Friday, April 8, 2011

Retail loyalty Innovation

During the last 2 years, it became obvious that discounters maintain the strongest growth during a recession. But ths advantage in price differentiation turns into a burden if low-price competition increases, because the average customer loyalty is low. Furthermore, customers become more demanding and value companies that focus on their needs. In order to maintain her market leading position in the Dutch retail market, such a retailer has to cope with these two developments.

Customers want more than the lowest price.
Kruidvat decided to capitalize on its strong market presence and customer exposure and build customer insights by setting up a bi-directional dialogue channel, “ Jouw Extravoordeelkaart”.

So what’s so innovative about the “Jouw Extravoordeelkaart” ?
The “Jouw Extravoordeelkaart” is a combination of a “deal of the day“ website and a loyalty program. To participate, customers need to register on the website where they get one strongly discounted personalized offering. The customer can download the offering voucher within 15 hours and hand it in within a week. When using the loyalty card a customer receives 1 point for every Euro spent. The customer can return points for free products.

What is the added value for Kruidvat?
The loyalty program enables Kruidvat to capture the interest of the customers and trace their buying behavior on an individual level in order to customize offerings. Subsequently, Kruidvat aims to increase the number of store visits and the amount of purchased goods per visit. Finally, Kruidvat can develop customer insights and increase customer focus and satisfaction.

Personal findings
What I like to share are my findings from the project. First the value proposition fits very well with the brand and her strenghts. Second it really add's benefits to the consumer more than just another card with points. Third the market receives is very well looking at the blog's and online media and usage in the stores. Fourth it was great to see a group of individuals become a team and put a lot of effort to make the new introduction a success.
let see how the program evolves!