Welcome Faversham Co-op in Kent has become the first Southern Co-op franchise outlet to have its own loyalty card.
The card was introduced at owner Sandeep Bains’ request, following a major refit, which saw the store extended and its epos system integrated with Snappy Shopper.
Southern Co-op head of franchise, Mike Fitton, explained that the card, which was developed with retail software provider VME, could potentially be used across the Welcome estate. “If it works out okay, we could roll it out to other Welcome franchisees,” he told Convenience Store.
He claimed that the card required minimal information - just a customer’s email address. They could then join a loyalty points system to get discounts on shopping, as well as being able to access exclusive special offers.
Fitton stated that the opportunity to collect points and receive card holder discounts offered customers extra reasons to shop regularly at the store, noting that the card was extremely simple to use. “All they’ve got to do is come in, scan the card - discount applied, simple as that,” he said.
Sandeep explained that the new card, which boasts QR codes for the store’s social media and Snappy Shopper platform, was much more dynamic than previous loyalty incentives. “[Before,] if you had a [standard] Co-op card or you were a Co-op member, we would hit a Co-op discount button,” he said. “But we couldn’t scan it and we couldn’t add points to the card, it was just a simple case of - you’d get 1% off of your total purchase and then you’d pay for it in store, which is quite uninspiring really for anyone that’s looking to use it regularly.”
With the new card, Sandeep is able to flag up exclusive membership deals on his electronic shelf edge labelling, which will then be activated at the till point when customers scan the card. “So if a product was £5, but if you’re a member, you might get it for £4 or £4.50,” he said. “They’ll be able to use [the same card] for loyalty and redeem that whenever they want to.”
The collection and analysis of shopper behaviour based on the cards’ use is currently a work in progress. Further down the line, Sandeep hopes to use the data to create bespoke marketing relevant to customer purchases. “We should be able to target them,” he said. “Depending on their purchases, we could hit them with specific ads based on what they’ve been buying in store.”
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