Dubai teens design rewards system to help students save on electronics

When two senior school students of Dubai were asked to do a project for their internship with an electronics company, they decided to put their heads together and do something beneficial for the student fraternity.

Trisha Agrawal and Masoom Mehta, both students of Gems Modern Academy, conducted a student survey and found out that with the onset of Covid and distance learning, there was a big demand for certain electronic items by students. Conveying it to the retailer they were interning with, the duo designed a student rewards programme titled 'Gen Z' that offers early access, exclusive discounts, loyalty scheme and early access to electronic products. They pitched their project to one of the largest retailers in the UAE during an internship programme and managed to convince its management to embrace it.

Agrawal, who is studying in IB1, said: "This is a very student-centric loyalty programme and the first-of-its-kind that focuses on electronic items for students. We centred it on products students usually use in electronic items – these exclude television or home items (family-oriented products) but only what students need and want. We then discussed the criteria and specifications and the retailer (Emax) designed a list of their products that could be useful for students. These included laptops, headphones, tablets and iPads.”

Talking about how the rewards system would work, Mehta, who studies in Grade 12, said: “There will be an Emax card given to students with a limit of points on it after checking their valid student ID cards. Whenever the students make a purchase at the store, a certain number of points will be added to that card based on the value of the item they bought. Once the student reaches 500 points, he/she will be able to redeem those points for discounts on one of the student-centric electronic items listed by the retailer.”

The reward system, the students said, would reap mutual benefits for both the retailer and the students. “While the students can avail of discounts and buy electronic items for a cheaper price, the retailer will win the Gen Z loyalty, which is the loyalty of the upcoming generations. Therefore, they will have a stronger hold on the market as youngsters are the prime users of electronics,” explained Agrawal.

With the loyalty card, students will also be able to access or pre-order a new model of any of these products selected for them such as – laptops, headphones, tablets and iPads.

Feeling valued after their idea was accepted by Emax, the company they interned with, Agrawal said: "I feel immense pride and satisfaction to witness our vision come to life, especially with supporting retailers to target young students who have a significant impact on the demand of electronic products. The internship was not only a meaningful learning experience, but also gave me a great sense of satisfaction and achievement. I got a deep insight into the importance of targeting a customer base to generate profit for the business by creating a purpose-based campaign, as well as launching surveys for customers’ feedback.”

Lauding the students for their unique project, Mushtaq Ahmed, head – retail and buying, Emax (UAE, Qatar, Oman), said: “The students did an exceptional work with Project Gen Z, as it provides valuable insights into the buying behaviour and expectations from a product of today’s millennial or Gen Z shopper. As per the students' research, in a modern household, when it comes to buying decision of any electronics products, it is the millennial or the Gen Z who provides the needed intelligence to influence the decision and not the parents. The project also has tremendous potential to address the sustainability and CSR agenda, which many of the top tech companies are trying to achieve.”

The students are currently working closely with the senior management team at Emax to implement the project across their stores starting September 2021.