Technology can revolutionize industries if applied carefully.
Innovation is transforming outdated, paper-based, manual workflows, especially when it comes to evolving customer engagement strategies in the traditional coupon and promotion space.
Xiang Shu, Global COE Leader for Digital Strategy and Blockchain at Mondelez International, and Bobby Tinsley, Co-Founder and CEO of SKUx, will discuss Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and Blockchain. told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster that advances in retail and payments are leading to breakthrough advances in retail and payments. Based offer ecosystem.
There is a lot of room for technology and innovation in the traditional world of couponing and promotions.
“For reference, today’s traditional paper-based coupon process takes seven to 10 days before a consumer finally redeems the coupon at a retail store. There’s no data or insight into what products they’re buying.” Mondelez, known for iconic brands like Oreo and Cadbury, has historically used traditional coupons, including paper checks and mail-in promotions. He added that it depended on the method of issuance.
While this legacy system was once effective, it has become increasingly disconnected from modern consumer behavior.
“The future of promotion is payments,” Tinsley says. “And the future of consumer engagement is mobile devices.”
Paper promotion and the transformative role of blockchain
In a joint effort to create an end-to-end secure and seamless consumer offer experience tied to an immutable transaction record, Mondelez and SKUx partnered this month to innovate beyond the traditional coupon process. Ta. The collaboration provided a proof of concept (POC) to move Mondelez promotions to a digital format, reducing redemption times from days to seconds and achieving a 90% conversion rate, an improvement over paper-based systems. did.
“Simply click the link and redeem the coupon instantly,” says Xu. “That’s the user experience. Gen Z and Gen X consumers are never going to use anything paper-based.”
Blockchain technology underpins this new digital promotion system, providing transparency and efficiency. Both executives explained that using DLT through partnerships with Hedera Council, Hashgraph Association, and others, Mondelez and SKUx are able to track and trace all promotional transactions in real-time.
“Blockchain has traditionally been very focused on cryptocurrencies, rather than actually leveraging the ledger for its own purpose: transaction tracking and traceability,” Tinsley said. “This is a game-changer for the retail industry as it allows us to provide unparalleled transparency into the data we provide on behalf of our partners.”
By eliminating paper-based processes, companies can save costs associated with printing and distributing physical coupons, reduce processing time, and improve the consumer experience. Blockchain’s immutability means that once an offer is redeemed, it cannot be reused fraudulently, giving brands greater confidence in their promotional spend. This level of security and transparency not only supports the business case for brands, but is also attractive to retailers who benefit from streamlined processes and enhanced consumer engagement.
See also: From Transactions to Transformations: Blockchain Loyalty Proposals
A holistic approach to loyalty and consumer engagement
While there is a strong desire for digital transformation, Xu said businesses need to be confident in the long-term value and return on investment (ROI) that comes with implementing new technologies. Incremental improvements to traditional systems are not sufficient to achieve significant growth goals. Rather, transformational change, backed by advanced technologies such as blockchain, is needed to increase efficiency and long-term profitability.
A key aspect of the approach taken by Mondelez and SKUx is the development of new promotional rails that are independent of payment providers and networks. SKUx aims to create a seamless experience for both merchants and consumers by offering digital promotions across a variety of payment methods and integrating into existing loyalty programs, Tinsley said. I am. This infrastructure allows brands like Mondelez to offer customized promotions that can be redeemed instantly, more accurately track consumer engagement, and drive sales growth.
Xu and Tinsley are also exploring ways to further expand this ecosystem. Beyond digital coupons, they said they see potential in integrating retail loyalty programs and developing new types of wallets that connect brands and retail loyalty. In doing so, we aim to create a more integrated financial relationship within the promotional ecosystem that not only incentivizes consumers, but also benefits stores and brands.
Still, scalability and interoperability are challenges that the Mondelez and SKUx partnership aims to address as both companies move beyond proof of concept to full-scale operations. Xu said the initial expansion was focused on the US and Canadian markets, but the company is now expanding its efforts to Latin America, Europe and Asia. This international expansion will include addressing a variety of currencies, retail environments, regulatory requirements, and testing the flexibility and robustness of the blockchain-based system.
In doing so, Mondelēz and SKUx aim to go beyond the limitations of traditional promotional models and redefine the way brands engage with consumers.
“Having a DLT infrastructure layer gives us confidence that we can trust our data as we grow and expand these use cases,” Tinsley said.
Details: B2B, B2B payments, blockchain, Bobby Tinsley, commercial payments, digital transformation, e-commerce, innovation, loyalty rewards, main features, Mondelez International, news, PYMNTS news, pymnts tv, retail, security, SKUx, technology, Video, Xiang Xu
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