Embracing Digital Transformation in Utilities – Towngas Fun

STEP 1. Background

Founded in 1862, Towngas was the first public utility in Hong Kong. With the philosophy of providing low-carbon, environmentally-friendly and clean gas to the general public, Towngas is now the leading piped gas provider. Being a giant in the energy industry, Towngas has started to broaden its business to different aspects, such as kitchenware retails, restaurants, and cooking workshops. With the advancing technology, Towngas would like to promote them in a digitized and effective way, develop digital transformation in utilities.

STEP 2. Business Challenge

• Lack of Customer Engagement: The main income source of Towngas is from gas supply, the regular gas fee paid by open flame users are what keep Towngas profitable. However, for convenience and cheapness, more and more households chose to cook with an induction cooker rather than an open flame stove. This is the reason why Towngas start up different extended businesses to enhance customer engagement. However, without a proper platform to promote itself, Towngas may not be able to reach its potential customers and make sure they are engaged in Towngas’ products and services.
• Sub-brands are Decentralized: As mentioned, Towngas has developed different types of businesses apart from gas supplying to engage its customers. However, the operations and promotions of these brands are separated and they might not be attractive enough to grab the attention of the customers, so a centralized way is needed to gather all the businesses of Towngas.

• Limited Target Users: Members of Towngas Fun are usually the one who owe the gas bills, they are usually parents or people who live alone. For those who do not have to settle gas bills, like teenagers who live with their parents, they might not be familiar with Towngas. It would be a challenge for Towngas to broaden its target audience and engage more users in its loyalty program.
• Lack of O2O development: An O2O platform is needed to let Towngas approach its customers and promote its physical stores more effectively. Most of the contact between Towngas and its customers is through mails, or at most phone calls. It is difficult to catch the eyes of the customers toward Towngas’ new businesses with some plain and traditional promotion methods only. An online platform with incentives is essential if Towngas wants its customers to be engaged in their different businesses.
• Reduce Unnecessary Use of Resources: The philosophy of Towngas is to provide services in a sustainable, and an eco-friendly way. However, when it comes to issuing gas bills to the public, excessive papers are used in mailing. It also takes a lot of manpower to record the meter readings from millions of households in the traditional way. Hence, Towngas needs to promote its e-platforms for the mentioned procedures, and encourage the general public to make great use of them.

STEP 3. The Solution

• Promoting a Lifestyle Through Loyalty Program: In Towngas Fun, users may collect points by spending money on any brand of Towngas and participating in different activities. With the accumulated points, users may enjoy discounts or even free items provided by the reward partners. There is a redemption tab in the application which leads the customers to the online mall where they can claim different rewards with their loyalty points or purchase directly. Apart from some reward partners like Watsons, OTO, and Wing Wah, the brands under Towngas like Flame at Towngas Avenue, Towngas Cooking Centre, and TGC are also included. Hence, the exposure of Towngas’ sub-brands will be increased, providing a centralized and convenient platform for customers to purchase Towngas’ products may help them to foster a habit of choosing Towngas’ products. Some items on the online mall, such as cooking workshops or open flame cooking stoves, may even promote open flame cooking, the usage of Towngas’ gas supplying services are more likely to increase in the long-term once the habit and lifestyle of the customers cooking with open flame are developed.
• Household Account: Household accounts can be created by the bill owners. Other family members may join the household to share points with each other. Apart from paying bills, there are a lot of ways to earn points in Towngas Fun, such as participating in an event, purchasing in the online mall, and daily sign-in. Since everyone can earn their own points and the points can be shared within the same household account, it would be faster for a household to save a specific amount of loyalty points, and the application users will not have to be limited to the bill owners.
• Our O2O solution: To provide an O2O shopping experience to customers through utilities’ digital transformation, we have combined two functions together in a standalone application, including the loyalty and the e-commerce function. The redemption tab leads the customers to the online mall where they can spend their points, as well as purchase goods from reward partners. Adding an online shopping platform in the loyalty program may increase the chance for Towngas’ customers to spend more money, and since some of the goods are required to be picked up at physical stores, the users will have a chance to visit some, if not all, of the offline shops under Towngas’ brands.
• E-Billing and Auto Payment: It is important to provide ways for the users to earn additional points so that they will feel like the rewards are obtainable. In order to do so, as well as reducing unnecessary resources, Towngas provides extra loyalty points for its members to apply for e-billing. There will be 500 extra points given to the users for their first application of e-billing and auto payment, and 50 extra points for every time they report meter readings, receive and pay the gas bills online. On one hand, the willingness of customers to keep participating in the loyalty program will increase. On the other hand, Towngas may cut out unnecessary costs and resources in the billing process, such as paper documents, bills, as well as manpower.

STEP 4. The Results

• Positive Reviews: After launching for a year, the application has reached over 50000 downloads, became the top one of Appstore’s lifestyle category for a week, and received a lot of 5 stars ratings. The majority of comments praised the nice user interface of the application, proving that the efforts in UX and UI designs are paid off.
• Sub-brands’ Exposure Increased: Originally, the promotion works of Towngas’ sub-brands were separate. With the standalone application, Towngas Fun provided a platform for Towngas to provide products from different brands all in one place. Since the customers may need to visit the physical store to claim the rewards, such as taking cooking workshops or other specific items, there will be more chances for users to explore more about Towngas and its sub-brands. Towngas is more likely to enjoy profit growth if the exposure of its sub-brands is increased.
• Long-term Profit: Most of the rewards provided are discounts, depending on the product types, users may purchase items with half of their original price. Since Towngas Fun is an earn-and-burn loyalty program, when the customers redeem the discounts with loyalty points and purchase something, they will receive additional points afterward. A cycle of spending and earning loyalty points is formed, users will be motivated to participate in the loyalty program of Towngas fun, this digital transformation in uilities generating long-term profits for Towngas.
• Benefits of O2O business: Towngas Fun acts as an O2O membership platform of Towngas, resulting in the increase of its sub-brand awareness, as well as the customer flows of the physical stores. The customers will be more likely to engage in Towngas’ side businesses with its online and offline promotions.

好氣Fun – 公用事業公司的忠誠計劃

第一步. 個案背景

煤氣公司成立於 1862 年，是香港首家公用事業機構。煤氣公司以向大眾提供低碳、環保、和潔淨的燃氣為營運理念，已是別具領導地位的喉管式氣體供應商。作為能源行業的巨頭，煤氣公司已開始將業務擴展至不同方面，從廚具零售、餐廳到烹飪班，應有盡有。隨著數碼平台普及，煤氣公司希望能以更具效率和數碼化的方式去推廣品牌。

第二步. 個案挑戰

• 顧客參與度不足：煤氣公司的主要收入來源來自燃氣供應服務，明火住戶所定期支付煤氣費是煤氣公司盈利的關鍵。然而，基於方便性和成本考量，愈來愈多家庭不再使用明火，選擇轉用電磁爐／電陶爐煮食。正因如此，為了補足明火用戶的流失，煤氣公司推出了不同的延伸業務，以提升客戶參與度。由於煤氣公司目前仍未有一個合適的平台用作宣傳品牌，因此可能無法接觸到部分潛在客戶，向他們宣傳這些延伸業務，以提升他們對煤氣公司產品和服務的參與度。
• 延伸品牌業務分散：正如剛才提到，煤氣公司在燃氣供應服務以外，推出了不同的延伸業務，希望借此提升顧客參與度。然而，由於這些延伸品牌業務和宣傳推廣都頗為分散，分散的宣傳未必足夠吸引到顧客的注意，煤氣公司需要一種更集中的方式來整合所有業務。

• 有限的目標客群：大多數 好氣fun 會員用戶都是需要交煤氣費的人，例如家中父母／獨居的人。對於不需要交煤氣費的人而言，例如與父母同住的青年，他們未必會對煤氣公司有足夠的了解。對煤氣公司來說，擴大目標受眾，並吸引更多用戶參與其忠誠度計劃，將會是一個挑戰。
• 缺乏對 O2O 發展經驗：煤氣公司需要一個有效的 O2O 平台去接觸顧客和推動他們前往煤氣公司的實體店鋪。目前，煤氣公司主要以電子郵件和電話去與客戶聯繫，但光靠這些傳統的推廣方式，很難可以吸引到顧客去關注煤氣公司的新業務。因此，如果煤氣公司希望能將現有客戶帶到新的延伸業務中，設立一個會提供購買誘因的 O2O 平台是必不可少。
• 減少不必要的資源浪費：煤氣公司的理念在於為大眾提供符合環保及可持續概念的公用服務。然而，當煤氣公司要通知住戶繳交煤氣費用時，會用到大量紙張用作郵記煤氣單，不符合環保原則。除此之外，煤氣公司更需要僱用人員到數以百萬的用戶單位核對煤氣錶度數。因此，煤氣公司希望可以推廣借推廣電子平台以減少不必要的資源浪費，鼓勵用戶多善用電子平台去處理與煤氣相關的事情。

第三步. 團隊方案

• 借忠誠計劃推廣煤氣品牌：在 好氣fun 計劃，當用家在煤氣公司及其延伸品牌消費／參加活動後，可以賺取積分作為獎賞。當儲到一定程度上的積分後，用家便可用在換取由獎賞合作夥伴提供的折扣和免費商品。在 好氣fun 應用程式裡，有「兌換」一欄帶領用戶跳轉到網上商城頁面，用戶可在頁面裡直接購物／以積分換領獎賞。獎賞合作夥伴包括外部合作夥伴如屈臣氏、OTO、榮華餅家等品牌，還有煤氣公司的延伸品牌如餐廳 Flame at Towngas Avenue、煤氣烹飪中心、TGC爐具等。好氣fun 提升了煤氣公司各延伸品牌的品牌曝光度，為市民提供了一個既集中又便捷的平台去購買煤氣商品，更進一步培養他們在日常生活中亦會選擇到煤氣購物的習慣。網上商城上的內容如煤氣烹任課程或明火煮食爐的展示等，有助推廣明火煮食概念。長遠而言，用戶在潛移默化下可能會更傾向於使用明火煮食，增加他們使用煤氣供應服務的可能性。
• 家庭帳戶：帳單持有人可為整個家庭開設家庭帳戶，家庭成員間可互相分享積分。不單只繳交煤氣費可以賺分，好氣fun 計劃還有很多賺取積分的方法，例如參與煤氣公司活動、在網上商城購物、每日簽到等。透過家庭帳戶，每位家庭成員都可以各自賺取積分並在家庭帳戶內互相轉移，家庭可更快儲到所需要的積分目標。家庭帳戶的存在亦可增加好氣fun 應用程式的目標客群，提升使用者人數。
• O2O 解決方案：為了向顧客提供能連接線上線下的購物體驗，我們一次過結合了網上商城和顧客忠誠系統這兩種主要功能到一個獨立的應用程式之中。「兌換」一欄會帶領用戶跳轉到網上商城頁面，進行網上購物及積分換領程序。在忠誠平台應用程式內添加網上商城功能可以鼓勵用戶消費，若他們選擇到實體店取貨，便能增加他們到煤氣公司旗下實體商店的機會。
• 電子及自動繳費：向用戶提供額外積分賺取途徑十分重要，這樣可以讓他們覺得積分計劃是具吸引力和可以實現的。為了增加 好氣fun 的吸引力及減少資源浪費，煤氣公司會為使用 好氣fun 網上繳交煤氣費用的會員提供額外積分。初次使用網上繳費的會員會收到額外 500 積分，及後每次網上繳費及自行網上報讀煤氣錶度數都會向用戶提供額外 50 分。一方面，網上繳費能提升用戶持續使用的意願；另一方面，煤氣公司可以借此推廣網上繳費，削減在收費過程中不必要的成本和資源。

第四步. 最終成果

• 正面評價：好氣fun 應用程式在推出後首周，登上了 App Store 生活類別的首位；在推出一年後，達到了超過 50000 的下載次數，接收到大量 5 星評價。大多數用家評論都稱讚了 好氣fun 應用程序漂亮的用戶界面，我們在 用戶體驗 (UX) 和 介面 (UI) 設計方面花費的努力得到了回報。
• 延伸品牌曝光度大增：正如上所述，煤氣公司的各延伸品牌業務和宣傳推廣都頗為分散，未必足夠吸引到顧客的注意。好氣fun 應用程式次過集合了各個分散的延伸品牌，成為煤氣公司的一站式推廣平台，供旗下各個品牌的產品作宣傳和推廣。由於用戶可能會將積分兌換成實體活動（如烹飪班），促使用戶前往各延伸品牌的實體店面。用戶能有更多機會去探索煤氣公司的產品和服務，增加延伸品牌的曝光度，有助提升煤氣公司的利潤增長。
• 長遠收益：由於大多數獎賞都是以現金折扣優惠方式提供，根據商品類型的不同，用戶甚至可以以原價一半的價格購買商品。由於 好氣fun 是一個以 Earn & Burn 方式實行的忠誠計劃，即用戶可以使用積分兌換折扣優惠券用作購物，及後，他們又能透過購物賺取積分。如此類推。形成一個消費與換領的購物循環，促使消費者持續消費，長遠而言為煤氣公司帶來更多的收益。
• 享受 O2O 模式的好處：好氣fun 是一個能連接線上線下的 O2O 會員平台，平台除了有助提升客戶對煤氣公司延伸品牌的關註度外，還能增加煤氣公司實體店面的客流量。在線上線下雙管齊下的推廣下，增加用戶對煤氣公司延伸品牌的接觸和參與。