By: Erika Stevens
This past weekend the Star Tribune featured an article about retailers attracting consumers with their loyalty programs. The article talks with one consumer who plans his shopping trips around where he has points to use. This is the perfect example of how retailers want their loyalty programs to work. Shopping at their business becomes second nature because of the benefits from the loyalty program.
The rest of the article highlights the ways that retailers are utilizing additional incentives to encourage their loyalty program members to shop with them over the holidays. In last week’s blog post Brent mentioned Best Buy’s Reward Zone program that gave special access to the store for members only shopping. The article also mentions GameStop launching their PowerUp points program before the holidays and Toys "R" Us giving Rewards "R" Us members exclusive coupons for the new year with their holiday purchases.
An interesting statistic the article cites is 11% of shoppers planned to stretch their budgets by using their points from various loyalty programs for gifts. (Survey done by Epsilon and LoyaltyOne). The holidays can be financially trying for people, but if they are able to use points to purchase gifts or earn extra rewards it can help them to choose one business over another.
Are you a consumer who utilized points for gifts this year? Or a retailer who gave extra incentives to your loyalty program members? Share your experiences with us.
Click here to read the full article from the Star Tribune.