Leveraging loyalty
by Gary Wollenhaupt, contributor, Retail Customer
Experience
From Retail Customer Experience Magazine, November/December
2008
Daniel Sambrano drives
past three grocery stores to reach the Stop & Shop in Cohasset,
Mass.
He loves to use the
store’s easyShop
handheld scanner. Sambrano scans and bags groceries as he goes, and the
device displays targeted coupons on its full-color screen based on his
previous purchases. When he gets close to the shelves that hold these
discounted items, the scanner alerts him.
To use it, Sambrano swipes
his Stop
& Shop loyalty card when he enters the store. For other retailers
like the chain, the easyShop scanner from Modiv Media Inc. represents
the next generation of loyalty-card benefits.
Customers crave relevant
product and
discount information, and to them “pleasant experience” is synonymous
with “quick and painless.” Tools like easyShop give them just that; not
to mention, retailers can (and should) use enhanced loyalty-program
features themselves to gain insight into shopper behavior.
With more technological
tools like
scanners on the horizon, retailers must consider sprucing up their
loyalty programs – or implementing one in the first place – if they are
to keep up with innovators like Stop & Shop. Here are several key
ways to do just that.
What’s in it for
them?
For loyalty programs to
ultimately
succeed, customers need to feel they’re worth it. To give them that
feeling, retailers must utilize these programs to improve the overall
experience.
“The consumer says, ‘If
I’m going to
sign up for the program, carry the card and give the retailer
information about me, then make my retail experience better,’” said
Phil Rubin, president and CEO of rDialogue, a relationship marketing
agency.
To that end, Rubin
cautions that true loyalty takes more than discounts or coupons.
“Loyalty comes when
there’s an emotional connection that will trump even marginal
difference in price,” he said.
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