Yearly Recap of 2023: Gearing Up for Platform Release

Another year of building

When the year kicked off, we found ourselves in the very depths of the bear market. We kept our heads down, followed our vision and trusted in the process. The unconditional support we received from you is inspiring, and we are so thankful for that. For us, there was never any doubt - we are going to make this happen, together. Let’s delve into the milestones we achieved and what made them crucial for our long-term success.

Research & testing

By mid-2023, we completed our research and testing phase, ensuring our platform meets diverse industry standards and audience needs. Extensive troubleshooting, testing and market research ensured we now feel confident in achieving this. Drawing insights from a wide range of professionals in e-commerce, marketing, loyalty, and blockchain, we've fine-tuned our software to cater to a broad spectrum of requirements, details of which will be discussed later in this article.

Commercial strategy

As we moved closer to the release of our platform, we explained how we are going to make it a success. Our primary focus is to bring business-to-consumer brands onto our platform. We then empower these brands to invite their fans to their loyalty program in the Crowny App. We will guide them through this process with self-service content and dedicated customer support.

Discover the detailed reasoning behind our commercial strategy in our April Development Update.

"86% of customers say they will remain loyal if onboarding and continuous education are provided" - Userpilot

Target market: B2C brands on Shopify

Our in-depth research directed us to the conclusion to specialize in e-commerce, beginning with Shopify, an industry leader known for innovation akin to ours. Shopify's adoption of Solana Pay and NFT-gating aligns with our platform's capabilities, as well as the needs of Shopify merchants. This combination provides us with a significant opportunity to make a great impact on Shopify’s customer loyalty landscape.

Platform features expansion

In our quest to conquer the Shopify customer loyalty landscape, we made a lot of progress in adding and improving functionalities to enhance platform adoption. 

Automated Program Builder for Shopify
This year, we implemented an innovative Automated Program Builder for Shopify brands. It’s a game-changer that swiftly scrapes branding assets from Shopify stores, enabling merchants to instantly launch branded loyalty programs right after account creation. This tool represents a leap in simplifying loyalty program deployment, making it virtually effortless for Shopify merchants.

“74% of potential customers will switch to other solutions if the onboarding process is complicated” - Userpilot

Effective member acquisition tools
Adding to this, we've integrated a module of features to help Shopify merchants effectively engage their community. One of the standout features of this module allows for automated post-purchase emails, inviting customers to join the brand’s loyalty program and claim rewards in the Crowny App immediately after purchasing an item. This seamless integration boosts user onboarding effectiveness and ensures the onboarding of a highly relevant audience for our brands.

Compressed NFTs
We also incorporated compressed NFT technology, powered by Solana, into our software. Within our platform, we leverage cNFTs in various ways. Examples of how we use cNFTs are with loyalty cards and loyalty promotions. Without getting into too much detail, it is a brand new feature of the Solana blockchain that launched as recently as 2023. The main benefit for us is that it drastically reduces operational costs, significantly boosting the ROI of our platform. 

“Compressed NFTs can cut minting costs by up to 99.9% compared to conventional NFTs” - Magic Eden

We are incredibly excited to be among the first in the industry to leverage this tech for one of web3’s most prominent use cases: revolutionizing customer loyalty. 

Revised subscription model

These significant enhancements to our platform positively influence its profitability, necessitating an evolution in our pricing model. Simultaneously with optimizing our pricing model, we included several clever mechanisms to reduce transaction frequency with our clients, while also protecting them from potential volatility in the value of the $CRWNY token. This is incredibly important since we intend to offer our software using monthly subscriptions only, therefore allowing our clients to make their profits more predictable. 

Gaining momentum 

Coverage of key aspects of our concept by industry leaders not only raises awareness for us but also reinforces the validity of our vision. The milestones achieved in relevant sectors this year have boosted our confidence and confirmed that we are indeed on the right track.

August: Shopify & Solana Pay
Since we’re building our web3 loyalty platform on Solana, and for Shopify, it will hardly get more relevant than this. Within Shopify’s Solana Pay partnership announcement, they recognize the demand for a loyalty solution that makes web3 innovations easily accessible. They are counting on their ecosystem of projects to deliver, that's where Crowny comes into play! 

September: Visa & Solana
Visa, responsible for 40% of global transactions, recognizes the potential of digital currency for a globally accessible payment infrastructure with Visa’s USDC pilot on Solana. While they already boast impressive transaction capabilities, Visa chose Solana as the best blockchain to improve their performance. It’s a massive compliment to Solana and a great reward for their hard work. For Crowny, it opens up exciting opportunities and validates our vision and expertise.

“It's still early days, but Visa has already settled millions of dollars of USDC over the Ethereum and Solana blockchains between our clients" - Cuy Sheffield, Head of Crypto at Visa

November: Breakpoint
Back when we started building, in 2021, less than 10 projects were on Solana. Now there are hundreds. This year, we got to enjoy Solana’s flagship event in our backyard: Amsterdam. Since we tested our beta app at Breakpoint 2021 in Lisbon, this event represents great sentimental value to us. We’ve seen nothing but growth in the ecosystem since then! In celebration of the event, we decided to share why revolutionizing customer loyalty is only possible on Solana. 

December: Shopify breaking records
Shopify's record of $9.3 billion in sales during Black Friday-Cyber Monday, with 61 million global consumers and peaks of $4.2 million per minute, underscores the significant opportunity for Crowny to integrate our loyalty solutions in this rapidly expanding e-commerce market.

Influencer mentions
Additionally, the buzz around $CRWNY amplifies as more influencers mention our project on social media, further validating our project’s potential and attracting attention to our innovative approach. Discover some exciting mentions below:

• 🐶 Crypto Dog’s post on X

• 📈 Devchart’s post on X

• 🅰️ Ace’s post on X

• ❄️ Wist’s post on X

To top it all off, we also got featured prominently in an article titled "Solana Ecosystem Projects for Exploration in 2024". Be sure to give it a quick read!

And more…
These were some of the most relevant and impactful events for Crowny this year, but so much more has happened. We’ve seen a great number of industry giants embrace the potential of web3 for revolutionizing customer loyalty. Mainstream companies like Forbes, Deloitte, Boston Consultancy Group (BCG) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) shared their take. No project has truly taken the crown to fill this increasing interest in web3 loyalty yet, we feel it’s only a matter of time. 

$CRWNY - ups and downs, but mainly ups!

Growing momentum and demand for our solution affected the price of our token as well. As anticipation for our upcoming release grew, we saw the value of $CRWNY improving. It's an indicator of our upcoming release's potential impact, highlighting a bright and promising future for Crowny in revolutionizing loyalty. 

Congratulations to you all! We can’t wait until we can add a significant organic layer of sustainable demand to our token once our platform is up and running. As we described in our recent article about $CRWNY: “Increasing demand for the Crowny Platform will have a significant impact on the demand for the $CRWNY token”.

App submissions to Google Play, Apple App Store and Shopify

This year, we hit a major milestone: we submitted our apps to the Google Play Store, Apple App Store, and Shopify. We know you would all like to know the exact date of our app release. Before you look up what the average time to review an app is, make sure to take into consideration the nature of our platform (payments, crypto etc.) and the fact that we await approval from 3 different external parties. Approval is expected to take longer than average. Keep an eye on our announcements to be among the first to know when we will release. 

Partnering with The Crypto Dog & Chris Jackson’s Betterbrand

We announced our first major e-commerce partnership! Partnering with Betterbrand, a fast-growing e-commerce company co-founded by Dr. Chris Jackson and The Crypto Dog, marks a significant milestone for us.

Beyond their strong online presence on Shopify, Betterbrand is set to expand into 5800 stores across the USA. We are thankful for the confidence these guys have in our capabilities and can’t wait to start! 

Discover Crypto Dog’s Crowny x Betterbrand announcement on X.

Prospects for 2024

As we wrap up an eventful year, the prospects for Crowny in 2024 are nothing short of exciting. It’s set to be our most impactful year yet, here are some of the prospects to keep in mind. 

Platform release
Our journey into 2024 kicks off with the much-anticipated release of our platform on Google Play, Apple App Store, and Shopify. This pivotal move marks our entry into a broader market, allowing users across various devices and platforms to access our innovative loyalty solutions. 

Boosting customer loyalty with Betterbrand
A key focus will be our partnership with Betterbrand. As they expand their presence in over 5800 stores nationwide, our platform will play a crucial role in boosting customer loyalty. 

Sustainable utility for $CRWNY
The year 2024 will also be significant for our native token, $CRWNY. We’re dedicated to ensuring that $CRWNY gets sustainable, platform-driven utility. This means continuously developing and adapting our platform to enhance the token's applicability, ensuring it remains a vital part of our ecosystem and offers significant added value to our users and partners.

Strategic partnerships
We will be strengthening existing alliances and forming new ones with key industry players within the realms of e-commerce, blockchain and customer loyalty. These collaborations are set to boost our platform's reach and capabilities.

Marketing and sales campaigns
Finally, a major thrust for the year will be our marketing and sales campaigns. Once our platform is released, scaling up our marketing and sales efforts makes logical sense to enhance the growth of our company. We have been gearing up to convert a higher number of e-commerce leads into customers, and can’t wait to kick it off.

Each of these milestones is interconnected, forming a comprehensive strategy for growth and impact. With these plans in motion, Crowny is poised to make massive waves in 2024.

Thanks for reading.

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