KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 19): AEON Co (M) Bhd (KL:AEON) and AEON Credit Service (M) Bhd (KL:AEONCR) on Tuesday agreed to form a joint venture (JV) to create a centralised membership and data platform. This platform will unify customer loyalty and digital services across AEON’s retail, financial, and digital businesses in Malaysia.
The new entity, dubbed “AEON 360”, will be owned 51% by AEON Credit and 49% by AEON Co, with an initial paid-up capital of RM50 million.
The JV is designed to consolidate AEON’s disparate membership and loyalty programmes into a unified platform accessible through a single app, according to AEON Credit managing director Daisuke Maeda. The JV is targeting at least 10 million active members within five years.
"Over the past 40 years, we [AEON Co] have built up a lot of stores and malls in Malaysia. But going forward, it has to be more than that. We need to step into deeper relationships with customers, instead of just piling up transactions,” AEON Co MD Naoya Okada said at the signing ceremony.
“With AEON Bank [the banking arm of AEON Credit] joining as the JV’s official bank, it strengthens our commitment to digital innovation and supports partners with business banking solutions,” Maeda said.
WATCH: AEON Malaysia, AEON Credit ink JV for ecosystem integration
The new JV entity will also act as a data and marketing exchange hub, enabling partners and merchants to tap into AEON’s large customer base with targeted offers and AI-driven insights, he noted.
The platform will also help AEON Credit rebalance its portfolio towards the middle-income earners (M40) segment, as repayment stress among B40 (bottom 40% earners) customers has risen.
“As you know, AEON retail’s main segment is the M40 customers. By promoting this membership through the joint venture, AEON Credit will embed financing — providing personal loans and similar products through the app,” Maeda said.
“By doing this, we can further reach the middle-income segment and strengthen our strategy to capture it,” he noted.
WATCH: AEON 360 to help AEON Credit rebalance portfolio
He said the JV is expected to be profit-generating within three years. Revenue streams will come from enhanced loyalty engagement, data marketing solutions, and platform partnerships with external businesses.
Shares in AEON Co closed unchanged at RM1.33 on Tuesday, valuing the group at RM1.87 billion.
AEON Credit’s shares finished four sen or 0.8% lower to RM4.97 on Tuesday, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM2.54 billion.