MakeMyTrip's revamped loyalty schemes show strong growth

NEW DELHI: India's largest travel portal MakeMyTrip reported strong numbers for its revamped subscription-based loyalty programmes introduced in the last quarter, reflecting decreasing reliance on discounts for repeat business and more recommendations for its services.

In the past three months, the firm has seen 73,000 and 16,000 registrations for MMT Black and MMT Double Black respectively. The renewed focus on the by-invitation-only loyalty programmes has helped MakeMyTrip go beyond discounts to improve repeat rates and shore up NPS (Net Promoter Score), a measure of customers' willingness to recommend a company's products.

Loyalty programmes are seeing a revival at ecommerce companies. Amazon says that the Prime programme launched last year is a success, with a third of Amazon's India active customers using it. Flipkart is reportedly planning to relaunch its loyalty programme, Flipkart First, to compete with Amazon. Food delivery companies such as Zomato have also launched similar plans.

"While discounts play a role in trial and inducement, well-formulated programmes that deliver value to customers will drive repeat purchases," said Saujanya Shrivastava, chief marketing officer, MakeMyTrip. The company launched both the invite-only programmes in August this year.