Marketers have their work cut out, so it seems. For years, many top retailers across the world have had some sort of loyalty scheme. The two in the UK that many are familiar with are the Tesco Clubcard and the Sainsburys Nectar Card. The idea behind them is a simple one: customers spend money, earn points and then get rewarded. However, brands are now moving away from this kind of loyalty reward scheme and are thinking about ways in which they can offer something different.
In fact, Sainsbury’s is one of these companies after purchasing the ownership of the Nectar Reward scheme and putting it through a complete overhaul. The aim is to genuinely reward loyalty.
Consumers are now looking to save as much money as possible when they shop but now brands are looking to dish out points not just for purchases but how often they shop there and how long they have been a customer. Essentially, the loyalty runs beyond how much they spend but it is more about being loyal in the traditional sense.
However, there is one thing that stands true, consumers are looking to be rewarded for their loyalty with 77% of people in the UK is signed up for some kind of loyalty programme. Most people sign up to receive in-store or online discounts while others do it to receive discounts from other retailers. There are also those who do it receive free products and services.
So, the tide is changing for loyalty programmes it seems. The traditional form of loyalty scheme as we know it is changing and that means that consumers might have to look at things differently and behave differently in order to benefit. There has been some success in changes to loyalty schemes and Sky is proving that its Sky VIP loyalty programme is a success. The aim of the scheme was to reward those customers who had been with them for some time yet were not benefiting in the same way as new customers.
People are not always keen on change and if loyalty programmes are going to take on a new identity the marketers are going to have to work hard to sell them. There is something that consumers do not like which is a lack of choice. So, if supermarkets are rewarding people for shopping with them regularly then they are going to have to make people want to shop with them. Otherwise, consumers won’t take any notice of their new loyalty scheme as they are more than happy to go elsewhere for better prices.