Meet DFI Retail Group: Finalists for Technological Impact of the Year and Diversity and Inclusion Champion of the Year in Our Annual Business Awards

What's made them Finalists

With a diversity and inclusion strategy that considers employee wellbeing, female inclusivity and accountability of leadership to undertake conscious inclusion training, DFI Retail, in partnership with minden.ai, a tech venture founded by Temasek, effectively utilised technology to build a creative solution that addressed a community gap in Singapore's consumer market.

Bridging a Market Gap in the Community

Results from a commissioned study by minden.ai conducted by research agency 2CV, carried out amongst 1,000 respondents in Singapore in late August 2022 reflected that three in four Singaporeans were worried about the current economic climate – especially among millennials and Gen X respondents. To save money, 60% of Singaporeans responded that they were increasingly looking to join rewards programmes.

An overwhelming number (86%) of Singaporeans also stated that they preferred rewards programmes that are easy to use and feature familiar brands with two in three Singaporeans wanting to redeem points on everyday spending. DFI Retail Group recognised that the fragmentation amidst the over 400 loyalty programmes in the Singapore market was causing a challenge for brands to create meaningful connections with consumers, and for consumers to effectively redeem their rewards.

Unifying and Simplifying Rewards

To address this issue, they launched yuu Rewards Club, a brand coalition loyalty programme, providing users with a single currency to earn points and enjoy offers and rewards across more than 15 beloved household brands in Singapore, including Cold Storage, CS Fresh, Giant, Guardian Health & Beauty, 7-Eleven, BreadTalk, Toast Box, Butter Bean, Food Junction, Food Republic, Food Opera, Thye Moh Chan, Mandai Wildlife Reserve (which includes the Singapore Zoo, River Wonders, Night Safari and Jurong Bird Park), and Singtel.

yuu’s unique concept of a coalition loyalty programme offers consumers greater convenience and flexibility, as they will be able to earn points and accumulate them at a faster pace from a wide network of yuu partner brands. Consumers then have the freedom to redeem money-saving deals, offers and rewards across the same network.

The results of the innovation are as follows, successfully becoming the top brand in the loyalty programme category:

Achieved 80% awareness, highest in the loyalty programme category, beaten Link which is a programme in the market for 10+ years
Acquired one million members in 100 days
93% of survey respondents stated that they liked the yuu app
93% stated that they would reccommed yuu to family and friends
Top app in Apple App store in on week and Google Play Store in 3 weeks in Free App Category and Lifestyle Category

Employee Wellbeing and Female Inclusivity

To aid employee wellbeing and build a caring, agile culture DFI Retail Group have introduced a new flexible working arrangement with the intention to support a better work-life balance that allows them to continue improving their business with limited impact. Feedback from an employee survey conducted by the organisation in 2022 showed encouraging results, with 90% of team members observing an improvement in well-being and engagement levels. Team members have the option to spend one day per week working remotely

Through the creation of their DFI Women's Network in 2022, they have provided team members with opportunities to build a connected network and community across DFI. This enables teams to share experiences, to hear from others across markets and geographies and to identify initiatives that can help continue to build a diverse and inclusive workplace culture.

Part of their diversity and inclusion strategy also includes Conscious Inclusion Training that is currently in progress for 2600 team members. Designed to help team members build more inclusive workplace with a goal to increase awareness and understanding of diversity, equity and inclusion issues, providing participants with tools and strategies to promote more inclusive behaviours. This training has been completed by their leadership team as of April 2023 with the Singapore pilot having b been completed in August 2023.