How Iqbal Foods built a vast customer database using a simple QR code
Iqbal Foods used a spending-based sweepstakes built into its existing website to turn anonymous in-store shoppers into an owned, retargetable customer base while giving every customer a reason to increase their basket size.
A trusted grocery chain built on loyal shoppers.
Iqbal Foods
An established grocery chain serving Pakistani and South Asian communities across Ontario since 1994.
Ethnic Grocery Retail
A high-frequency, in-store business built on loyal neighbourhood shoppers and repeat household purchases.
Spending-Based Sweepstakes
A website-integrated QR experience that captured customer data and rewarded higher basket values.
Turning anonymous shoppers into known customers.
Iqbal Foods had loyal shoppers returning regularly, but each relationship ended at the till. The business could not identify its most valuable customers, understand spend over time, or reach those shoppers with future promotions.
No owned database connected to offline transactions.
No direct retargeting channel after an in-store visit.
No customer-level view of purchase value or frequency.
No natural mechanism encouraging shoppers to add more to each basket.
One campaign. More data. More growth.
tossdown transformed Iqbal Foods’ website into a customer growth engine through a sweepstakes system built into the website that captured shoppers, increased engagement, and built a valuable marketing database.
From One-Time Shopper toLoyal Customer
The experience was deliberately short for shoppers and immediately useful for the business.
Customer shops in-store
A normal grocery visit and checkout take place with no operational disruption.
Scans the QR code at checkout counter
A quick scan takes the customer directly to the campaign page.
Submits purchase details
The customer enters contact information, invoice number and total spend.
Entries scale with spend
Every $50 earns one entry, creating a clear incentive to increase the basket.
Joins the owned database
Registration automatically creates a website account and marketing contact.
Data appears in one dashboard
Iqbal Foods sees every entrant, contact record, invoice and spend figure centrally.
A Reward Customers Wanted
Top grocery gift-card prizes
Major grocery gift-card prizes
Additional grocery gift-card prizes
32 total winners made the campaign exciting enough to motivate action without making the chance of winning feel remote.
From Unknown Buyers To Customers
The campaign created a repeatable way to capture shopper data, instead of leaving each visit as a one-time transaction.
Before tossdown
High-value offline customers remained unidentified.
—Transactions could not be connected to contact details.
—No direct audience existed for future promotions.
—Checkout offered no incentive to increase spend.
—Customer data was fragmented or unavailable.
—After tossdown
6,000+ active shoppers registered in one week.
Customer identity became connected to invoice and spend data.
A valuable owned customer database became available for future campaigns
Average order value rose by an estimated 18-22%.
Campaign performance became visible in real time.
The first campaign performed so well that Iqbal Foods didn't stop there - they launched a second, bigger campaign the very next month, running longer and offering richer rewards.
That's when a one-off promotion became an ongoing growth engine. Every campaign adds to the customer database, sharpens retargeting, and makes the next activation even more valuable than the last.
Built For Long-Term Growth
Owned customer database
Iqbal Foods now has a direct, permission-based audience generated from real store traffic.
Growing retargeting pipeline
Each campaign adds more identifiable shoppers who can be segmented and reached again.
Revenue-linked engagement
The mechanic rewards customers while directly encouraging higher spend per visit.
Repeatable campaign engine
The same infrastructure can support future seasonal promotions without rebuilding the customer journey.
Stop letting valuable offline customer relationships disappear at the till.
Build a direct customer database, connect engagement to real spending and create a repeatable growth loop inside your existing digital ecosystem.
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