I am an avid reader and during weekends, I spend close to 2 hours in various book shops. I have loyalty membership card for a couple of book stores and recently I added one more of Om Book Shop as they have decent presence (in terms of number of stores) in Delhi.
Last weekend, I bought a couple of books on sale and while billing, I informed the cashier that I have membership card. “It is of no use as you are already buying books which are on sale”, replied the cashier. “So, what?”, I asked curiously. “As you already have discount on your purchase, we cannot add points to your bill”.
Is membership card are all about projecting discounts, I asked myself?
This is not one off case. At most of the places, membership card is either projected as a medium of giving discounts or extending offers. I agree customers lap it up because they are lured by extra benefits , but loyalty cards can serve lot bigger purposes to a retailer than extending discounts.
Loyalty cards, as the name suggests, are there to build loyal customer base, to build relationship with existing customers, to treat regular customers so well that they become your brand ambassadors and to help in building loyalty that span a lifetime. Tesco is known for doing this so well. They use their loyalty data to understand consumer behavior and tailor-make offers and promotions according to taste of their loyal customers.
I guess Indian retailers still have a long way to go as far as using loyalty cards effectively is concerned. If implemented and used well, loyalty cards can be the reason for a customer's coming back to store.
As usual, your point of view is welcome.
by Ravan (SiD) , on July 23, 2009 1:56 AM
I agree with you...most of the retailers (mis)use the loyalty program. Its like a sheer wastage to even maintain such a program if you cannot harness the true potential of the scheme.
by Ramesh , on July 23, 2009 6:11 AM
Oh absolutely true. And its not restricted to Indian retailers only. I'm fed up with most airline loyalty programmes who do the same things. Very few use it to really build customer relationships.
by le embrouille blogueur , on July 23, 2009 7:04 AM
Loyalty programs with retailers in the US is a joke .... you do not really get much credit for being loyal except for tons of mail (so environment unfriendly)telling you about deals etc...good observation and mention !!
by A journey called Life , on July 23, 2009 8:04 AM
never heard of any fool proof one.. like LEB said, hardly serves the purpose, than to get all that junk mail
by Dhiman , on July 23, 2009 8:48 PM
But they sell the loyalty programs really hard but fail to identify the real usage of such programs...
I hope the retailers will realize sooner !!!
by Adesh Sidhu , on July 23, 2009 10:21 PM
Thank you all for your value able opinions. It really means a lot.
by rads , on July 24, 2009 12:35 AM
So true, these programs/cards are used for anything but to improve customer experience. Its more for their own benefit to increase their sales resulting in a crapload of mail and irritation to customers.