# Fidely Update #5 — Market Research, Landing Page & Strategy Shaping 🚀

Back again with a new chapter in the Fidely journey.  
This time it's a bit less about code and a bit more about **strategy, market research, and preparation for the next phase**.

## Market Research: not as simple as it sounds

With very limited time (as usual), I’ve finally carved out some evenings to work on a **proper market analysis** for Fidely — with special focus on Italy and my initial target area: Liguria 🇮🇹.

Instead of just relying on random Google searches, I’ve tried to build something a bit more structured and robust:

* ✅ Searched for reliable sources (official reports, studies, government data)
    
* ✅ Used **Perplexity AI** and **OpenAI Deep Research** to find resources I hadn't initially discovered
    
* ✅ Processed the data inside **Google NotebookLM** to organize, analyze and double-check sources to minimize hallucinations and mistakes
    

The goal?  
👉 Collect **solid, validated data** that I can use for future marketing material, landing pages, and potentially to test actual ads and demand.

### 🎯 Some quick takeaways

* The Italian loyalty market is growing fast: estimated **€3.5 billion in 2023**, with 11–12% annual growth
    
* Around **1 million micro & small businesses** in Italy could be potential Fidely clients: shops, restaurants, salons, bars, etc.
    
* In Liguria specifically (my initial focus), there are roughly **10,000–15,000 micro B2C businesses** with good adoption potential.
    
* Despite these numbers, the **digitalization level is still very low**: only ~46% of Ligurian SMEs have basic digital skills
    
* Consumers are fully mobile-first:
    
    * WhatsApp usage: **89% of Italians**
        
    * Mobile payments are exploding: +53% YoY in 2024
        
    * Digital loyalty apps (Stocard, Klarna, Apple Wallet) are now mainstream.
        

### 💡 Why Fidely might fit here

* Many businesses still rely on **manual loyalty cards** or very fragmented tools.
    
* Existing loyalty platforms often feel **too complex, too expensive, or too generic** for very small shops.
    
* There's room for a **"lightweight, easy-to-use, hyperlocal" SaaS** focused on helping micro-businesses go digital — without scaring them with CRM jargon, big data dashboards or enterprise software.
    

One of my favorite stats from this research:

> *"Acquiring a new customer costs 5 to 25 times more than retaining an existing one."*  
> ([Harvard Business Review](https://hbr.org/2014/10/the-value-of-keeping-the-right-customers))

Exactly why loyalty programs can make a huge difference for small local businesses — and exactly why Fidely exists.

## The First Landing Page Mockup

With the research done, I started designing the **first version of the landing page**.

> My direct clients are the shop owners, so the landing is fully targeted at them.

I'm not a designer, but I tried to keep it minimal, focused, and clear about:

* The pain points (low return customers, high acquisition costs)
    
* The solution (easy digital loyalty tools)
    
* The local focus (Liguria first!)
    

Here’s a preview of the mockup:

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1749117820262/6b17de8d-8aff-48f5-bc8f-6dd60586458a.png align="center")

## 🎯 Landing Page Tech Stack

Unlike the main Fidely app, the landing page will be its own **separate project** for better flexibility:

* ✅ **Next.js 14**
    
* ✅ **TailwindCSS**
    
* ✅ Full static export possible → deployable on a CDN like Cloudflare.
    

In the next days/weeks, I’ll start actually building the landing and running the first real-world market tests.

## What's Next?

* 🚀 Build & deploy the landing page
    
* 📊 Start testing Italian ads to validate real demand
    
* 🤝 Prepare early onboarding for local shop owners
    
* 💻 Resume app development with:
    
    * Reward redemption flow
        
    * Customer-facing app interface
        
    * More detailed analytics for business owners
        

That's it for now!  
Slow evenings, but steady progress.

**Stay loyal** 😄