Show us some loyalty
Posted 17 December 2007 at 12:05PM by Hannah Gilchrist in Doing business online
Industry experts are claiming loyalty cards can lure customers back to the high street. But will a plastic card really change shopping habits and how can it help your business?
According to market researchers over 80% of UK households have at least one of them, every time you whiz through the checkout you're asked about yours - haven't got one? Do you want one?
But offering freebies, vouchers and discounts need not only work for the large retailers, it has now been suggested that independent shops can reap the same customer loyalty too. Bringing your customers in from the out-of-town shops to find out what's new not only works for them, it's great for you too.
It may be the oldest trick in the book, but getting someone to sign up to a loyalty card scheme not only gets them through the doors, it also means you can find out lots about your lovely customers. Forget direct mail and market research costs, you can now find out what people are buying and how frequently.
Take tips from the top, Boots now have details on over 15 million of their customers - think about what you could do with all that information
Tags: boots, loyalty cards
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Comments
2. At December 17, 2007 5:22 PM, Gary Stephen wrote:
As a loyal Tesco shopper, I'm happy with the loyalty card idea. I got a 5 night stay for my Fiancee and I at a Hilton Hotel earlier this year, all paid for using Tesco vouchers. :D
3. At December 17, 2007 6:55 PM, Graham wrote:
Loyalty cards have their place as business tools, and customers appear to appreciate any valuable discount.
Personally I am fed up with having a wallet full of different cards for different retailers - I would prefer to look at the technology behind Barclaycard Pulse (combined debit/credit and Oyster travel card that enables small items to be purchased by passing the card over a reader) and have a single card to take care of all my points.
Nectar is coming some way towards one scheme for earning points from multiple retailers (they are good for collecting points on business purchases too.)
However I did not like receiving a very long telephone call from Tesco recently - with the aim of finding out exactly why I had "stopped" shopping with them.
My answers were 1) as a business owner I can now buy a lot of items in bulk, and 2) I now live opposite a small supermarket that means I can be more green and don't use the car every day.
4. At December 18, 2007 8:26 AM, Marc Ferguson wrote:
All fine and well for boots, but setup and running costs of a 'magnetic strip' style loyalty card might be a bit much for small/independent retailers?
What happened to the days of "get 10 stamps on a card and get a free coffee". Cheap and effective, I know I can't pass up free coffee.
5. At December 18, 2007 7:44 PM, james lyon wrote:
Great for the likes of TESCO - Setup cost for small business is completely out of the question - never mind the cost of administration. Come on BT get real with your ideas !!
BT is BIG BUSINESS and has difficulty is understanding the small business and how it works and operates. 12 hour day 7 days a week. Cannot see BT staff working these hours with no extra pay !!
James Lyon
6. At December 20, 2007 12:54 PM, Isaac Mendes wrote:
No one has thought about the security implications about this. With the recent slip up's by the goverment in loosing millions of customers informcations and personal data on cd's, I have lost my confidence in havng any loyality cards or anything like that
7. At December 20, 2007 4:47 PM, Kurtis Angle wrote:
"Boots now have details on over 15 million of their customers" Let's hope they don't put it all on a disc and lose it in the post. . . .
8. At December 22, 2007 7:34 PM, Tanvir Ahmad wrote:
I don't see how this would work. A lot of small retailers are struggling to survive because of supermarkets. They are not making enough profit to survive and loyalty card will cut the profit down further. May be Market Researchers have a lot to gain from it but not the small shops in my street.
What we need is a change of attitude amongst people. In old days people preferred to go to the local shop, encourage their local businesses, now we all run after discounts and cheap products. Where I live, there are 5 Tescos and I guess within 10 mile radius. One day all the small retailers will sell their businesses and we will see Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsburys in every street.
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1. At December 17, 2007 1:20 PM, Jonathan Simpkins wrote: