HTTP/1.1 302 Found Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2014 05:26:09 GMT Server: Apache Set-Cookie: NYT-S=0M5.eUzbMXx6fDXrmvxADeHItkGYe9Xt7KdeFz9JchiAIUFL2BEX5FWcV.Ynx4rkFI; expires=Wed, 12-Feb-2014 05:26:09 GMT; path=/; domain=.nytimes.com Location: http://ift.tt/1hgaGT0 Content-Length: 0 Cneonction: close Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8 HTTP/1.1 200 OK Server: Apache Cache-Control: no-cache Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 Content-Length: 30476 Accept-Ranges: bytes Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2014 05:26:09 GMT X-Varnish: 537084305 537084217 Age: 3 Via: 1.1 varnish Connection: keep-alive X-Cache: HIT
http://nyti.ms/1cTjkVU
Sears Holdings’ Shop Your Way rewards program accounted for 70 percent of the company’s sales in last year’s third quarter.
Its logo may not be prominent in stores, but GE Capital Retail Bank has a hand in the branded credit cards of tens of thousands of retailers, including J.C. Penney, Walmart and the Gap.
Now, the bank is going deeper into retailers’ territory, and the lives of their customers, by getting into the business of loyalty programs.
GE Capital and a partner are teaming up on a new product, to be announced this week, to help retailers set up and maintain loyalty programs that will create a unified profile for shoppers. That means they can be monitored across any platforms they might use to interact with the company, like Facebook, Foursquare or an app, and their purchases can be integrated into that profile regardless of how they pay.
The product is called Integrated Multi-Tender Loyalty and is being developed with Kobie Marketing, a company that builds loyalty programs. It will allow customers to sign up for a credit card that feeds into the program and for which the retailer can devise reward programs.
Many retailers are already trying similar strategies on their own, but GE Capital, which works with 175,000 retailers on branded credit cards, sees loyalty programs as an area that is “growing like crazy,†according to Toni White, the bank’s chief marketing officer.
Ms. White said some of the bank’s retail clients had requested just this sort of service.
“The moment is out there, and they’re seeing it too,†she said.
Membership and loyalty programs have been a part of the retail landscape for years, but they have become increasingly important as retailers vie for customers both online and in their physical stores. Best Buy started a revamped loyalty program in the fall, in the weeks leading up to the holiday season. Sears Holdings is putting huge emphasis on its Shop Your Way rewards program, which accounted for 70 percent of the company’s sales in the third quarter of last year. And from high-end retailers like Saks Fifth Avenue to discounters like Target, loyalty is an important strategy to thrive — or survive — in a challenging new landscape.
“This is an era of unprecedented change for retail,†said John J. Mulligan, chief financial officer of Target. “In order to win,†he continued, stores must keep “guests engaged with you as a business.â€
Loyalty programs are essentially an exchange of information for incentive. Companies want to know as much as possible about their customers, and what they buy, in order to sell them relevant products more often. In exchange, customers expect some kind of discount, early access to sales or, especially on the higher end, the first crack at new merchandise, like a new spring collection of clothing.
However, in light of the enormous data breach at Target over the holiday season, in which up to 110 million people’s information was stolen — including names and email addresses the company collected over time from a variety of sources, including its REDcard loyalty members — a trove of data on customers can take on an unnerving aspect.
Nonetheless, some analysts say that the payoff of a well-planned program can be substantial, and that it costs less to retain a customer than it does for a retailer to go out and market itself to a new one.
Perhaps no retailer has focused on its membership program more than Sears Holdings. The company, which has been struggling for years, has said that it wants to move away from being a traditional retailer and become a “member-centric†company.
“Members buy more, spend more and visit more often,†said Leena Munjal, senior vice president for customer experience and integrated retail at Sears Holdings.
But Emily M. Collins, an analyst at Forrester, said that a wide assortment of merchandise could actually make loyalty programs more difficult to run effectively. A store selling outdoor equipment, for example, has a customer base that is easy to predict and understand. If winter is coming, promotions for ski boots are likely to appeal to customers who have bought ski equipment before. But for stores with widely varying merchandise, like a Sears or a Target, accurately tailoring deals can be harder.
So far, while its membership program has become an enormous part of its business, Sears has continued to struggle. It released grim holiday results last week, reporting that sales at its Sears stores in the United States dropped 9.2 percent in the nine-week period that ended Jan. 4. Sales during that period at Kmart stores open at least a year fell 5.7 percent.
Not every retailer is sold on the virtue of loyalty programs. Walmart does not offer loyalty cards, for example, though it does have a credit card with GE Capital. And Ms. Collins of Forrester said that certain grocery store chains had recently given them up.
It is at grocery stores, some analysts say, that the least-useful incarnation of a loyalty program can often be found, at least from the store’s perspective: when customers forget the cards that help the store keep track of them, but they get discounts anyway.
“When the cashier says, ‘Oh, I’ll take care of you,’ that’s what you’re hoping not to do,†said Alison Kenney Paul, vice chairwoman and United States retail and distribution leader at Deloitte. “That just gives margin away, and it doesn’t help you. I was already in the store.â€
More on nytimes.com
- © 2014 The New York Times Company
- Contact Us
- Work With Us
- Advertise
- Your Ad Choices
- Privacy
- Terms of Service
- Terms of Sale
more
{ 0 comments... » GE Capital to Help Set Up Loyalty Programs for Retailers read them below or add one }
Post a Comment