[Interview] Marius Demary, Director, Customer Strategy & Data Impact, DataLab

Behind the success of myKiK

Loyalty reimagined: When KiK and DataLab GmbH, part of The Relevance Group (TRG), launched myKiK in 2022, the goal was to create a loyalty program that truly reflects what KiK stands for: accessibility, value, and genuine customer connection.

Two years later, myKiK has grown into one of Europe’s most successful retail loyalty programs – with more than 15 million members in nine countries – and has just been named “Best Retail Loyalty Program of the Year (Non-Food)” at the European Loyalty Awards 2025.

Behind this success is a close collaboration between KiK and DataLab. Together, they built a program that uses customer knowledge to make communication more personal and relevant across every channel and touchpoint.

We spoke with Marius Demary, Director Customer Strategy & Data Impact at DataLab, about the story behind myKiK, the importance of customer relevance, and the future of loyalty in an increasingly data-driven world.

First of all, congratulations on winning the “Best Retail Loyalty Program of the Year (Non-Food)” at the European Loyalty Awards. That’s a remarkable achievement. What does this recognition mean to you and your team at DataLab?

This award is a huge recognition of the dedication and hard work we've invested in myKiK alongside the KiK team. More importantly, it validates our fundamental approach: that being a trusted, end-to-end partner for all matters relating to customer loyalty is the right strategy for the future.

Our clients value this, and now, by winning this award together with KiK, we've received external affirmation for our flexibility and strong partnership-based approach. As part of The Relevance Group, we are more flexible than ever, enabling us to support the full value chain of data-driven marketing and sales through our group partnerships (e.g. optimizing KiK’s app marketing efforts).

For those who may not yet be familiar with it: Can you give us a quick overview of what myKiK is and how it redefined customer loyalty for KiK across multiple countries?

The myKiK loyalty program significantly enhanced the already trusting relationship KiK shares with both their customers and their in-store teams! It has established a strategic engine for multi-country growth, deep customer insight, and digital transformation – all while honoring their core principle: 'Kunde ist König' ('Customer is King').

What makes it truly special is its focus not on spend, but on frequency, convenience, and personalization. Key features that make it stand out include:

Free membership with cross-channel communication.

Personalized trigger campaigns, ranging from purchase-based upselling to location-specific reactivation.

Convenience-focused services like receipt-free returns and product reservation.

A dual system featuring both an app and a physical card.

Sebastian Hense, Area Manager Marketing & CRM, KiK Textilien und Non-Food GmbH: “KiK, even as a discount retailer, has recognized that traditional mass media communication is no longer sufficient to efficiently ensure customer activation and retention. Developing a loyalty tool like myKiK was a logical step, tailored to our situation and customers, yet delivering immediate positive results. We are one of the few programs that rewards customer frequency rather than sales volume, and we’ve integrated gamification elements that reflect both market trends and our customers’ needs.

The jury emphasized that myKiK goes “beyond discounts and rewards”. The program marked the start of structured customer data use at KiK and the results speak for themselves: 15 million members across nine countries, increased shopping frequency, higher basket value. How did DataLab help turn customer data into more relevant experiences and stronger relationships, and what role does personalization play in this success?

The unique approach and loyalty strategy of myKiK highlight the most crucial proposition for any loyalty program: it must be tailored to your customers' genuine needs and desires, while simultaneously generating a measurable business impact.

We helped KiK unlock value for both the customer and the business by delivering a tailored loyalty IT platform that not only meets KiK’s specific business needs but is also affordable within a fashion discounter's margin structure. Enabled by our tech stack, the KiK team was empowered to fully leverage customer data and personalization through myKiK. As the impressive results show, the impact has been beyond incredible!

Such a transformation doesn’t happen in isolation. What made the collaboration between KiK and DataLab so effective and what can other retailers learn from your approach to building data-driven loyalty programs?

The main reason for this effectiveness was mutual trust. When we began our collaboration, Sebastian Hense and his team at KiK had already crafted an outstanding loyalty proposition that was a perfect fit for their customer strategy. They needed a fulfillment enabler capable of meeting KiK's ambitious time-to-market expectations.

They trusted us to build the platform within six months – and we delivered. This rapid success, which included directly generating proven business impact, would have been impossible without that trusting relationship and close, foundational collaboration. (It’s worth noting this speed was also recognized when we won Best Launch of the Year at the International Loyalty Awards 2023.)

In my opinion, there is one main takeaway for other retailers: Be absolutely clear on your loyalty proposition and the specific business impact you aim to generate. You must truly understand what drives your customer's engagement and love for your brand. Prove that customer knowledge with data and become the internal go-to-department for everything related to your customers. When you combine that clarity with an outstanding, brand-fitted, and transparent loyalty mechanic, your customer will be fully engaged and delighted!

Sebastian Hense: “From the very start, we had a clear, binding implementation concept. Everyone knew exactly what had to be developed and which use cases mattered. With limited resources, we could focus entirely on execution. Having an experienced and flexible partner like DataLab at our side was incredibly important, especially since loyalty was a completely new topic for KiK.”

The European Loyalty Awards clearly showed that loyalty today is about creating experiences, not just collecting points. How do you see the future of loyalty evolving and what role does DataLab, as part of The Relevance Group, play in shaping this next era of customer relevance?

In the current economy, where we are observing a significant shift from a focus purely on growth to one on profitability, we strongly believe loyalty will fulfill its full potential as a data-driven profit engine. We at DataLab see customer loyalty as a true profit center, but only when it is done right. This requires management commitment, a foundation of clear, measurable business goals, and an honest focus on creating a WIN-WIN-situation for both the company and its customers. Loyalty can only thrive if you align your business goals with your customers’ genuine needs and desires.

Like any strong relationship, it’s all about giving and taking on both sides. DataLab acts as the enabler for these efforts, supporting our clients wherever they need us. By its very nature, customer loyalty must be data-driven and constantly aim to create customer relevance, because without relevance, there can be no WIN-situation for the customer.

Ultimately, what is more relevant than a WIN-WIN-situation where everyone is happy?

www.datalab-crm.de

www.therelevance.group

www.kik.de

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