Loyalty Programs
April 18, 2016 at 11:11 am
Amazon will offer a monthly version of its Prime membership program in a move that challenges rival Netflix and gives customers new subscription options. Starting Sunday, the Seattle-based retail giant will sell a monthly Prime membership for its video streaming service at $8.99 per month — one dollar less than Netflix’s standard offering — along with a $10.99 per month option…
April 8, 2016 at 10:08 am
Did you know 90 percent of shoppers use their smartphones to make purchasing decisions while in-store? According to SessionM, the top activities consumers perform on their smartphones are comparing prices, researching product information and reading online reviews. Additionally, Forbes surveyed more than 1,600 millennials and found 47 percent had recently downloaded a mobile shopping app.…
April 1, 2016 at 9:39 am
Wal-Mart is rolling out new cash-back rewards for its credit and prepaid cards. The retailer's cards — the Wal-Mart MasterCard, Wal-Mart credit card and prepaid MoneyCards — will now offer 3 percent back on purchases made on Walmart.com, 2 percent back on fuel purchases at Wal-Mart or Murphy USA gas stations, and 1 percent back on…
March 14, 2016 at 12:37 pm
Two powerful forces are shaping today's retail sector. Separately, each can pose huge challenges if not harnessed correctly. However, combined they can create vast opportunities for deeper, modernized customer loyalty. The first phenomenon is data. Retailers have access to tons of detailed data about today's customers — information from websites, email lists, social media, online…
March 2, 2016 at 11:34 am
Loyalty programs have come a long way in recent decades. In their early years, they were little more than simple, dubious rewarding schemes. At worst, customers sacrificed their hard-earned dollars for a cheap glass or other trinket they neither needed nor wanted. At best, a company account paid for the trinket and the superfluous gift…
February 23, 2016 at 11:49 am
Starbucks has one of the most successful loyalty programs in the world of retail and restaurants, with over 11 million active members. But the coffee chain is overhauling its “Starbucks Rewards” program in part to fix a problem that's bedeviled it for years: slow service at the cash register. Under the current program, Starbucks awards members one…
February 23, 2016 at 11:27 am
Even without a Prime membership, Amazon always offered free (and slow) shipping for orders over a certain minimum. For the longest time, that minimum was $25, but in 2013, the company raised it to $35. In its latest move to push its $99 per year Prime membership with free two-day shipping, the company has now quietly…
January 28, 2016 at 12:49 pm
Loyalty programs are in need of careful examination to the point of reshifting focus in 2016. Nearly 90 percent of consumers view loyalty programs in a negative light, according to a Capgemini Consulting analysis of close to 40,000 consumer conversations on social media. The reason? In a digital age, many retailers fall short in offering…
January 18, 2016 at 9:34 am
An Amazon.com customer sued the marketplace over allegations that it charged him for its Amazon Prime program without his consent, according to the Courthouse News Service. "Gregory Harris filed the suit Wednesday against Amazon.com, alleging unfair competition and violations of consumer law and the federal Electronic Transfer Act," according to the Courthouse News Services story.…
January 12, 2016 at 9:59 am
I like to remind folks that consumers are actually people who happen to shop once and a while and look for something beyond “stuff.” This past May, I talked about one retailer’s return to past glories, and what I saw for its brick-and mortar future. Here's why chic beats cheap every time. Cheap Chic Recaptivates…
