Extending Circle Rewards: Village Market's Loyalty Program

Overview

Village Market runs Circle Rewards, a loyalty program serving the mall's customers, tenants, and internal management team. Built on a third-party platform, it had meaningful gaps around tenant communication, reporting, and integrations with other operational systems. Innovative Tech Labs was brought in to identify and close those gaps over a year-long partnership.

Client Context

Village Market is one of Nairobi's most established retail destinations. Circle Rewards is their customer loyalty program, serving shoppers, tenants, and an internal management team. The program was built on a third-party platform that gave a solid foundation but needed targeted extensions to meet the full scope of operational needs.

The Problem

The third-party loyalty platform left several operational needs unmet: tenants had limited access to the data and notifications they needed to manage their participation effectively, leading to frequent inbound requests; the loyalty management team lacked structured dashboards to monitor program performance; and there was no connection between the loyalty program and the mall's parking system — leaving customers unable to use points for one of the most valued benefits.

Our Solution

Rather than replacing the third-party platform, Innovative Tech Labs built targeted enhancements alongside it. These included custom reporting dashboards giving the management team real-time visibility into program performance, a dedicated tenant management layer with automated email notifications, and a live integration with the mall's third-party parking system enabling customers to redeem loyalty points at the parking gate.

Implementation

The engagement operates as an ongoing partnership rather than a fixed-scope project. Innovative Tech Labs works closely with the Circle Rewards management team to identify friction points, then designs and builds solutions to address them. Features are scoped and delivered as needs emerge. Built on React (frontend) and Python (backend), with integrations into the third-party loyalty platform, parking system, and email notification system for tenant reports and alerts.

Impact

Tenant requests and complaints have been significantly reduced through self-service access and proactive automated notifications. The loyalty management team can now make data-driven decisions using structured, real-time reporting. Customers can pay for parking with their loyalty points — one of the most tangible and frequently used benefits in the program. The overall program operates more cohesively, with the custom-built layer extending the third-party platform rather than working around it.

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