Behind the scenes: How Maybank helped Nando’s fast food chain reverse rapidly decreasing sales

Launched in Malaysia in September 1998, Nando’s restaurant specializes in chicken-based menu items. At the beginning of 2006, it was hit by a severe drop in sales sparked by two key factors: the threat of bird flu and the oil crisis. Malaysians became reluctant to travel by car to eat the famous Nando’s Peri-peri chicken. Maybank saw an opportunity to help Nando’s.

"Maybank created a promotion for the Nando’s outlet in the Mid-valley mall, one of the largest in Kuala Lumpur," says Welcome's Pierre Boces. "It involved 12 awarding merchants located in the mall, including GNC, Dockers, Hush Puppies, and others. Nando’s was the unique redeeming merchant."

For every 50 ringgits (Malaysian dollars) spent with a Maybank card, in a single transaction, at one of the 12 awarding merchants, the Maybank cardholder received a coupon entitling him/her to enjoy a ¼ peri-peri chicken for only 99 sen (cents). The coupon could only be redeemed in Nando’s outlet at the mall. The promotion lasted two months, starting May 1st 2006. Tent cards were set up on tables and counters at Nando’s and each of the 12 awarding merchants. Maybank cardholders received fliers with their monthly statements and a billboard was displayed in the mall.

"The promotion was a success for Nando’s and the 12 awarding merchants," says Pierre. "Although Maybank cardholders had to spend 50 ringgits at any of the awarding merchants, they got a ¼ peri-peri chicken for only 99 sen– a saving of 14 ringgits. Customers came with their families and spent more than just 99 sen on a ¼ chicken. The average ticket size by Maybank cardholders at the 12 awarding merchants during the promotion was 50 ringgits – 42% higher than the average ticket size of 35 ringgits prior to the promotion."

"The promotion was a real win for Maybank," says Pierre. "Maybank was contacted by many other merchants at the mall, asking to take part in the promotion, either as an awarding or a redeeming merchant."

The average spend on Maybank cards at Nando’s climbed from 73 ringgits six months before the promotion to 101 ringgits during the promotion. It continued growing, thanks to the momentum of the campaign, and eventually reached 121 ringgits six months after the end of the promotion.

The case study can be downloaded here.

Behind the scenes: How Maybank and Baskin Robbins increased credit card usage for low value purchases

This case study should be of interest to anyone that wants to get merchants to encourage customers to pay by card rather than cash for low value transactions. It should be of special interest to people involved with contactless cards (even if this case study is not about a contactless deployment).

"Maybank wanted to see greater use of credit cards for everyday purchases, and Baskin Robbins wanted to encourage customers to spend more," says Welcome's Pierre Boces. "A promotion was designed to accomplish both objectives at the same time."

Maybank helped Baskin Robbins design a promotion which delivered an instant offer when customers paid with their Maybank card at Baskin Robbins. For every 20 ringgits (Malaysian dollars) in cumulative spending during the promotional period, consumers could buy a single junior scoop of ice cream for only 99 sen (cents), a big saving for Maybank customers.


Run by all Malaysian outlets of Baskin Robbins, the promotion lasted six months, from October 2006 to March 2007. It was advertised at Baskin Robbins outlets and in Maybank’s quarterly news letter, the Kard Shoppe, which cardholders get with their monthly statements.

The promotion was successful for both Baskin Robbins and Maybank. Coupons were redeemed at the rate of 53% while the average spending on Maybank cards at Baskin Robbins climbed from 36 Ringgits two months before the promotion to 58 ringgits two months into the promotion. It stayed at 59 ringgits two months after the end of the promotion.

Download the case study here.

Behind the scenes: How networking with other Welcome licensees helped Maybank quickly recruit Pizza Hut

Pierre Boces has released several case studies on how Welcome's bank customers are developing stronger relationships with merchants. He just did one about Malaysian bank Maybank and Pizza Hut.

"Maybank learned that another Welcome licensee, UBL in Pakistan, had done a promotion with Pizza Hut, and decided to approach Pizza Hut for a similar promotion for Maybank cardholders," he says. "Pizza Hut quickly agreed, and the promotion was launched."

Prior to the promotion, customers eating at Pizza Hut’s 129 Malaysian outlets were spending an average of 45 ringgits (Malaysian dollars) and making an average of two visits a month. Pizza Hut rolled out a simple and attractive “One, Two, Three, Free” promotion with the following mechanics:
1st visit - Spend 65 ringgits and get a coupon for 10% off the next visit
2nd visit - Spend 65 ringgits and get a coupon for 10% off the next visit
3rd visit - Spend 65 ringgits and get a coupon for a FREE Regular Pan Pizza

The promotion ran at all Pizza Hut restaurants in Malaysia and lasted three months, from September to November 2005. It was advertised on tent cards in each restaurant. Fliers were also sent to Maybank cardholders with their monthly statements.


The Pizza Hut promotion for Maybankard customers was the first of its kind in Malaysia, different from other credit card promotions that rarely help merchants target their best customers. The innovative nature of the promotion attracted substantial interest in the press.

During the promotion, Pizza Hut saw a monthly increase in the number of cardholders being rewarded and the number of coupons redeemed. Maybank saw a 49% boost in purchases by its cardholders at participating Pizza Hut outlets.

You can download the case study here.

Identifying merchant pains that can be addressed with new generation bank cards

I promised to reveal some of the not so visible marketing work that Welcome provides to its bank customers, or performs on the client’s behalf. This post is about helping payment brands identify and solve major problems for merchants, so that our clients’ cards and services become more valuable. It is part of a series of posts that I'm calling Behind the Scenes.

You can hear merchants describe some of their marketing pains here and here, along with descriptions of how their problems were addressed by one of Welcome’s bank customers. But you don’t see behind the scenes, how the pains were uncovered and identified in a way that points to a solution that can be uniquely solved with our client’s payment cards.

How do you identify the merchant’s pain? How do you figure out how to tie your payment services into that pain? Pierre Boces, Head of Product Marketing at Welcome, says, “We often start by reading the retailer’s annual report, their competitor’s annual report, and industry studies on the web.”

Take The Body Shop for example. At the very beginning of their 2005 annual report, their mission statement talks about the customer experience no less than 3 times. They want to ‘deliver with passion to our customers a unique experience’, provide a shopping environment that ‘excites, inspires and informs’, and reinvest in the business to ‘constantly improve our customers’ experiences’. All of that is in the mission statement. Then on page 4 you can read in big letters in the centre of the page that ‘a new store design has been developed to offer customers an improved in-store experience at The Body Shop’. So you know that you need to focus on the customer experience.

On page 3, you can read a section on brand repositioning:

“Over the last three years, we have pursued a strategy of repositioning The Body Shop brand to the ‘masstige’ sector of the consumer market. This ‘masstige’ positioning differentiates The Body Shop by offering customers a shopping experience that combines excellent service with a comprehensive range of naturally-inspired personal care products that offer performance, indulgence and great value.”

The brand promises to deliver high quality products at the lowest cost. They cannot risk offering low quality products which will destroy that promise. They cannot risk offering discount promotions like 20% off this product or 30% off that product, because this would tell customers that the regular price is not really the lowest it could possibly be. On the very same page, they even say what type of marketing promotions work for them:

“Our global marketing programmes are designed to support the ‘masstige’ positioning of the brand. Promotions are developed to offer added value, sampling opportunities and gifts with purchase to encourage customer loyalty.”

So we know that we can’t ask them to give cardholders a 10% discount, and we know that they won’t be interested in loyalty points or miles because these tactics don’t fit the brand promise that they are promoting.

Pierre Boces describes his recommendations. “A better strategy would be to show how our client’s payment services can enhance the customer’s shopping experience with gift sample promotions printed at the bottom of the payment card receipt. For example, offer a different gift sample at each visit or a bigger and bigger sample each time the customer goes over a £100 cumulative purchase threshold. This fits with the Body Shop’s culture and marketing objectives much better.”

“Another idea that fits is to show how our client’s payment brand can take corporate sponsorship to a new level,” he says, “by making it easier for customers to donate to The Body Shop Foundation. How many customers shop at The Body Shop specifically because they appreciate the company’s engagement in charities? The annual report talks a lot about this. At many outlets, you can see signs next to the POS inviting customers to donate to The Body Shop Foundation and other organizations. Using the credit or debit card receipt to show the total cumulative amount that has been donated on each customer’s behalf, as well as amounts donated directly by the customer when shopping at The Body Shop, would link the payment brand directly into the retailer's brand promise, making our client’s brand that much stickier.”

Wong Wan Ling: "Getting the most out of Welcome's marketing expertise"

Wong Wan Ling is Welcome’s Asia Pacific Marketing Director. She has been involved with many of our bank customers in the region, and often directly with their retail partners. Some of you met her at our annual User Summit in Dubai last month. Here is what she has to say about Welcome’s marketing services:

“Many banks and payment services providers have greatly benefited from the technology that Welcome has developed. However, in the process of working with our customers to deploy the technology, we have learnt that sound technology, without strategic planning and execution, will not maximise the potential business results.”

“The technology itself provides an excellent opportunity for Welcome’s customers to introduce a disruptive innovation in their markets. However, it remains a challenge when marketers are charged with a new way to strategise and execute the new marketing initiatives which the new technology allows.”

“As with all market disruptive strategies and initiatives, new sets of skills, knowledge and know-how are needed to deploy and execute. More often than not, the new way of doing things requires the organisation to develop new sets of processes and work procedures to ensure consistent and cost-effective delivery. Many organisations do not have the formal structure or resources to do this.”

“Welcome’s core expertise lies in card marketing enhancement technologies that create value at the moment of payment. As developers and originators of the technology, Welcome is in the best position to be the ideal partner to help our customers push the limit on the market potential of the technology. With experiences from many market implementations of our own technology, we have developed a set of processes, expertise, and skills that can be very quickly implemented to fit any bank organisation in order go-to-market in the shortest possible time.”

Some banks want to develop their own in-house expertise in promotional marketing at the point of sale. Welcome’s training seminars have helped these banks enhance their branding, advertising, loyalty marketing and partner recruitment activities.

Other banks want instead to outsource all or part of their marketing activities. Welcome’s marketing experts and network of partner consultants help these banks manage many aspects of their program, from branding and advertising to partner recruitment and promotional campaign design and management.

We’ve evolved faster than I expected

Talking to Welcome’s customers at our User Summit a few weeks ago, I discovered that many of them see us as a strategic marketing partner. This both surprised and pleased me.

In my mind Welcome has always been a payment technology provider. A provider of infrastructure software for payment cards, terminals and back-end systems. Of course I’m very aware that there is a substantial amount of marketing involved in what we deliver, but I’ve always thought that that was standard practice for any new generation technology company like Welcome. Embedding a great deal of expert marketing strategy into the services provided to clients didn’t seem so out of the ordinary to me. But the discussions I had with customers made me realize that Welcome is providing much more strategic marketing support than banks are used to receiving from technology providers, and even from some traditional consultants and analysts.

Welcome has learned so much over the years from so many deployments around the world. The company knows a lot now about good and bad real-time marketing campaigns linked to payment, in many different business environments and many different merchant categories. That knowledge has become a key resource that the company delivers to its bank customers.

So I’ll reboot my mind with this new realization. And I’ll do a few blog posts which shed light on the types of marketing activities that go on behind closed doors at Welcome, which our customers see but which most other people don’t.