Loyalty Marketing

Deerfield Park, Ill. – The Walgreen Company won a North American Innovation in Loyalty Marketing award at the recent Colloquy Loyalty Awards. The award recognized Walgreens’ achievements with its Balance Rewards program.

Colloquy cited achievements such as obtaining 72 million members between its September 2012 launch and May 2013, as well as producing a year-over-year sales increase of 4.3% and year-over-year average basket size increase of 4.7% in May 2013.

New York – Barnes & Noble, Inc. is offering Member Appreciation Days, a special savings event for new and current Barnes & Noble loyalty members. Starting Sept. 26 through Sept. 29, members will receive a 20% in-store discount on products in Barnes & Noble stores nationwide including books, gifts, toys, games, movies, and café items.

Members already receive a 10% discount on most purchases, as well as 40% of hardcover books and online savings.

If it feels like summer just ended, that’s because it did: the first day of fall was Sept. 22. But you can bet your bottom dollar that retailers aren’t going to let a little thing like the calendar get in the way of moving forward with their holiday plans. In fact, if the recent spate of depressing economic news is any indicator, this year some brands might literally be betting their bottom dollar on the anticipated holiday sales boost.

In a move designed to expand its existing consumer base, Gerber has launched its 2013 photo search, leveraging social media to encourage parents or legal guardians of children up to 48 months of age to participate. 

Participants are asked to upload a recent photo of their children on the Gerber Facebook page for a chance to win a grand prize of $50,000 as well as the chance for their child to star in a future advertisement for Gerber. In addition, six Milestone winners will be selected based on Facebook fan votes. Photo entries are being accepted now through Oct. 27.

Retailers often assume that meeting the needs of the Millennial generation through technology is a highly specialized endeavor due to the unique experience these “digital natives” have had growing up in an IT-centric world. But before making that assumption, retailers should consider these words author Joyce Maynard, then a Yale freshman, wrote in her 1972 New York Times essay “An 18-Year-Old Looks Back on Life:”

Traditionally, retailers relied on advertising and direct response to succeed. To make more money, retailers simply let more people know about their stores and products.

Ann Arbor, Mich. – Domino’s Pizza begins a national campaign today promoting its enhanced online ordering profiles platform, allowing customers the ability to save information and reorder their favorite order in as little as five clicks, or about 30 seconds.

Customers who order at dominos.com can create their pizza profile by saving their favorite order, as well as address and payment information, then accessing the new 'Your Easy Order' and 'Your Recent Orders' sections in the future to reorder in as few as five clicks.

Walnut Creek, Calif. – While the percentage of retailers who think they know about their customers is rising, fewer retailers think they are proficient in using that knowledge for marketing purposes. According to a new study from RSR Research, “Retail Marketing 2013: Organizational Drift,” 36% of retail marketers said their customer loyalty program is a foundational element of their marketing strategy in 2013, compared to 32% last year.