Globe rewards points spark livelihood opportunities and grow businesses

MANILA, Philippines -  Flores Bakery first set up shop in 1964 as a family business owned by Dang Flores and her husband. Five decades later, it has become an institution in Poblacion, Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat. Dang, who has been running the shop since 2006, says that business further grew and expanded when she was offered the opportunity to join the pilot for the TM Astig Rewards Sari-sari Store Program in October 2012.

TM, Globe Telecom’s value brand, launched the TM Astig Rewards Sari-sari Store program in 2012 to allow TM subscribers to use their rewards points to purchase items from nearby sari-sari stores. Subscribers earn rewards points from their top-up, which they can use to buy sari-sari store items, just like cash.

From bakery to grocery

With her loyal patrons using their TM rewards points as cash with straightforward points-to-peso conversion of 1 point = P1, Dang’s bakery quickly evolved into a bigger store and expanded into selling grocery items. Dang says, “Yung grocery namin, nag-start lang sa rewards. Maraming hinihingi ‘yung mga customers, so kinabukasan, meron na kami ‘nun.” (“We started selling groceries because of the rewards program. Customers request for specific items, so we make sure we have them in our store the next day.”)

Having this new source of revenue even allowed Dang to bundle her products sold at more compelling prices. “Kunyari, bumili sila ng softdrinks na 1.5 liters, meron na silang libreng bread na malaki. (“For instance, customers who buy 1.5 liters of softdrinks using their TM rewards points get free bread from my bakery.”)

With this sales promotion strategy, Dang attracted more customers, and in the long run, gained more profits for her bakery-grocery business. Sales grew by 25 percent since she introduced payment of items via TM rewards points. Customers redeem between 2,000-4,000 points a day on average.

Pulling more customers

Tatah Pulalon of Brgy. Alabel in Sarangani Province shares the same story. Having run a sari-sari store business since 2011, she makes a living selling items such as coffee, sardines, and cellphone load. She started accepting TM rewards points as payment two years ago, and was glad she did.

“Nakatabang pud sa ako-a (It has helped me),” shares Tatah. “My sari-sari store’s sales nearly doubled because more people were buying from me.” Even others who don’t intend to buy anything end up doing so because they get to use their rewards points.

With additional revenues generated from items sold using her customers’ TM rewards points, Tatah is able to send her children to school.

“For small business owners like Dang and Tatah, the TM Astig Rewards program became more than just a rewards program for their customers,” says Jay Beltran, vice president for Customer Lifecycle Management at Globe. “It has spurred the growth of their businesses that allowed them to scale up their profits and better provide for their families’ needs. We are inspired to have paved the way for these wonderful livelihood opportunities for them, and we’re looking forward to help more families around the country with this innovative rewards program.”

To date, over 20 million rewards points have been redeemed with thousands of subscribers benefitting from the innovative program.

Typically associated with credit cards, department stores and high-end establishments, rewards programs were previously unheard of in the micro-enterprise level. As a pioneer in introducing rewards programs to small business owners, TM is helping create a productive world for Filipinos through the use of rewards points.