Matthew Khoury, CEO of LOKE

This week we had a great pleasure to interview Matthew Khoury, CEO of LOKE Global, who gave us a fascinating insight into LOKE’s intelligent payment solution which retains customers for their clients through AI-driven target marketing.

IL: How did you start LOKE Global, tell us a bit more about your business and its unique value proposition?

MK: LOKE is a globally focused, data-driven technology company, headquartered in the United Kingdom (UK), providing a sales and marketing platform to the hospitality and retail industry designed to increase revenue by predicting and influencing customer purchase behaviour.

Our UVP is about providing transparency of customer information at the point of transaction allowing us to personalise consumer journeys based on the way they interact with the business.

LOKE was founded 10 years ago by myself and my best friend. We started in a spare bedroom at my friend’s parents house with no money or capital investment. Neither of us had a software engineering background however we both had a passion for the industry we work in. After working for many years in the hospitality industry we had a clear understanding of it’s pain points and we decided to create a product that would help venues promote their business by rewarding customers for promoting their business to their social network. After launching the first client, it generated such huge exposure for the business, other venues quickly followed. From there we went national in Australia soon after expanding to New Zealand, Singapore and the UK where our parent company is now based.

IL: We understand Covid has hit most businesses really hard, how did you pivot it and turn it into an even bigger company?

MK: COVID-19 has represented a significant opportunity for LOKE to support hospitality merchants in responding to various restrictions and lockdown measures. In March 2020 we moved quickly, investing in new capability to position ourselves as the leader in this space generating significant growth in response to the COVID-19 pandemic for both LOKE and our merchants. LOKE was able to shift our business model to capture more of the value we provide. Our customers experienced significant increases in average transaction value (ATV) and volume as a result of deploying LOKE technology. While there was a short-term revenue drop during the early period, once restrictions were eased, LOKE saw an explosion in transaction volumes and our revenue.

IL: What’s the most effective marketing strategy you are using to reach out to your potential customers?

MK: LOKE utilises an array of marketing channels including social, PR and events. However our partner distribution and referrals has been the most successful and we continue to build on this channel as we further add value to merchants and partners alike.

IL: You are in a tech business, which tech will be the most important one to shape the future business landscape in your opinion?

MK: Artificial Intelligence. Knowing how the customer thinks, predicting their behaviour and then capturing, influencing and converting them at the point of purchase is the future of the retail and hospitality industries. By leveraging our large and growing pools of customer data, LOKE can predict customer behaviour and tailor communication through various channels including mobile or web notifications, emails, voice assistants and even on premise advertising such as store screens, registers, or kiosks. One desired outcome is to ensure the customer has the best experience with that brand and that the merchant is optimising the conversion of sale whether the customer is at home or at the store.

IL: Do you have any advice to our groups in terms of future career paths or essential skill sets they will need to have a successful career?

MK: I studied a double degree in Finance and Commerce, switched and completed my Honours in Project Management & Economics. At the end of the day, it does not matter what you study but more importantly what you love. If you work in an industry that you are interested in, you will always do better and be naturally more productive. Persistence is key, it can take a long time with many ups and downs, so it makes it much easier doing something that you enjoy and that makes you happy.

IL: What’s your vision for LOKE Global? We know you already have business presence in Australia, Singapore, U.K., any future expansion plan?

MK: LOKE has a big plan for 2022, we are in a space with high demand so it is critical we invest into innovation and expansion. Strengthening our leadership position in the countries we operate is key however new regions are on the horizon.

Insider London is proud to partner with LOKE Global. For a bespoke Company Visit and Workshops to get a further insight how LOKE brings together marketing, fintech, big data and AI, get in touch via contact@insiderlondon.com to book your visit today.