AI-Assisted Ecommerce Solution Wins Third Place at SupremeTech AI Hackathon 2025

How Team Người Việc Won SupremeTech’s AI Hackathon 2025 with AI-Assisted Development and Agile Thinking

24 hours. 10 teams. Countless lines of code. One team claimed the spotlight and took half of the 100 million VND prize pool. SupremeTech’s first-ever AI Hackathon was more than just a competition, it was a test of endurance, creativity, and teamwork. For one intense day and night, our participants pushed the limits of AI-assisted development, turning raw ideas into functioning prototypes under extreme time pressure. Among them, three teams rose above the rest. Their solutions not only showcased strong technical execution but also revealed how AI hackathon use cases can bring real business value in areas such as customer experience, automation, and data-driven decision-making. These top three use cases highlight the future potential of AI and the passion of SupremeTech’s people to turn vision into reality. Brought home the Top Prize - Team Người Việc stood out for their sharp strategy and teamwork. Their winning project solved a familiar yet complex issue in the tourism industry: managing group travel efficiently while ensuring every participant enjoys a seamless experience. Presented in clear business logic, executed with agile methodology, and powered by AI-assisted development, their solution proved that innovation thrives when technology meets human insight. Introducing the Team: Small but Strong Team Người Việc brought together a crew of four: Hung Dinh, Huy Nguyen, and Dung Nguyen as front-end engineers, and Khanh Nguyen as the business analyst. While other teams had five members, this smaller team turned their size into strength. With Khanh shaping the business logic and user journey, and the three engineers transforming those ideas into a functional product, they created a strong link between business insight and technical execution. Each member brought a distinct perspective: one focused on monetization and business value, another on operational flow, and others on technical quality and user experience. Together, they created a strong team that has both business insight and technical execution. Khanh shared that: “Everyone respected each other’s opinions. We weren’t chasing perfection, we were building something real, something that worked”. The Challenge: Turning Hot and Heavy Topic into Opportunity When the AI Hackathon began, the participating teams didn’t get to choose their challenge. Each team drew a topic randomly from a pool of three, and fate handed team Người Việc a challenge that was both broad and complex: Destination and Experience Management System for Tourism. Instead of seeing it as an obstacle, the team saw great potential in this topic: “It’s actually very close to what SupremeTech does,” one member shared. “Tourism and service coordination are among the industries where our clients face similar pain points. If developed further, this could even become a real product for the company”. For most teams, tackling something this wide in just 24 hours would be overwhelming. But for Người Việc, it became the perfect opportunity to combine business logic, agile thinking, and AI-assisted development into a single solution. Dũng, one of the front-end engineers shared: “We didn’t see it as just a travel problem. It’s a coordination problem that every company faces because of too many people, too little time, and too many things to track.” The Idea: Transforming Tourism Coordination with AI Manual planning and coordination often create time-consuming processes, lack of feedback, and fragmented communication across travel agencies, corporate HR departments, and trip participants. To solve this, Người Việc envisioned an end-to-end platform that connects all stakeholders, from travel agencies and corporate planners to event organizers and trip participants.The system enables users to: Create and customize travel itinerariesConnect directly with travel agencies through a marketplace modelTrack schedules via QR codeProvide instant feedback during the trip. In short, it bridges the gap between demand and supply in hospitality, creating a more transparent, interactive, and seamless travel experience. The Process: From Brainstorming to AI-Assisted Development What set Người Việc apart was their strategic mindset before touching a single line of code. Instead of rushing to use AI tools right-away, the team began with a face-to-face brainstorming session, mapping out what a real group trip looks like from start to finish: from planning and agency communication to real-time updates and user feedback. To validate their ideas, they even called friends working in hospitality to understand pain points from the field such as: how agencies handle client requests, where information gets lost, and what travelers actually expect. Only after this discovery phase, the team moved into design and development. They first created clear user stories and workflows on their own, then applied story-based prompting by feeding those stories into ChatGPT and Copilot to generate database schemas, API endpoints, and code snippets. This structured use of AI helped them align technical output with business logic and speed up development. Their approach became a model of how AI-assisted development and agile methodology can complement each other, keeping logic clear while boosting speed. Their mantra throughout the process was simple yet powerful: Think first, then use AI smartly. This mindset kept their workflow focused, turning AI into a productivity multiplier instead of a shortcut, and became a highlight in their AI hackathon journey.Without a QC member, the team stayed flexible and shared responsibilities across roles. Each member could take on multiple tasks when needed, but they still kept a clear structure in how they worked. The PTL and BA stepped in as real users, testing features and giving feedback from a user’s point of view. After defining their user roles and business logic, Team Người Việc translated their ideas into a working prototype. Their platform acts as a bridge between corporate planners and travel agencies, creating a space where requests, itineraries, and feedback flow seamlessly in real time. The system’s core features included: Trip creation and customization: HR or operation teams can build itineraries, adjust timelines, and submit requests tailored to their needs.Agency collaboration: Travel agencies receive those requests, update details, and negotiate directly through the platform, no more back-and-forth emails or lost messages.Participant tracking: Each trip generates a public QR code, allowing members to follow updates, view schedules, and send instant feedback during the journey.Transparency and engagement: The platform closes the communication loop, giving every stakeholder a clearer view of the process. With these key flows completed, the team delivered a functional MVP, a product with clean logic, smooth handoffs between roles, and enough structure to be reused or scaled for other industries. Modern Tech Stack Built for AI-Driven Innovation To bring their concept to life within 24 hours, Team Người Việc designed a tech stack that was modern, lightweight, and AI-friendly. Every layer from frontend to deployment was chosen to balance speed, scalability, and maintainability. Frontend Layer: Fast and Built for Clarity The team developed the user interface using Next.js 15 to handle both page rendering and API routes. Combined with TypeScript, it provided type safety and consistency across all modules, reducing human errors in the rush of development. For styling and components, they used Tailwind CSS and shadcn/ui, which allowed them to quickly create a clean, responsive design without spending time reinventing basic UI elements. Despite the tight schedule, the frontend still delivered a cohesive experience from trip creation to QR-based tracking, proving that with the right stack, agility doesn’t mean sacrificing structure. Backend Layer: Structured Logic and Data Flow Behind the interface, the team used Prisma ORM to manage the database layer. Its schema-first approach, paired with TypeScript integration, helped them maintain data consistency while iterating rapidly. The backend services were also written in Next.js, utilizing server functions to keep everything unified and easy to deploy. This setup gave the team clear control over their data models and allowed them to focus on the business logic, ensuring that trip creation, feedback collection, and participant interactions all flowed smoothly without manual handling. Infrastructure & Deployment: Stability under Pressure To keep their development-to-demo pipeline fast and reliable, Người Việc deployed their system on AWS using Dokploy - a self-hosted CI/CD solution that automates Docker-based deployments. This environment allowed them to push code, test changes, and release updates seamlessly without dependency conflicts. By using Docker containers, they replicated production conditions from the start, ensuring that the MVP remained stable and demo-ready throughout the hackathon. The setup was simple enough for rapid iteration yet robust enough to be scaled for real client use. AI Tools: A Smarter, Not Faster, Way to Build AI played a key role in the team’s workflow but only after the foundation was set.ChatGPT acted as their assistant for ideation and logic design, helping refine user stories, define acceptance criteria, and clarify user flows. Meanwhile, GitHub Copilot served as their pair programmer, generating clean snippets, suggesting improvements, and handling repetitive coding tasks. Instead of using AI as a shortcut, Người Việc used it as an accelerator by integrating it at the right moments to enhance productivity while keeping control of direction and logic. >>> Read more related articles: AI-Assisted Ecommerce Solution Wins Third Place at SupremeTech AI Hackathon 2025How Human Intelligence and AI Capabilities Can Redefine Software Development | Featuring The 1st Runner-Up of SupremeTech AI Hackathon 2025 Judges’ Feedbacks Business Perspective From a business perspective, the judges saw Team Người Việc as a perfect example of practicality and vision. Their solution showed how AI-driven development can address real client needs, especially in industries like travel and hospitality. However, the judges also provided constructive feedback for future improvement. While the idea covered a broad scope from sales to operations, they suggested narrowing the focus to one specific stage in the travel management cycle. By doing so, the solution could achieve higher feasibility and faster adoption in real-world scenarios. The judges also encouraged documenting the team’s AI-assisted project management workflow as a reference for future AI hackathon journeys within SupremeTech. The final presentation showcased all the best qualities of their teamwork. The judges highlighted Người Việc’s clear storytelling, strong time management, and smooth demo delivery that effectively illustrated how their system worked. The team’s confident, structured presentation left a lasting impression and perfectly captured the spirit of SupremeTech’s AI Hackathon. Technical and Engineering Perspective From a technical point of view, the judges recognized Người Việc as a team that combined strong engineering skill with thoughtful use of modern tools. They developed their product on a well-defined code base with clear development standards, following a structured flow from analysis and design to implementation, which is remarkable under the time pressure of a 24-hour hackathon. The highlight of their approach was the story-based prompting technique, which kept the project’s logic coherent from start to finish. By crafting prompts around user stories rather than isolated tasks, the team ensured that every AI-generated piece of code served a real business purpose. This balance between automation and human reasoning became one of the defining features of their success. Teamwork: Staying Calm When Things Went Wrong No hackathon story is complete without chaos and Người Việc had their moment too. Just before the final presentation, disaster happened: the team’s slide suddenly became inaccessible because their shared drive was locked by the judges. With only minutes left, they borrowed a laptop, rebuilt the slides from scratch, and walked onto the stage calm and composed delivering a confident demo that looked effortless to the audience. The team recalled “After 22 hours of coding, what stayed with us wasn’t exhaustion. It was that moment when everyone looked at each other and said: We'll make it work, no matter what.” Voices from the Winners For Team Người Việc, winning the hackathon was not just about the prize, it was about learning how humans and AI can truly collaborate. Reflecting on the experience, Dũng shared: “We realized that AI isn’t just a tool, it’s a real teammate, if you know how to ‘talk’ to it. Each team used AI differently: some for brainstorming, some for UI design, others for presentation. But the prompts we gave were never the same, and that’s why the results were so different. AI only shows its real power when people know how to guide it.” As winners, the team also offered advice for those who will join future hackathons: “Prepare everything you can beforehand: boilerplate code, deployment setup, tools, and your fighting spirit. Once the event starts, every minute counts. And above all, trust your team” Conclusion Team Người Việc proved that real innovation is not only about technology, but about people working together with purpose. By combining business insight, teamwork, and the smart use of AI, they turned a difficult 24-hour challenge into a real achievement. For SupremeTech, this victory is more than just a competition result. It’s a reminder that the future of development starts with clear thinking, strong teamwork, and the courage to explore new ways of building with AI. Appendix: 1. How the Team Applied AI Throughout the Project StageApproachAI Application/ Tools UsedAnalysis & DesignThe whole team brainstormed together, role-playing as real users to map out workflows and features.No AI used — this was the most human-driven stage focused on critical thinking.User Story writingConverted rough ideas into logical workflows, defined goals, and acceptance criteria.ChatGPT acted as a virtual BA, turning brainstorm notes into professional User Stories and Acceptance Criteria.Coding (User Story Based)Developers implemented each User Story while communicating directly with the AI assistant for suggestions and refactoring.GitHub Copilot served as a coding partner, reading stories, suggesting code, refining syntax, and accelerating implementation.Testing & ReleaseThe PTL and BA acted as real users to test the product, identify bugs, and refine the UX before release.No AI used — manual testing for real-user validation. 2. Team Tech Stack LayerTech StackFrontend & Backend (Fullstack)Next.js 15 (App Router)UI Libraryshadcn/ui + TailwindCSSAI AssistantChatGPT + GitHub CopilotInfra / DeployAWS + Dokploy 📩 Read more articles about us here: SupremeTech’s Blog

How Human Intelligence and AI Capabilities Can Redefine Software Development | Featuring The 1st Runner-Up of SupremeTech AI Hackathon 2025

After 2 weeks of thorough assessment, our judges have officially announced the top threes of SupremeTech AI Hackathon 2025. In a final scoreboard where the results were incredibly close, GenSync impressively secured the first runner-up position, missing the crown by just half a point. Their success didn’t come by chance. It was the product of sharp preparation, savvy use of AI, and teamwork that ran like clockwork. GenSync perfectly embodies how human intelligence and strategic thinking, when combined with effective AI application, can create exceptional outcomes.  That’s the same winning formula SupremeTech is bringing to life: Building AI-assisted solutions that elevate performance and cut costs without cutting corners. Let’s take a look back at what made GenSync stand out, and how about trying to apply AI the way they did to build a truly working MVP in just 22 hours. For details about the solutions, tech stack and highlighted prompts, scroll down to the Appendix section. Prepare a Strong Foundation Before the Starting Line  Right after registering for the Hackathon, this crew was already architecting the workflow and put into practice the whole process. GenSyncs is no doubt the most well-prepared team in this hackathon.  They treated preparation like a mini hackathon of its own, consolidating in just two intensive planning sessions: Session one: Roles were assigned to make sure that each member knew exactly which hat to wear: Backend, Frontend, Mobile, BA, QC, Scrum Master. The smart move was to utilize the Agile Development Project Life Cycle and craft it into a mini version that runs smoothly in 22 hours. We will dive deeper into this point in the next section. Session two: The team dove into the fun part: prompt experimentation. They exchanged prompt-crafting know-how like secret recipes and tested which AI models played best with their ideas. Trial runs with mock challenges helped them fine-tune the prompts to generate the satisfied output. By the end, they’d not only aligned as a team but had built what can be called “a structured prompt playbook”. “We treated AI as part of the team, not just a tool. For the “master” prompt that generates system design, I tested the prompt myself based on past experiences to come up with the most efficient prompt. If you took the prompt from somewhere on the Internet without curating it, it may never work the way you want”Tuan Mai - Technical Leader of the team AI-Assisted, 22-hour Mini Version of the Agile Development Project Life Cycle As said, one of the smart moves of GenSync is to utilize Agile Development Project Life Cycle as a skeleton of their hackathon strategy. By applying selectively the framework, GenSync achieved harmonized, well-managed project management. Members collaborated smoothly with each other like a rhythm because everyone is already familiar with Agile in their daily work.  They simply empower Agile with several AI co-pilots, namely GPT-5, Claude 4.0 and Github Copilot.   The team broke the challenge into sprints just like any other project. But instead of endless spreadsheets, they let prompts do the heavy lifting: Sprint 1: Ideation. GPT-5 and Deep Search acted as their research department, scanning the latest tourism tech trends and helping the team shape their concept in record time. Then came the human touch: the team weighed every AI suggestion against their own experience across backend, frontend, and mobile development to come up with the final concept file. It acts as the North Star of their project.Sprint 2: Design. Claude 4.0 turned those ideas into tangible structures. From architecture diagrams to data flow logic, every detail was auto-documented and formatted with machine precision. The team even used prompts to list and prioritize screens according to business objectives.  Sprint 3: Implementation. Using GPT-5, Copilot, and Claude Sonnet, they created a complete work lifecycle. GPT-5 helped write guidance files for Copilot, defining logic structures, and coding styles.Copilot followed screen flows in the master design to code while developers focused on creative logic.Claude Sonnet handled documentation and integration.Sprint 4: Review & Testing. Code was co-reviewed by robots and humans. Copilot and GPT-4 took the first pass, while Claude Sonnet and the QC member ran automated API testing, BA handled UI tests to ensure the demo ran beautifully.  In short, they built a collaboration model with AI. Humans provided direction, AI delivered results, then humans curated the results and instructed AI to improve. Most importantly, the system design and master concept serve as the guiding compass for aligning every feature’s design, ensuring that all functionalities stay true to the product’s overall goal. A Hackathon Experience that Changes the Perspectives of Development Team For Good When asked about what they bring home after the hackathon, Quỳnh Anh, the Business Analyst, shared: “We aim for the trophy, but 1st runner-up place is not bad (haha). Most importantly, this Hackathon completely altered my perspectives towards using AI at work. Now I can use AI as an agent to help analyze and process business requirements”. Quỳnh Anh - Business Analyst Vũ Nguyễn looked back at the journey from a different angle: “Joining the hackathon helped me gain a deeper understanding of the roles of other specialized teams in a project and how to leverage AI to build a product from scratch. After the competition, I even built my own website to support QC certification exams with AI. I used the very same prompts our team created during the hackathon. The journey was truly a blast. The leftovers are memories and invaluable experiences.”Vũ Nguyễn - Scrum Master, QC and Team Leader GenSync currently holds the record as the team with the most code written in the hackathon, boasting over 100,000 lines of code. Final Words We are glad that our first AI hackathon turns out to be exactly what it’s designed to be, a laboratory for the future of teamwork, creativity, and intelligent development.  At the end of the day, is AI stealing jobs from software developers? After hosting an internal AI hackathon and witnessing the performance of our engineers, we SupremeTech seem to have an answer for ourselves. Artificial intelligence definitely cannot replace the creativity and sophistication in human minds. And those are among the driving forces of a product’s success. If well managed, however, AI will create an unprecedented advantage in terms of speed and implementation capabilities for those who act first. Follow us to get more insights about how to utilize AI-assisted development to build products faster and more cost-efficiently. Or simply book a free consultation if you have an idea that you want to make it happen fast.  >>> Read more related articles: SupremeTech’s AI Hackathon 2025: A blend of Product-Focused Spirit and AI-assisted DevelopmentA to Z about SupremeTech’s AI Hackathon 2025: Why We Do It and What to Expect Appendix: Overview of the Product The challenge: Destination and Experience Management System for Tourism In this statement, teams are required to develop a platform that streamlines group trip management. The solution should enable organizers to coordinate transportation, schedules, and interactions in one place, instead of relying on scattered tools like messenger apps.  The solution: MVP mobile apps that allow users to view tour details and interact with other tour members. Admin apps that allow companies in the tourism industry to manage destination and customer experience.  The apps is optimized for group tour management with 6 main features: Tour creation Scan QR code to view tour schedules holistically Realtime chatbot to stay connected with other members in the tourAI chatbot to support search and customer servicePush notifications to keep users updated with new changes in tour scheduleRecommendation engine for tourist attraction suggestions Highlighted Prompts Sprint 1: Ideation: Sprint 2: Design Sprint 4: Review & Testing Team Vu Nguyen Q - Scrum Master, QC and Team LeaderTuan Mai A - Technical LeaderHan Le T S - AI EngineerLong Ngo D Q - FE EngineerAnh Nguyen T Q - Business Analyst Tech Stack Frontend: Next JSBackend: Nest.JS, Open AIMobile: Flutter Infrastructure: AWS, Render Recommendation engine: GorseChatbot & Memorizer: RAG 📩 Read more articles about us here: SupremeTech's Blog

The Story of a Business Analyst – My Journey into The Field

 "You don’t need an IT background to become a Business Analyst — as long as you have passion, perseverance, and a willingness to learn." Hi, I’m Quỳnh Anh, currently working as a Business Analyst (BA) at SupremeTech. If someone had told me a few years ago that “you might end up working in the tech industry,” I probably would’ve laughed and shaken my head — because I studied at the University of Foreign Language Studies – University of Danang, which has nothing to do with IT. And yet, somehow, fate led me to the BA role — something I had never even heard of before, but have now come to truly enjoy and feel connected to every single day. Here’s my “beginner’s journey” — from having zero knowledge to finding my path in the fascinating world of technology. First steps into the IT world Back then, I had no idea what a BA was. I only vaguely knew it was something “related to IT.” Through a friend’s recommendation, I joined a basic training course at a software company to explore the field. That course introduced me to my very first concepts of business processes, programming, databases, and MySQL. Everything felt new — sometimes even overwhelming — but incredibly exciting. Still, when the course ended, one question lingered in my mind: “What does a BA actually do every day? And how are these lessons applied in real projects?” That question stayed with me — until I got the chance to intern at SupremeTech. Internship – Where my Business Analyst journey became clearer Thanks to a collaboration program between SupremeTech and my university, I was accepted as a BA Intern. That became the first turning point that allowed me to truly “touch” the profession. Although I wasn’t directly involved in client projects, every day during my internship opened new doors for me: Learning how to listen and communicate with clients to truly understand their needs.Getting familiar with common Japanese IT terms used in the workplace.Writing clear and concise business documents.And most importantly, understanding how a non-IT person can effectively communicate and collaborate with technical teams. The seniors in my team were always patient, sharing not just knowledge but real project experiences. Thanks to their support, I no longer felt intimidated — instead, I grew more curious and passionate about becoming a BA. Read more articles: When Technology Meets a Pioneering SpiritSparking the Fire, Spreading the Passion From intern to Full-time Business Analyst My internship eventually ended, but my journey with SupremeTech didn’t stop there. With a proactive mindset and eagerness to learn, I was offered a full-time position — and that’s when my real BA journey began. This time, it wasn’t about lessons or training sessions anymore, but about real work: Analyzing business requirements with clients.Writing detailed documentation for developers.Reviewing and validating requirements to ensure the product meets business goals.Communicating constantly in an Agile environment — where things move faster than you expect. Of course, it wasn’t always smooth. There were days I felt overwhelmed, confused by technical discussions, or unsure how to convey ideas clearly to the dev team. But thanks to the solid foundation from my internship and the support of my teammates, I learned to stand firm and keep moving forward. What being a Business Analyst means to me For me, being a Business Analyst is a journey without a finish line — there’s always something new to learn, new people to connect with, and new problems to solve. If you’re curious about this career, my advice is: “Don’t be afraid to start, no matter what background you come from. Keep your curiosity alive and never stop learning — you’ll eventually find your own path.” I’m deeply grateful to SupremeTech for giving me the chance to begin, to make mistakes, to grow, and to become who I am today. And if you’re curious about the BA world, stay tuned for our ‘The Story of a BA’ series — because who knows, you might just see a bit of yourself in the stories to come.

Inside Japan’s Point-Based Loyalty Culture: The Power of Point Networks and the Rise of Custom Programs

In our article The History of Point Culture in Japan and What Businesses Can Learn From It, we got a chance to explore how loyalty programs in Japan evolved from humble stamp cards to mobile-first systems, and how the habit of collecting points became a part of everyday life. This follow-up takes the story further. Today, Japan’s loyalty economy is powered by two major forces. On one side, nationwide networks such as Rakuten, d POINT, and the newly merged T-Point/V-Point dominate at massive scale, influencing where people shop, how they pay, and even how they invest.  On the other, retail giants and luxury brands are increasingly building their own custom loyalty programs to secure financial control, protect their brand identity, and design experiences tailored to their customers. Together, these trends reveal why loyalty in Japan is not just a marketing tactic, but a strategy to shape the future of retail. The Dominance of Major Point Networks When it comes to loyalty points in Japan, the scale is impressive. Some programs have grown so large that they function almost like economies of their own, shaping where people shop, how they pay, and even how they invest. This success is deeply tied to Japanese consumer culture. According to the World Bank, households in Japan collectively hold savings worth more than USD 1.3 trillion. With this cautious mindset, loyalty programs resonate strongly because they speak to the instinct to save, while still delivering the little thrill of getting something “extra” from everyday spending. The numbers highlight just how powerful this model has become. In 2023 alone, Japanese companies issued more than ¥2.65 trillion worth of reward points, a figure that continues to rise. For payment providers and retailers, these points are far more than giveaways. They are strategic tools to lock customers into ecosystems: once you start collecting Rakuten Points or d POINTs, you are more likely to keep shopping, paying, and even investing within that network. In fact, points are even crossing into finance. Rakuten Securities now allows members to use Super Points to buy stocks. For many younger consumers, this lowers the barrier to investing turning spare points from online shopping into their very first financial assets. It’s a clever way to both reward loyalty and build new habits for the future. By 2024, a handful of nationwide programs dominate the loyalty landscape: Rakuten Points (59.3% of consumers), T-Point (48.3%), Ponta (40.5%), d POINT (38.9%), and PayPay Points (38.1%).  One of the most significant shifts came in 2022, when T-Point and V-Point announced a merger, creating one of the largest loyalty networks in Japan. This consolidation was more than just two brands joining forces, it was a sign of how competitive the loyalty market has become. By combining their strengths, the new program ranked among the country’s top five ecosystems, with the scale to challenge even Rakuten and d POINT. For consumers, it meant broader usability of points across more merchants; for businesses, it highlighted the reality that loyalty is no longer optional, but a key battleground for customer engagement. For consumers, this makes everyday life easier. For businesses, it creates pressure: join one of the big networks or risk being left out. Together, these point economies demonstrate how loyalty has evolved from a simple perk into one of the most powerful forces in Japanese retail. Custom Point-Based Loyalty Programs Trend Led by Japan’s Giant Retailers and Luxury Brands Alongside these giant loyalty networks, another trend is emerging: the rise of custom loyalty programs. Retail groups, department stores, and lifestyle brands are increasingly building their own systems instead of joining national coalitions. AEON has expanded WAON Points across its malls and supermarkets, Don Quijote uses its own Majica card, and FamilyMart now pushes FamiPay rather than relying on T-Point. In the department store sector, Isetan Mitsukoshi runs MI Points with VIP tiers, while Daimaru Matsuzakaya offers an app-based membership program that doubles customer spending compared to non-members. Even lifestyle brands are using loyalty to reinforce their identity. MUJI, for example, runs its MUJI Passport app, which rewards shoppers with points for purchases, grants birthday perks, and offers early access to events or new collections. The app integrates seamlessly across MUJI’s online and physical stores, while its clean design reflects MUJI’s minimalist brand philosophy. It shows how custom programs can be more than just a tool for discounts, they can strengthen the relationship between brand and customer by staying true to the company’s values. >>> Read more related articles:  Restaurant Mobile Ordering App: Transform or Lag behind the CompetitionHow Loyalty Apps Can Improve Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) Why Luxury Brands Are Creating Their Own Loyalty Financial Control & Profitability One of the biggest reasons luxury brands and retailers choose to run their own point systems is financial. Large national networks charge brands based on user activity, meaning the more customers use points, the more the brand pays out in fees. On top of that, when points issued by third-party systems expire, the unclaimed value is recognized as profit for the operator of that network, not for the brand. By creating their own loyalty system, brands can keep this financial upside in-house, turning expired points into pure profit and avoiding ongoing external charges. Ownership of Customer Data & Identity When a retailer runs its own loyalty program, it gets direct access to data: what customers buy, when, where, how often. More than that, it can design the “feel” of the loyalty experience, how it looks in the app, what kinds of rewards are offered, and how membership levels are structured. For many brands, preserving this identity is crucial. Customers don’t just want generic points; they want rewards and interactions that feel part of that specific brand’s atmosphere. Customizable Rewards & Campaign Flexibility This is perhaps the most important reason why brands want to have a private system. This gives brands the ability to customize how points are earned and redeemed in line with their marketing strategy. They can run x2 or x3 point multipliers during exclusive campaigns, convert points into vouchers for specific products, or target promotions to selected customer segments. This kind of precision is nearly impossible with third-party networks, where point accrual and redemption rules are standardized. For luxury brands, that flexibility is key, which allows them to design campaigns that not only drive sales but also strengthen their brand story and exclusivity. Financial Comparison: Networks (Coalition) vs. Custom (Own) Loyalty Programs TopicGiant Loyalty NetworksCustom Loyalty AppExpired PointsWhen points expire, the value usually stays with the coalition operator, not the brand.The brand keeps all the value from expired points as pure profit.Market ScaleCoalitions dominate because of large networks (e.g. T-Point, Rakuten). Brands may feel forced to join for reach.Own programs are smaller but allow full value capture and closer customer ties.Customer Data OwnershipLimited: coalition networks keep most customer data, and brands only see summary reports.Full: brand knows exactly who buys, what, when, and where, enabling stronger personalization.Profit ImpactSome profits are lost to fees and expired points that go to the coalition.All upside stays with the brand, improving long-term profit. Challenges of Building Custom Loyalty App Of course, building a custom loyalty program is not without trade-offs. Unlike joining a nationwide network, brands must shoulder the responsibility themselves. That means investing in the right technology, maintaining a seamless user experience across online and offline channels, ensuring data security, managing the costs of rewards, and keeping members engaged through ongoing campaigns. This is where the right technology partner makes all the difference. At SupremeTech, we’ve worked with Japanese retailers and service providers to design loyalty ecosystems that are both scalable and brand-authentic. From integrating mobile wallets and e-commerce platforms to building real-time data pipelines that unify customer behavior, our teams help brands modernize without losing their unique identity. A good example is where we developed a custom Shopify app to streamline our client loyalty data pipeline across offline POS, e-commerce, and mobile. By connecting these touchpoints, the client could finally unlock a “single source of truth” about customer engagement enabling smarter campaigns, cleaner data, and ultimately stronger loyalty outcomes. (You can read the full case study here: Shopify Custom App to Streamline Loyalty Data Pipeline) The lesson is clear: technology should amplify tradition, not replace it. With the right architecture and an experienced partner, brands can turn the century-old Japanese habit of point collecting into a modern, data-driven loyalty engine that is ready for the future. What Businesses Can Learn from Japan’s Loyalty Culture The first lesson is to make the process effortless. In surveys, over 87% of Japanese point collectors said their ideal is to earn loyalty points rewards without realizing it. The best programs don’t force customers to jump through hoops. Instead, they tie points automatically to common actions like mobile payments, train rides, or even buying lunch at a convenience store. The second lesson is to build ecosystems, not stand-alone programs. Rakuten, Docomo, and PayPay succeed because they integrate points across multiple industries shopping, banking, telecom, travel. Each service feeds into the same pool of rewards, creating a closed loop where leaving the ecosystem means losing value. This is what keeps customers engaged long-term. For businesses abroad, the takeaway is clear: don’t treat loyalty points as just another promotion. Treat them as part of your customer’s lifestyle. When loyalty points rewards are seamless, practical, and connected, they stop being an incentive and start becoming a habit. Conclusion: More than Just Points The story of Japan’s point based loyalty programs shows that loyalty is built transaction by transaction, habit by habit, until it becomes part of daily life. For businesses, it’s a reminder that the strongest rewards programs are not those that simply give discounts, but those that create ecosystems, engage emotions, and embed themselves into routines. At SupremeTech, we help businesses take on that challenge building custom apps, integrating e-commerce and designing real-time data pipelines that make loyalty seamless and scalable. Just as Japan has shown, loyalty done right is more than just a promotion. It’s a tradition transformed into a digital advantage. 📩 Read more articles about us here: https://www.supremetech.vn/blog/  ☎️Contact us to see how we can support your loyalty app strategy.