Globalisation has ensured that the businesses have become more competitive across the world. The geographical boundaries are vanishing for businesses, and it is hardly surprising that companies often target customers half-way across the world. While this is good for customers as they get better products or services, things become quite difficult for businesses. To counter the growing competition, organisations come up with various techniques to retain customers, and one such technique is loyalty points or reward points.
Even though loyalty points have been around for quite some time and there is a notion of saturation in the segment, according to a report released by Forrester Research, there is still a positive perception of loyalty programs among customers. 78% of respondents in the survey believed that loyalty programs helped them save money and nearly 50% admitted that loyalty programs influence what they buy. However, in spite of the evident benefits, the loyalty program space has a lot of downsides and problems that prevent it from becoming the most effective marketing strategy.
Present Problems & Solutions Offered By GOZO
The problem with loyalty programs and especially with the travel industry is the scattered nature of loyalty points. A user may have different loyalty points across different service providers such as airlines, hotels, cab aggregators, etc. As per the aforementioned research, about 57% of respondents were not aware of their points balance and 38% were not aware of the value held by the points in their various accounts. So, it becomes difficult for the users to redeem their loyalty points for maximum benefits.
According to GOZO Whitepaper, globally about 48 trillion points worth about $360 billion go unredeemed. Such a situation is unfavourable for the companies offering loyalty program as well the customers who receive such points. GOZO aims to become a loyalty points clearinghouse and travels savings club. It will do this by providing a platform as well as a wallet that will empower the customer to carry out a wide range of activities using loyalty points.
Features of GOZO
GOZO aims to improve the existing setup by introducing blockchain into the scheme of things. One of the top features that sets GOZO apart from other blockchain start-ups in the travel space is its interoperability. GOZO will allow customers to redeem points not just against GOZO tokens but against 100+ cryptocurrencies and tokens. It will act as a clearinghouse by forging partnerships with travel companies and other companies in the travel space. It will act as a loyalty point aggregator, thereby ensuring that all the loyalty points are available within a single app.
Users will not only be able to convert reward points in cryptocurrencies, but will also be able to use cryptocurrencies for travelling. This ensures that one does not have to convert cryptocurrency to fiat before spending the same on travel. GOZO also offers a Multi-Tiered Membership Platform with Silver, Gold, and Platinum memberships. This adds an interesting aspect for the customers while adding a revenue stream for GOZO. Each membership plan comes with its own set of benefits with the top-most plan offering features such as Private Medi-Jet Service, Crowd-Sourced Trip, Unlimited access to VIP lounge, personal travel agent, and more.
The users of GOZO platform will also be able to earn tokens for referral activities and social media tasks. Members will also get monthly token rebates based on the membership tiers. Additionally, GOZO has also partnered with travel product & service providers. This will allow users to purchase the same at discounted rates. While highly beneficial to individual users, GOZO can provide even more benefits to the corporate customer. Corporates offer reward points to their employees as a form of motivation and GOZO can efficiently deliver on this requirement.
The above diagram explains the GOZO platform and how every parameter interacts with another to create a complete eco-system. You can check additional diagrammatic explanations in the whitepaper which explain different aspects of the platform. GOZO will use Stellar which offers a speed of 1,000 transactions per second. The platform will use a four-layered technology architecture which will include Android, iOS, Oracle, etc. Machine learning algorithms will also be employed to optimise and customise rewards.
Final Thoughts
The GOZO project is definitely targeting a domain that needs blockchain to solve its problems. The GOZO platform certainly has real-world application and utility. However, its success will largely depend on the partnerships that will be forged down the line. The only thing that will keep users on the platform and attract new users would be the participation of more companies offering rewards and even more ways of redeeming them. It remains to be seen if the team can deliver the required partnerships. The project is backed by a small team, but one can hope that it will be expanded very soon.
Additional Resources
GOZO Website: https://www.gozo.io/
Telegram: https://t.me/gozo_io
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gozo.io/?view_public_for=1938287966214957
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_9quG5hn-23TNN390kWyDQ
Medium: https://medium.com/@gozo.io
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