Big corporations may have all the resources they need to build customer loyalty, but even then they continue to face challenges doing it. This is what captured Bui Hoai Nam’s attention when he was working at Grab, along with other big corporations in Vietnam.

With the thought that there was a missing link that big corporations should address when engaging their customers with rewards, Nam got together with Hieu Truong (CEO) and Minh Nguyen (CFO) to start UrBox.

UrBox describes itself as a digital rewards and loyalty solution for corporations in Vietnam.

What UrBox does is helping corporates integrate their loyalty and reward programme with multiple gift suppliers or merchants via API. Recipients can get digital gifts instantly on their phones to redeem at both offline and online stores.

“I came up with the idea of the business based on the pain points experienced in my previous stints. I’ve seen how big corps like Grab having a hard time keeping track of their loyalty programmes to engage the customers better. Basic things such as sending gifts and tracking the behaviours of the customers could be a headache. It got me thinking, why don’t we digitise all the rewards process instead?” Nam explains.

Nam viewed the company’s offering to be a niche in its industry. “We’re very tech-oriented, as we don’t focus only on selling the gifts. We bundle our platform as a solution with the rewards provided by gift suppliers. We build the loyalty solutions ecosystem and add rewards in it for our corporate partners,” Nam elaborates.

Also Read: UrBox Vietnam raised seed funding from two Vietnamese VCs

The business of loyalty

UrBox now has more than 200 retail brands and 6,000 stores from different industries on board. In 2019, the company managed to catch the attention of local investors such as VinaCapital Venture and VIISA.

“I must admit that our previous experiences helped our bootstrapping journey before getting the seed funding last year, the way our previous teammates in Grab and Timo digital bank supported UrBox and tried our services before we slowly grew to have more customers,” he adds.

To get to where they are, Nam recalled, it took the company five years to convince that their solutions are something that the retail market today is still missing.

“There is only five per cent of the top companies in Vietnam that have reliable loyalty solutions because many of these top corporations still face issues with fulfillments and the process of sending gifts to customers. So, with our platform catered to the need of each company specifically, these companies can have a way to do all sorts of customer engagement using rewards. They can also strategise their marketing around the behaviours tracked upon customers receiving the gifts,” says Nam.

That is how the company intended to work with other big corporations on top of their existing clients in the banking, insurance, airlines, telco, and technology.

“We are vertical agnostic in a sense that we are looking to adjust to each company’s needs according to their industry,” Nam points out.

The pandemic and the silver lining

According to Nam, big corporations in Vietnam also suffered the impact of COVID-19’s physical interaction limitation. “We viewed this as a positive opportunity for them to try digital rewards as a way to offer something else to their customers,” Nam opines.

Also Read: UrBox Vietnam raised seed funding from two Vietnamese VCs

Nam uses UrBox’s recent partnership with Vietnam Airlines as a case in point. “Vietnam Airlines’ partnership with us allows them to sell the miles as the rewards for the customers. This way, even though they can’t interact directly with their customers, they can still increase the liquidity of their products by having their customers redeem other services and get merchandise and other items,” Nam explains.

The gift redemption platform is named LotusMall, and it entitles members to a diverse ecosystem of gifts. The UrBox digital gift set is integrated with the platform to streamline gift redemption.

“Vietnam Airlines previously had no resources to build a digital rewarding platform, so our tech team built it for them and they’re free from the hassle of working with hundreds of gift suppliers and gift fulfilment,” Nam says.

Right now, Nam focusses on their plans to improve the products to increase customer experience after their Vietnam Airlines’ partnership.

“It made us realise that there are still room for growth. We’ll focus on how we can have attractive digital products to give and how we can build our bundle of products to meet both the corporations and their end customers’ needs. Aside from that, we will also focus on building a 24/7 customer care capability. These are what our future plans entail,” Nam said.

There is also a need to think about how the merchants can leverage their service, especially those that have experienced a negative impact from COVID-19.

Also Read: Korean digital rewards service Spoqa raises US$2M to expand into Japan

“We need to think about how UrBox can create more solutions for merchants, improve their cash flow, and how they can reach the right customers. What we have is a subscription programme, where they can come to merchants for a repeat purchase. This way, both ends are mutually benefited with the Improvements loyalty activities and still have a chance to grow their business,” Nam elaborates.

However, even if the digital rewards industry has a strong connection with the retail industry, the penetration rate for the retail market is still small in Vietnam.

“There are still 35-40 per cent potential to grow within this market, especially with rewarding and loyalty programmes. With the new normal situation, many big corporations in Vietnam need to secure their market share to be able to digitise their daily business to optimise productivity. And we’d like to view UrBox as an important bridge to that,” Nam further explains.

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Image Credit: UrBox

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