With Latin American countries topping the ‘happiness’ global ranking report (2013), FunPuntos news that they have been acquired provides another step forward in their mission to see that the region’s customer retail experience will be the same.
Just 59 days after FunPuntos (Fun Points) announced its launch, today we bring news from an official company representative that FunPuntos has been acquired by Acid Labs for an undisclosed sum.
FunPuntos is a smartphone enabled customer loyalty app with backend merchant management system, that was created by Oxford University alumni Daliso Zuze and Nabil Meralli.
AT Kearny Global Retail Development Index (2012) ranked 7 LatAm countries in its Top 30 with Brazil and Chile being ranked first and second in the region. And the prevalence of smartphones has added a new way for retailers to engage. 4 of the top 10 fastest growing smartphone markets in the world are in Latin America – Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico.
Fierce retail competition means that not only must brands differentiate themselves but customer retention is equally if not more important than new customer acquisition for retailers who want to survive in the long-term. Retailers need to find more ways to keep their customers engaged and furthermore connect this with the dynamic social landscape.
-Nabil Meralli, FunPuntos Co-Founder
FunPuntos loyalty program
The FunPuntos program enables and encourages retailers to customize incentive programs, making the rewards fun and a unique reflection of their brand.
The FunPuntos solution offers retailers:
- Customer insights and analysis
- Reward management, tracking and redemption
- Localized promotions
- Customer ‘check-in’ through on-site FunPuntos tablet computers
And it offers consumers an easy way to aggregate multiple loyalty programs on their smartphone. It is estimated that for every 100 loyalty cards given out, 91 percent are lost.
Costanera Center
The app was successfully piloted in W.O.K. (World Oriented Kitchen) located at Costanera Center in Santiago, Chile, where during the pilot at its peak 300 new customers signed up for FunPuntos weekly with nearly one-third bringing repeat business. They have registered 2400 users at W.O.K. and there have been 4000 check-ins.
The most loyal customers qualify for awards such as having a chef from W.O.K. cook a meal for them in their home or having a dish on the menu named after them.
As it approaches its first year in business Costanera Center continues to prove itself as South America’s retail darling. The mall has six floors and is the largest in South America. H&M successfully debuted their flagship store in Chile less than 24 hours ago (as of this publishing) where more than 2,500 excited Chileans waited in line for more than 12 hours for the doors to open. Costanera Center is also home to other international retailers such as Banana Republic, Brooks Brothers, Armani Exchange, Zara, Hugo Boss and the first Hard Rock Cafe in Chile.
The FunPuntos app is currently available for iPhone and Droid. A free one month trial of FunPuntos service is available to Chilean retailers for a limited time.
