Abstract

The case examines the marketing strategy of i-mint, India’s largest multi-partner loyalty program. i-mint was designed by Loyalty Solutions and Research Limited (LSRL), an ICICI Venture firm. From an initial collaboration of six merchant partners in mid 2006, i-mint had developed an all-India merchant network of over 3000 partners covering industries including hospitality, travel, retail, telecom, media and consumables by late 2009. It had a membership base of 9 million. Multiple partnership reward programs like i-mint offered customers dual benefit of purchases across multiple product/service categories and earning rewards across several program partners. A consumer could earn loyalty points on the payments made for purchases at the outlets of i-mint partners and could also redeem these points at any of the i-mint merchant outlets. For retailers, this relationship between multiple brands and customer loyalty on a single platform helped to develop a customer database which could be used to establish a personalized dialogue with customers in order to design value added loyalty schemes and thereby increase profitability. The case also discusses the potential of coalition loyalty marketing programs in India.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand the benefits of a customer loyalty program in retail marketing
• Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of multiple partnership reward programs as compared to a single partner rewards program
• Examine the unique features of ‘i-mint’ consumer rewards program
• and Study the effectiveness and financial feasibility of consumer loyalty programs in India.

Keywords

i-Mint, Customer Loyalty Program, Loyalty Solutions and Research Limited, Customer Retention, Consumption Patterns, Market Research, Multiple Partnership Programs, Loyalty Card, i-mint Logo, Merchant Network, Data Mining, Customer Information Database, Customer Behavior, Brand Advertising, Rewards Marketing Network, Strategic Advertising Methods, Rewards Catalog