments. Flipkart, which had not a successful outing first time around, is now reportedly working on loyalty programme Lock-in.

Meanwhile, Flipkart-owned fashion retailer Myntra has also been working on launching its own loyalty programme. The yet to be launched loyalty programme will be fashion-specific and will differ from existing programmes in the market.

With Myntra and Jabong, Flipkart claims to have around 70 per cent of the market in online fashion segment. It eyes to increase the market share through rolling out loyalty programme across its portfolio.

Buoyed by the success of Zomato Gold, the Alibaba-backed company has launched another loyalty programme - Zomato Piggybank. It lets users save about 10 per cent on every online order.

Recently, Paytm had partnered Dharma Production (Karan Johar promoted production house) to shell out 25 per cent cashback (up to Rs 300) for latter’s next 5 releases. A couple of months ago, Paytm had introduced Moviepass that allows subscribers to watch movies at a discounted rate.