Most High Street retailers these days realize that the secret to survival, against out of town malls, or even worse, online retail, is to have a good Loyalty Program.
Many try to use price as an advantage, but cutting costs is a battle the small independent retailer can never win. Along with the plethora of CashBack Clubs that are now springing up, sites like TopCashBack and Quidco should be included here, as all they do is create a race of shoppers whose only goal in life is to get the biggest cashback, though not necessarily against it. of the best. original price. This, of course, totally destroys any concept of loyalty.
These cash back sites serve a good purpose for the occasional large purchase, but tend not to work for the daily shopping habits of countless millions of shoppers. However, Loyalty Programs are in high demand to help retailers in the High Street community build and maintain a loyal following of regular shoppers. But there’s more than that.
High Street retailers used to be the lifeblood of the community, and these small business owners know and appreciate that good service breeds loyal customers. But they also know that, in addition to any after-sales support (a very important weapon in the arsenal of small businesses’ battle for survival against the giants), what attracts and keeps the most loyal customers points The local High Street community’s selling point is instant gratification: a smile, knowing your name and so on. Ask any teacher or parent what the key is to successfully training a child (or pet) how to behave, and they’ll tell you: – The secret is ‘instant gratification’. There is no point in giving a child a treat long after he has done as he is told. If you’re teaching your dog a new trick, there’s no point in giving him a dog biscuit several hours later. The same applies to High Street retailers’ choice of loyalty programs.
Translate that into a loyalty program and be amazed at the results.
There is a whole plethora of loyalty schemes, from the humble coffee shop card where you get the 10th free coffee, to the well established Tesco’s ClubCard and Sainsbury’s Nectar Card. Of those three, in order of instant gratification, would you believe, the humble coffee shop card comes out on top, followed by the Nectar Card, with Tesco far behind.
Why is that?
Well, as soon as you’ve bought your ninth coffee, the waitress tells you ‘Your next coffee is FREE’.
Instant gratification.
Now, Sainsbury’s choice to support the Nectar Card, rather than create its own loyalty card, is a stroke of genius. Why? Because here’s a loyalty card that you can use not only at Sainsbury’s, but also at thousands of well-known High Street stores and online retailers. Instead of offering the lowest prices they could afford (an unwinnable price war), they offer Nectar Points on every transaction, and then when they write to you each quarter or advertise in the media, you can go into any Sainsbury’s store and you will generally be offered a multiple of the actual value of the nectar points, whenever you spend these points at Sainsbury’s. In addition to that, of course, you can go at any time to one of the many points of sale in the Argos catalog and immediately redeem your Nectar Points for products. Almost instant gratification. This was probably high on the list of reasons why Sainsbury’s just bought the Argos chain of stores for £1.3bn. His plans to close more than 200 Argos stores and relocate them to his own stores is another step toward instant gratification.
Tesco ranks last on the instant gratification list, as you have to wait three months before you get the letter containing all sorts of bargain offers, as well as gift vouchers to spend in store, and perhaps offers for double or more its value in certain promotional items within its Stores.
So how do you get a loyalty program that gives you true real-time gratification? Does such a system exist?
First, Rewards Points must be awarded immediately after the transaction, rather than a simple cash offer. Loyalty programs that offer cash rewards typically take a few days to process the transaction, then the banking system adds delays.
Second, the Loyalty program needs to reward members when they get their friends involved in the program. All members must have the ability to engage their friends as well, so that they immediately earn Loyalty Rewards Points each time any of their friends spend money at any Loyalty Merchant involved in this program. When you have a team in place, it can be quite exciting every time you walk into a Fair Trade and see how your points balance has increased without your intervention. What if one of your team members buys a new car from a loyalty dealer?
Third, the program should easily encourage a buyer to commit for as little as £50 per month. Obviously, more is better, but by starting small, it’s easier for everyone to gradually increase their commitment. This will also help everyone easily build a team of 5 or more contacts, who in turn will love duplicating that process.
Fourth, the Loyalty Program has to be ‘Small Retailer Friendly’. By participating and having their current loyal customers sign up as FREE members, they will not only have more customers directed to them (without the need for expensive ‘Pay and Pray’ direct marketing), but they will begin to build a considerable revenue stream. secondary, based on your customers’ buying habits, including when they shop at competing stores (or online). While it might be easy for a typical buyer to get 5 or more people involved, these small businesses may have hundreds of customers they’ll want to enroll. (Here, of course, many POINTS mean MANY PRIZES!)
To see how INSTANT GRATIFICATION works in this type of Loyalty Program, just consider the following. Each shopper will earn Rewards Points (RP) immediately after ordering gift certificates from participating Key Loyalty Merchants. You’ll also earn RP immediately when you successfully complete a purchase at any of the expanding network of small independent loyalty merchants. Plus, when any member of your team (shopper or small business owner) does the same, their account will also be immediately updated with their Loyalty Rewards Points (LRPs). As an added bonus, the buyer must also earn additional RP by redeeming existing RP to pay for all or part of an order. For example, if you spend £50 at a local butcher who is also a loyalty merchant, and the shopper uses £25 cash and redeems 25 RP, they will be credited the FULL AMOUNT of RP due on the current purchase. This will encourage them to spend more at this and other partner Loyalty merchants. They could also use the points to purchase more gift vouchers from key loyalty merchants.
With the Nectar Card network now boasting over 20 million strong and smart shoppers, not only can they earn their 1% Nectar cash back when they spend at participating Stores, but if that Store is also a member of this Universal Loyalty Program, Not only will you earn 2.5-5x Nectar rewards on your purchase, you’ll also earn Loyalty Rewards Points on everything your shopping community members spend.
Why not look for such a system on YOUR High Street? After all, it’s totally free and could totally power every shopping trip. Even better, get your local High Street community shops involved and reap even more profits!
