Swatch Boosting Sales with a Loyalty Program on WeChat

In this IT Consultis case study, we will explain how we helped Swatch localize its loyalty platform - Swatch Club - on WeChat and connect with its central CRM system without compromising its global identity.

About The Client: Swatch

Swatch is a watchmaking brand founded in Switzerland in 1983, a subsidiary of The Swatch Group.

The brand first penetrated the market with a fashionable yet affordable line of analog watches. And its debut successfully reshaped the industry! It managed to re-capture the lower-tier market share from established Swiss mechanical timepieces and popular Japanese digital watches at the time.

Today, Swatch still celebrates innovation, creativity, and technologies in all of its product lines. It is always encouraging individuality and inspiring self-expression via its colorful timepieces.

As a result of its impactful messages and stylish designs, the brand has attracted a large following of fans and watch connoisseurs from all around the world.

Thus, the Swatch Club was born as a community for Swatch enthusiasts to gather. Here, they share their love for their timepieces and enjoy exclusive benefits and events from the brand, including meeting global artists, athletes, and celebrities!

Objectives

To expand and localize its presence in China, one of the key markets, the brand worked together with IT Consultis (ITC).

The ultimate objectives were:

• Developing its Drupal and Laravel-powered loyalty platform - Swatch Club - on WeChat to effectively engage with the target audience in China from offline to online channels and facilitate re-purchases
• Building a portal that can integrate with its CRM system in China while maintaining its global identity

Solutions for Swatch

Swatch Club Customer Journey

First of all, ITC helped build the Swatch Club space for Chinese consumers. Customers can use the convenient QR code scanning function of WeChat to access the Swatch Club on the WeChat browser. Here, they can either log in or register for a Membership account.

And, once they are part of the Club, they can start checking and receiving special benefits and rewards from the brand on their Reward Page.

If the customers decide to make a purchase with their Membership card, be it at an online or offline store, the transaction would be recorded in the history of their Swatch Club and pushed to the brand's CRM system.

Subsequently, the company would send retargeted sales promotions and other benefits based on the data acquired on users' behaviors.

The personalized content should reinforce the customers' interests and prompt them to make repeated purchases. In return, the more they buy, the higher the tier of their Membership account becomes. And this allows them to receive more attractive benefits going forward.

Ultimately, the strategy enhances the relationship between the customer and the brand in the best way possible.

Design

In addition, ITC ensured that the design of the Chinese Swatch Club perfectly match the brand's global visual identity. At the same time, we properly localized necessary features and functions, including:

• The language - Chinese
• The QR code
• The redirection to Weibo
• The compatibility with mobile devices (Mobile-First)

Integration with Swatch CRM

Furthermore, ITC also developed a portal to connect the loyalty program with its CRM system in China via API. This way, all acquired data and information can be pushed to and managed from the Swatch CRM system. And they are consolidated at only one control point - Microsoft Dynamics.

Technologies

ITC built the Chinese Swatch Club using React as the frontend and Laravel and Drupal as the backend frameworks for the H5 page.

In particular, authentication is handled by a separate Laravel application that provides a central login system with OAuth2.

And, as mentioned above, all of the user data acquired come from the Swatch CRM system that is based on Microsoft Dynamics. Therefore, we do not store any confidential user information on any of the web-facing servers to ensure security and protect users' privacy.

Results

The Drupal and Laravel loyalty platform ITC developed effectively leveraged multiple channels native to Chinese consumers (including WeChat).

As a result, we managed to:

• Facilitate the customers' O2O journey
• Enhance their engagement with the brand via story-telling and targeted rewards
• Support long-term loyalty to their timepieces and the watchmaker

In addition, the seamless connection between the Drupal and Laravel-powered Swatch Club and its internal CRM system via API also enabled the brand to implement more in-depth tracking and analysis of the users' behaviors. Therefore, more accurate and effective retargeting strategies have been developed, boosting the brand's growth in its key market.