Experience More with Less (Fave)

In an era where consumers are becoming more discreet, it is getting harder for merchants to get customers to their doorsteps. Moreover, with the plethora of options available for consumers to choose from, merchants have to find a solution that is not only able to bring in new customers but also keep them coming back as well. With this problem faced by merchants, Fave has come into the picture to solve it and things seem to be working quite well.

For those of you who might not know, Fave was initially known as Groupon which was the group-buying website that allows you to buy a product or service at discounted prices if a certain number of orders was made. This novelty idea started in the US and exploded worldwide. However, due to the changing landscape of the way consumers spend, this business model was beginning to wear off. To counter this issue, Fave made huge changes to the business model and personally, I think it is working for them. To find out more, you can click here to read about it from Vulcan Post.

Fave makes it easy for both consumers and merchants to use its platform and these are the features that they offer.


1. No Pre-Order Required

In the past, there needs to be a minimum quantity purchased before the deal is considered successful and consumers are given the product or service to enjoy. A countdown timer is implemented so that if by the time the timer runs out, consumers will know by then whether the deal goes through or not. However, as many consumers now desire for instant gratifications, they would like to be able to redeem the deal asap. And this is what Fave has done which enabled many consumers including me to enjoy the benefits of the deal instantly. I can simply purchase the deal and redeem it at the shop immediately if it does not require reservation. How convenient is that!

2. Paperless Redemption

Gone are the days where after buying the deals, you have to print out the voucher and give it to the store to enjoy the deal. Fave has done a splendid job of going with paperless redemption simply by having one to use the Fave mobile app. All that one needs to do at the store is to click on the deal that you have purchased in the Fave app, swipe to redeem and present the code to the cashier. It is that simple as I used it last week when I was out with my colleague for lunch. Attached is my receipt below. If you look closely, I have circled the area that shows the Fave voucher used for redemption.

Below is a flowchart that I drew on how the process of paperless redemption works based on my own interpretation and understanding.

From the flowchart, I assume it to be quite a simple process. I was also told that the cashier will be given a phone by Fave to receive notifications if a user swipe to redeem the e-voucher. 

3. Using Favepay to enjoy discounts and cashback

Besides allowing consumers to pre-purchase the deal, Fave also introduced Favepay to allow consumers to pay for their purchases with the Fave app on the spot. This is actually quite similar to using the Dash app or Alipay to make payment. Instead of having counter code that Dash app is designed for, one simply uses Favepay to scan the Fave QR code at the cashier and input the purchase amount to pay. One can even input promo code to enjoy discounts and cashback is also given. Initially, I mentioned that Fave helps the merchant to have returning customers. With the cashback earned from using Favepay, this cashback can only be used back at the same store which you earned the cashback from. Hence this cashback earned from the store would incentivize consumers to return to the same store to enjoy the cashback earned from the previous visit. It is actually quite an ingenious idea to do it this way since consumers cannot transfer the cashback earned from one store and use it on another store.

4. Geo-location to localized deals

With time being a constraint to everyone, it is important to know where is the nearest place for you to get the best deals. And Fave has made it easy for consumers to do so by having a "Nearby" tab on the app. If you are hungry for food, simply click on the "Nearby" tab to find out which restaurants or outlets are having deals at the moment near to you. 

5. Refundable Deals

Imagine you bought a deal on Fave and due to unforeseen circumstances, you are unable to go ahead with redeeming the deal. This is often the reason why many people are afraid of pre-paying since they are concerned of scenarios that result in them not being able to enjoy the deal. To overcome this issue, Fave has implemented this cancellation policy that allows you to request a refund within 7 days of purchase. The caveat is that the refund is given back as Fave credits rather than cash. This makes it easier for Fave backend and finance department since doing cash refund involves alot of work.

6. Shopping Hack

This is something that came to my mind while writing this blog post and talking with my friends after church today. It may work although there are pre-requisites involved. The common strategy when people buy at stores is to use a credit card to enjoy the cashback/miles/points. But instead of enjoying just 1 tier of benefits, what if I told you that there is a way to stack the benefits to achieve maximum savings. And not just stacking 2, 3 or 4 but 5 benefits together! See below for this 5-tier rewards.

In order to enjoy this 5-tier rewards, below are the pre-requisites.

1. User is member of Fave, Plus!, Shopback, Capitastar and has credit card.
2. Deal on Fave can be redeemed in Capitamall Shopping Centres such as Bugis+ or Plaza Singapura
3. User clicks through ShopBack to buy Fave Deals and earn cashback
4. Promo code is used to purchase Fave Deals for greater savings
5. Credit Card is used to purchase the Fave deal to earn credit card rewards
6. Merchant is Plus! Partner to earn LinkPoints
7. Receipt is provided by merchant which one scans the receipt for Capitastar Points

With all the stars aligned, you should be able to enjoy this 5-tier rewards! Let me know if anyone of you has tried this strategy so far. Will be keen to know if it works for you. 

Fave is definitely a leader in the space for online deals in Singapore. However, to grow the company to the next level, I am sure that they will be moving towards the battlefield for cashless payment with FavePay and competing against GrabPay, AirPay, OCBC's Pay Anyone, DBS Paylah and NETSPay. Just want to say Kudos to the people at Fave for putting customers first and I believe they will go far with the right people and business model. If you have not used Fave, do click here to sign up via my referral link and get $5 off your first purchase.

Would you be keen to use "Fave"? Go ahead to comment about it and don't forget to subscribe via email or like our Facebook page for the latest updates!