Supermarket loyalty schemes are the most effective for retaining customers and encouraging spend.
The research by GI Insight showed that without their established schemes, the bigger supermarkets would be losing a higher proportion of customers to the value sector and seeing a more severe revenue slide.
“More than a year after the financial markets crisis began, economic fallout would surely have inspired the closure of at least some loyalty schemes if they were not considered valuable and contributive to the bottom line,” says GI Insight managing director Andy Wood.
Loyalty schemes in other sectors, including fashion, electronics and restaurants are less likely to deliver effective customer retention according to the research.
“Clearly, different industries are likely to obtain more positive result from their loyalty initiatives than others. Whilst it provides a snapshot of the current status quo, and reveals clear sector differences, the imaginative professional can also take this report as a wake-up call to implement a fresh initiative to rise above their industry average and achieve true competitive differentiation through their loyalty programmes in 2009.”
GI Instight also found that the influence of loyalty programmes reduces with age, and younger consumers are more likely to be swayed by loyalty offers than those over 45.
