Loyalty NewswireJuly 23, 2024

Here’s a Roundup of this week’s Loyalty and Digital Marketing News

Editor’s Note

Gaining transparency on loyalty program results has always been a challenge. Many brands do not disclose actual numbers and conference presentations often share only directional results. We have found that earnings call transcripts for public companies are one of the most reliable sources of this information. You can find an earnings calendar at Kiplingers here.

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Quick Global News Roundup

Here’s a Roundup of this week’s Customer Loyalty and Digital Marketing News

Woolworths and Coles take a different approach to POS redemption

Research from Finder found grocery bills were a major financial stressor for 40 per cent of Aussies – equivalent to 3.7 million households. This figure has more than doubled over the past four years. Echoing what we hear from markets worldwide, Australians are looking for the best value possible as the cost of living continues to bite and expect their loyalty programs to contribute to their monthly budgets.

It’s no surprise that shoppers noticed the difference in how they earn rewards differently between the two retailers when using a credit. Woolworths revealed the difference between the Everyday Rewards program and Coles Flybuys program after the latter changed how Flybuys points could be redeemed. Shoppers have been confused and “annoyed” after being served a new prompt at Coles checkouts to claim a $10 discount. Read about it here.

Domino’s Pizza highlights Loyalty program in Q2 Earnings call.

Domino’s Pizza, Inc. held its Q2 2024 Earnings Conference Call on July 18. In the transcript of that call, “Loyalty” was mentioned over 30 times. Domino’s execs cited that Americans continue to look for value and that, in its carryout business, orders with a loyalty redemption in the first half of 2024 are twice as high as they were in the first half of 2023 under the previous version of the loyalty program.

US same store sales continued to be primarily driven by transaction growth from the new loyalty program and a strong marketing programming. Domino’s CEO Russell Weiner stated “I’ll tell you Loyalty for us this year has just been tremendous. If you think about the objectives that we outlined in our Investor Day, we said with the new Loyalty program we wanted to drive light users and frequency. We wanted to continue obviously to drive our delivery customers, obviously we’re doing that, but we also wanted to engage our carryout customers.”

Delta Airlines Q2 Earnings Call highlights the power of Cobrand credit card.

Delta Airlines is experiencing some headwinds, but in its Q2 Earnings call, CEO Ed Bastian called out the importance of its SkyMiles American Express card to its business, saying “spend growth in our co-brand card portfolio is expected to continue outpacing the credit card industry. American Express Renumeration for the quarter was $1.9 billion, up 9% year-over-year.”

Bastian also commented, “More and more customers are joining our SkyMiles loyalty program and deepening engagement beyond flight, with about 30% of our active members carrying a Delta SkyMiles American Express credit card in their wallet. New card acquisitions are skewing younger, and the overall portfolio continues to shift to a more premium mix, positioning us well to achieve our long-term remuneration goal of $10 billion.

Delta is the outlier recovering from the CrowdStrike outage.

As reported in this article, “Chaos continues at Delta Air Lines as the carrier enters its fourth day of struggling with the fallout from Friday’s CrowdStrike outage. While other U.S. carriers’ operations are more or less back to normal, Delta has canceled more than 5,500 flights overall since Friday, more than half the number of flights the airline canceled in all of 2023, according to DOT statistics.”

Passengers have taken to social media saying the airline hasn’t honored its commitments to provide hotel and meal vouchers or offer rebooking options on other airlines. As a result, the Department of Transportation is now investigating Delta Air Lines to see why it lags competitors in recovery from the CrowdStrike outage. You have to ask the question: how do you balance the good news on the credit card front (previous article) with this operational nightmare. What impacts customer loyalty the most?

David’s Bridal launched Diamond High.

David’s Bridal the leading bridal and special occasion retailer in the US, announced the launch of Diamond High, an extension of David’s popular Diamond Loyalty Program.

The exclusive program offers members instant savings with 10% off homecoming dresses, accessories, shoes, and alterations, plus free gifts and additional perks.

A new international survey highlights the importance of Loyalty Programs.

According to the Voice of the Industry Survey 2024 conducted by Euromonitor (paid report), loyalty programs are gaining in traction. The survey showed that 39 percent of food-service experts believe the most important commerce-specific developments in the next year will be in customer-loyalty programs. It notes the importance of moving beyond the transactional and committing to hyper-personalization in consumer interactions.

DoorDash finds that Day Parts Matters to Restaurants.

DoorDash Canada has shared data from its annual Online Ordering Trends Report. It reports 45 percent growth in orders from 5 to 11 a.m. It’s also reporting positive movement in the stay-up-late sector, with 36 percent growth from midnight to 5 a.m.

Is it a surprise to learn that consumers are creatures of habit, with 33 percent of consumers placing repeat orders at least once a week in the same day part? This signals an opportunity for restaurants to pursue loyalty relationships based on the time of day that customers shop.

Vajro Acquires HouseParty Shopify App.

Vajro, a leading mobile app builder for e-commerce stores, announced the acquisition of HouseParty, a renowned Shopify app specializing in community building end engagement for Shopify brands across the globe. The move marks Vajro’s significant entry into the loyalty arena, aiming to create a comprehensive ecosystem that enhances customer loyalty and retention for e-commerce brands worldwide.

Vajro has been at the forefront of mobile app solutions, empowering online retailers to provide seamless and engaging shopping experiences. With the acquisition of HouseParty, Vajro is set to expand its product portfolio, offering a robust community platform to foster deeper connections between brands and their customers.

Pret a Manger Ditches Subscription Program.

Pret a Manger is terminating its subscription offering members “free drinks”, almost four years after the deal launched in the UK to attract customers back after the Covid pandemic. In a move that has upset some customers, the coffee chain said it was “time to rethink” the Club Pret offer.

Instead of providing five drinks a day and a 20% discount on food for a cost of £30 a month, it would charge £10 for a subscription for half-price drinks. UK managing director, Clare Clough commented “given the majority of our customers are not Club Pret subscribers, our priority now is to focus on better value for everyone.” Customer response has been highly negative in the early days following the announcement.

Citgo Testing New Initiatives for Loyalty Program.

Citgo Petroleum Corporation is launching a pilot program on its Club Citgo app, which will test customer-facing enhancements and technology upgrades. The pilot test will launch in Illinois, Indiana, New York, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Virginia.

According to the company, the primary purpose of the pilot is to test different types of rewards to understand which are most well-received and better serve Citgo customers. The rewards the pilot is testing include Premier status savings, Bonus rewards for super premium fuel purchases, and a combination of both initiatives. Stay tuned for results.

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