Loyalty is not a supporting service. Every retailer knows that customer loyalty drives the business and drives financial gains as well as long term gains for every retailer.

“Customer loyalty is a business need because many brands offer good products, services and experience but that’s not all it takes to make them a repeat customer. Creating customer loyalty is all about creating a relationship with the customer that is not the earning-burning kind but about creating a bond — one that pushes them to create a positive word-of-mouth for your brand and thus bring more people to your store,” said Chandan Chakraborty, Head IT, 24 Seven.

Ajit Kolhe, Head IT (CIO), VIP Industries had an interesting take on customer loyalty, he said, “Loyalty fundamentally talks about generations of customers that are attached to a particular brand or product and have faith in that brand.” Kolhe went on to explain what according to him helps build loyalty. “Quality, cost, intime delivery service, and constant touch and engagement definitely make customers loyal,” he said.

Customer loyalty is a business need because many brands offer good products, services and experience but that’s not all it takes to make them a repeat customer. Creating customer loyalty is all about creating a bond with the customer.

It is becoming more and more crucial for retailers to adopt some form of loyalty inducer either through loyalty programmes or voucher promotions that not only get customers to increase their cart size by more upselling and cross-selling while also increasing their frequency of shopping and same-store-sale growth.

Narrating his experience with retailers enquiring about loyalty programmes, Ramanan Venkata, Director, Intellect Commerce said, “Retailers ask us whether loyalty programmes pay for themselves. We have been able to work with retailers to prove that loyalty pays for itself and much more.”

Also read: Customer is the king and the kingmaker

Beyond vouchers

Rewards, raffles, vouchers are loyalty inducers that have proven to work very well under certain contexts. However, timing the incentives right is really the key.

“We noticed that some of our customers were coming for shopping primarily on festivals and so their shopping was more need-based. So, we promoted instant rewards and gave instant gratification where we offered vouchers and coupons to promote customer delight and increase repeat purchases,” shared Jaideep Jaiman, VP- Analytics & Digital, V-Mart said.

Siddhant Khemani, Head - Marketing, Style Baazar also shared his experience with loyalty programmes, saying, “Post pandemic customers have been looking for more offers and instant gratification. And since loyalty programs are a form of delayed gratification that haven’t proven to work well in our segment. Things like vouchers and cashback have proven to work better as a means to generate repeat customers.”

Talking about his experience with Lulu Group’s loyalty initiatives Shibu Philips, Business Head, Lulu shared, “We know that when we reward customers with a voucher it directly leads them to the shop and we have seen that they buy five times the voucher amount. That’s what loyalty means to us, improvement in consumer spends and connectivity with the customers which improves the whole experience.”

Experts and seasoned retailers agree that incentivising customers with offers works but the biggest factor that keeps them coming back is how you make them feel when they shop with you and that is a sum total of everything from the location, ambience, product, pricing, offers, staff and finally your brand’s goodwill.

Also read: Winning ways

Article source: STOrai Magazine

Image source: Canva

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