Abstract
The purpose of this study is to understand how loyalty programs represent a specific area with specific rules to be efficient and attracting customers with special rewards requires constant adaptation in the approach of driving a promotional strategy. Among the changes associated with the evolution of customer behavior and competitors landscape the objective of this paper will be to link loyalty program issues with an Irish retailer i.e. Dunnes Store. The analysis identifies how theories of service failure and recovery relate to the requirements for building an efficient loyalty strategy for retailers. The ways in which marketers are driving their promotional strategy to retain customers demonstrates how a strategy requires constant updates, originality and communication. This is a primarily conceptual and theoretical approach with substantive reference to magazines ads, which remains at the general level rather than looking in detail at different kinds of strategies use advertiser to drive their communication strategies to target women in magazines. This form of analysis could contribute to critical thinking about the practical implication of driving a loyalty program and specifically working with loyalty card program.
Extract
[...] According to Levy & Weitz7, the researcher's work is structured around the Gap 1 which refers to a lack of marketing research orientation, inadequate upward communication and too many layers of management (Parasuraman et al., 1985). Retailers believe in loyalty programs; a study of 2006 shows that top sixteen European retailers are spending over billion annually on loyalty cards and similar initiatives8. Several researchers also suggest that loyalty cards have a life cycle9: It may be a part of an effective strategy when introduced into a market, but over time, loyalty cards lose its effectiveness. In fact the customers get habituated to the cards. Promotion is a wide area belonging with the gap 1. [...]
[...] All this measures would present advantages to recruit customers who are shopping at Dunnes Store Georges Street but who have not already the Loyalty Card. According to my contact in Dunnes Store H.Q, Connor Nott, here are some solutions which can be easily implemented, like the online club card game. But for another part the "in-store" solutions would be a too expensive for Dunnes Store. In fact local solution would be not only implemented in Dunnes Store Georges Street, but also in all Dunnes Stores present in Ireland. [...]
[...] Their employees don't always have to be willing to help customers. - E13. It is okay if they are too busy to respond to customer requests promptly. - E14. Customers should be able to trust employees of these firms. - E15. Customers should be able to feel safe in their transactions with these firms' employees. - E16. Their employees should be polite. - E17. Their employees should get adequate support from these firms to do their jobs well. - E18. [...]
[...] Employees are always free to help the customer and work with them to enhance their buying experience. The store of Georges Street looks new, clean, and well organised. That's why the customer is able to find what he wants to, and also use in a better way his club card. The Dunnes store website is well-built to facilitate the navigation and to allow customers to manage their club card. The problem with the website is that the customer can't know what the specifics promotions available in his local store are. [...]
[...] The principle would be to create a dynamic page on the website which proposes tools (sharps, themes, etc.) and colours to custom the card. The best cards customized would be designed by others customers who we be able to see customized cards on a special gallery and the possibility to click and vote for them. This game has to be promoted, through in-store information on Georges street store. For another part, Dunnes has to re work its club card and reward system to motivate people to buy more and use more the loyalty card. [...]
