Scene+ Ecosystem Transformation: Turning Everyday Moments into Rewarding Journeys

October 20, 2025

This document provides a strategic vision to transform the Scene+ app into a best-in-class, scalable digital rewards ecosystem that seamlessly connects grocery, travel, dining, entertainment, and lifestyle. This makes every moment feel valuable, effortless, and rewarding for its users.

1 Background

1.1 Introduction

Scene+, with over 15 million members, is one of Canada’s most recognized, trusted loyalty ecosystems, uniting Scotiabank, Cineplex, Empire/Sobeys, and Expedia into a powerful coalition. Scene+ has grown beyond entertainment into a multi-category, omnichannel lifestyle platform used by millions of Canadians daily for groceries, travel, and banking rewards.

However, while the brand is strong due to its partnership, the user feedback highlights frustration with the digital app experience in usability, performance, and value clarity, as reflected in poor ratings across app stores. The core issues include friction in the login flow, unclear rewards tracking, and limited personalization. In addition, it currently underperforms on community and innovation.

To thrive in a loyalty market where digital convenience, trust, and engagement drive retention, Scene+ must evolve from a 'points tracker' into an intelligent, integrated lifestyle rewards hub.

1.2 Problem Statement

Over the years, the Scene+ app has suffered several setbacks in its user experience. Negative feedback in app stores and online forums reveals recurring issues that decrease trust, drive uninstalls, and hurt subscription conversion. See below, in Table 1.2.1, for several user feedback from the Google Play and Apple App store reviews, along with their impacts on the Scene+ mobile app. If unaddressed, these problems will continue to erode user satisfaction and partner confidence, resulting in lower engagement, app retention, and brand advocacy.

Table 1.2.1: Core issues, supported review, and impacts in the Scene+ app.

Issue	Review	Impact
App bugs and crashes	“App keeps crashing every time I try to check my points. Extremely frustrating.”	Reduces trust, drives uninstall rates, and damages brand credibility
Poor performance (e.g. login friction, slow loading)	“Why do I need to log in constantly? Can’t stay signed in.” “Takes forever to log in and load offers — I just give up.”	Creates user frustration and abandonment during sessions
Lack of real-time data sync with partners	“Points don’t update in real time. What’s the point of using the app?”	Confuses users about points accuracy and value
Unintuitive navigation and cluttered design	“Navigation is confusing — I can’t find how to redeem or where to earn.”	Prevents users from discovering rewards and partner offers
Lack of personalization and habit-forming features	“I love Scene+, but this app is useless and lacks personalization. I just check my points through Scotiabank.”	Makes Scene+ feel transactional rather than lifestyle-driven

1.3 Competitive Landscape

An important aspect of the Scene+ app is to analyze the competitive landscape to better understand how this organization can position itself uniquely and truly provide valuable services to its target market. Table 1.3.1 highlights the competitors, strength, and current gaps.

Table 1.3.1: Competitive landscape for Scene+.

Program	Description	Strengths	Gaps
PC Optimum	Loblaw’s major grocery and pharmacy loyalty program used at Shoppers Drug Mart, No Frills, etc	Grocery and pharmacy focus Incorporates digital personalization Strong everyday engagement and redemption	Less emphasis on lifestyle, entertainment and travel categories
Air Miles	A coalition loyalty program in Canada, with lots of partner brands across categories (i.e. travel, retail, etc)	Broad partner ecosystem, travel and retail flexibility Big-ticket rewards and everyday earnings	UX complexity in redemption may confuse some users Slow decline of brand trust
Triangle Rewards	A loyalty program anchored in Canadian Tire and its associated banners (i.e. Sport Chek, Mark’s, etc), and fuel partner integration	Simple value proposition in several categories home/auto/outdoor retail and fuel Clear value (“$1 = $1”)	Not as broad in travel and entertainment

Program

Description

Strengths

Gaps

PC Optimum

Loblaw’s major grocery and pharmacy loyalty program used at Shoppers Drug Mart, No Frills, etc

Grocery and pharmacy focus
Incorporates digital personalization
Strong everyday engagement and redemption

Less emphasis on lifestyle, entertainment and travel categories

Air Miles

A coalition loyalty program in Canada, with lots of partner brands across categories (i.e. travel, retail, etc)

Broad partner ecosystem, travel and retail flexibility
Big-ticket rewards and everyday earnings

UX complexity in redemption may confuse some users
Slow decline of brand trust

Triangle Rewards

A loyalty program anchored in Canadian Tire and its associated banners (i.e. Sport Chek, Mark’s, etc), and fuel partner integration

Simple value proposition in several categories home/auto/outdoor retail and fuel
Clear value (“$1 = $1”)

Not as broad in travel and entertainment

2 Vision and Strategy

2.1 Product Vision, Mission and Pillars

To become Canada's most connecting and intelligent market-leading loyalty ecosystem that delivers tangible, everyday value to its users while driving partnership value across retail, travel, entertainment, and banking. This is achieved through an 'all-in-one' intuitive and innovative platform that empowers Canadians to earn, redeem and celebrate rewards effortlessly.

Core Pillars: Engagement · Personalization · Partnership Value · Innovation · Community

2.2 Strategic Objectives

Improve the app store ratings and user satisfaction by streamlining onboarding (e.g. auto-login), resolving bugs, and clarifying UX/UI flows (i.e. earn, track, redeem, celebrate).
Reimagine the overall Scene+ digital experience through personalization, community, gamification and innovative ideas (e.g. 'Spin the Wheel' or 'Scratch and Save' games, set goals and view 'Scene+ Streak', monthly bonus points, limited-time free giveaways, tiered badges, AI predictions, charity donations, referrals, challenges, leaderboard, etc).
Strengthen partnership integration by ensuring that synergies are visible and valuable (e.g. partnership dashboard, expand into new domains such as insurance, one universal login and data sync for all partnerships).

2.3 Target Metrics

One of the most important components for this refreshed product positioning is defining the north star and its metrics. Scene+ wants to reflect them in both engagement depth and partner activity. Table 2.3.1 illustrates the detailed metrics to target in the upcoming years for the Scene+ ecosystem.

North Star = Monthly Active Members x Monthly Average Earn Events per Member

Table 2.3.1: Target metrics dashboard for Scene+ app.

Category	Metric	Target	Notes
User Engagement	Monthly Active Users (MAU)	+45%	Driven by improved UX, new features and marketing integration
	Session Frequency per User	3 to 5 per week	Gamified challenges
	Average Session Duration	>5 min	Richer content, interactive offers
Customer Satisfaction	App Store Rating	>4.5★	UX adjustments, bug reduction, reward clarity
	NPS	+30	Personalization, faster redemption, referrals, altruism via charity donations
Delivery Velocity	Time to Release	8 to 12 weeks	Continuous delivery model
	Defect Rate per Release	<10%	Automated QA, DevOps maturity
Business Value	Partner Redemption Volume	+35%	Establish a partner dashboard, a universal login/data sync to all partners' systems (e.g. use social accounts)
	Expand Partnerships	+5 to 10 new ones	Acquire new partnerships in other categories
Loyalty Performance	Member Retention	80%	Predictive AI insights, innovative engagement via challenges
	Average Earn/Redeem Ratio	>2.0	New earning channels

2.4 User Personas

The target market for Scene+ is diverse in a rapidly expanding national digital loyalty market. The key user personas are found in Table 2.4.1.

Table 2.4.1: User personas for the Scene+ app.

Type	Goal	Needs	Opportunity
Everyday Shopper (“The Saver”)	Earns through Sobeys and Scotiabank	Easy tracking, grocery bonuses, instant redemptions	Boost engagement via weekly grocery challenges and gamified bonuses
Lifestyle Enthusiast (“The Experience Seeker”)	Values entertainment, dining, and travel	Easy access to Cineplex and Expedia rewards	Premium Scene+ tiers, smart insights
Financially Savvy User (“The Optimizer”)	Support finances through Scotiabank integration	Easy credit card payment via points	Point redemptions for credit card payments, Premium Scene+ tiers

3 Solutions and Designs

3.1 Feature Ideas

Scene+ has an extraordinary opportunity to transform its app from a typical rewards platform into a solid, defining pioneer. To do so, here are feature ideas to consider.

Onboarding and Log In
- Users can sign up and log in with social accounts (e.g. Google, Apple)
- Users can auto-login into the mobile app
- Users can use only 1 universal account to log automatically into the partner's systems (e.g. Sobeys, Scotiabank, etc)
App Experience
- Users can set goals to earn points and preferences to redeem them
- Users can view 'Scene+ Streak' via points earned each day or week
- Users can have personalized recommendations based on spending habits, location and other preferences
- Users can clearly view the flow from earn, track, redeem, and celebrate
- Users can view their badges based on the tier-point/milestone system
- Users can unlock bonus points via games such as 'Spin the Wheel', 'Scratch and Save', etc
- Users can view real-time points updates and loaded offers (currently, there is a delay)
- Users can participate in challenges for earning points (e.g. 'Join our challenge by earning X points at Sobeys this month')
- Users can load personalized 'Top Picks For You' offers based on past purchases and category preferences (e.g. 'Get 10 points when you purchase popcorn at Cineplex at your next movie night!')
- Users can view a leaderboard of points earned and streak
- Users can celebrate if someone won something in a Scene+ game (e.g. 'Member won 50 points in the Spin the Wheel game!')
- Users can purchase a monthly paid subscription (e.g. Scene+ Premium) to get boosted earning rates (e.g. double or triple points per purchase), exclusive perks (e.g. special partner events), and early access to giveaways
- Users can interact with an AI chatbot, named SAI (Scene+ AI), to give smart insights
Other
- Admins can view a dashboard of partnership progress
- Admins can expand into new partnerships

By focusing on delivery excellence, ecosystem integration, and user-centric redesign, Scene+ can reposition itself as a category-defining loyalty platform by shifting perception from a transactional app to a personalized lifestyle engagement hub that rewards members daily and delivers measurable business lift for its partners.

3.1 Supporting Designs

The designs and high-level flows of the enhanced Scene+ app with several of the feature ideas listed above are illustrated in these images.

ONBOARDING

REGISTRATION

MAIN

This transformed prototype of Scene+'s app, with the above screenshots, can be found here: https://anjusharma.adalo.com/sceneplus

Note that this version has only a subset of the new feature ideas, and some functionalities are not clickable. The main goal of this is to communicate the high-level vision for this reimagined Scene+ app.

Sources:

#ScenePlus #RewardsProgram #Loyalty