#LEAwards 2020 highlight: How Frasers Property delighted consumers with F&B concierge service

Makan Master is an exclusive digital F&B concierge service under Frasers Property Singapore's "Go digital programme", which aims to support consumers and tenants on their digital journeys. Integrated into the Frasers Experience App, Makan Master was launched together with DBS Bank's Fast Track programme to enable consumers to pre-order meals and make cashless payments at participating F&B outlets.

Digital agency Placewise Asia Pacific was involved in the creation of Makan Master and the seamless integration of delivery services on Frasers Makan Master with its mall tenants saw Placewise bringing home the bronze award for the "Best Loyalty Programme – Launch/Relaunch" category in MARKETING-INTERACTIVE's recent Loyalty & Engagement Awards 2020.

Challenge

The journey towards the successful launch of Makan Master was met with four main challenges.

1. Lack of unified dining experience

Before the launch of Makan Master, Frasers noted that there was no suitable platform to deliver a unified dining experience for its shoppers. It sought to improve the shopper's experience by digitalising the food ordering journey, offering convenience and shorter wait time.

2. Getting merchant buy-in

Frasers had three main groups of merchants. Those who are already on other commercial platforms and are willing to explore others; those who are on other commercial platforms and were not motivated to join another; and those struggling to go digital and are sensitive to cost. The last group, according to Frasers, prefer cash transactions and/or are resource strapped.

3. Membership enrolment

While Frasers had a significant member base, membership enrolment was stagnating. Hence, the team needed to restrategise and find innovative ways to serve existing members and attract new members with a value-added service.

4. Lack of data

The Frasers Experience mobile app offered little means of tracking the efficiency of F&B-related marketing campaigns. Hence, the client requirements for the team were to enable data collection and analysis, and translate the result into actionables to improve shopper reach, as well as go beyond the basic transactions towards a more tailored, personalised engagement level.

Strategy

To convince shoppers that Makan Master was the platform for them, Frasers and Placewise handed out digital gift cards and drove the urgency to shop by doubling Frasers Points with every Makan Master order. This was limited to the first 1,000 Frasers Experience members. To encourage continual usage, Frasers points were also issued for any Makan Master order within the app.

In order for consumers to get on board with Makan Master, the team knew it had to collaborate with a strong payment partner. This resulted in selecting the DBS/POSB credit card and DBS Paylah! as payment methods.

Frasers also worked with digital agency Spoon Creatives and food technology start-up Eunoia to create a simple but engaging user interface and experience design, support the ordering and payment journey using the Frasers Property digital gift card. Members can also check the "My Orders" tab in Makan Master to check the order status from the app. Next, it worked with Placewise to offer an end-to-end CRM suite of services, including the earning and redemption of rewards, data tracking and reports.

To win over merchants, Frasers ensured that Makan Master was more cost-friendly by absorbing only a fraction of the delivery cost, and offering onboarding training and administrative support to new merchants. It also constantly provided one-to-one training and support to merchants via WhatsApp video calls and emails during the circuit breaker period.

Execution

The campaign for Makan Masters covered online and offline platforms, including digital advertising and social media shoutouts, marketing collaterals, retailer education, mobile app notifications, SMS, and programme ambassadors to assist shoppers onsite.

The social media posts and mobile app notifications were timed for maximum exposure and impact, while the marketing collaterals were designed to highlight benefits of the campaign with clear USPs.

It also pushed out a free delivery promotion for Makan Master via an in-app banner. To qualify for the promotion, consumers had to download the Frasers Experience app and sign up as a member.

Results

The campaign received encouraging response from merchants and shoppers alike, and the team saw an impressive surge in the mobile app downloads and membership enrolment numbers, surpassing campaign targets. According to Frasers, it quadrupled its orders during the circuit breaker and the main contributing factor was due to the team's quick change in strategy, moving from dine-in to takeaway and delivery. The company was also able to harvest the data it collected to plan for future Makan Master campaigns.