Loyalty NewswireAugust 05, 2024

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

Editor’s Note

Last week we highlighted the importance of taking a renaissance approach to driving your customer strategy. It’s important to track the macro influences of the world economy. This week we see many subtle changes to digital payment systems that could impact consumer behavior, while noticing that credit card balances held by US consumers have reached a 12-year high.

Another interesting news item reminds us of an important loyalty marketing best practice. In response to pressure from EU regulators, TikTok has agreed to cease the roll out of a “rewards program” encouraging increased screen time for European Union users This is a win for the EU as it cracks down on social media’s addiction risks and is a reminder of this best practice: you should design to encourage behaviors that are good for the customer as well as your enterprise.

Lastly, we are introducing a new Content Authenticity Statement for our website. We attest that 100% of this week’s newsletter was generated by the Editor and our staff, all humans. We routinely search using AI enhanced tools but everything we write and the perspectives we share are all human generated. We will never bow to a model based on “search, copy, tweak and paste.”

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Quick Global News Roundup

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

Grocer Sprouts announces plans to pilot loyalty program.

Announcing its Q2 Earnings, Sprouts CEO Jack Sinclair highlighted “we look forward to the future and the opportunities that loyalty, enhanced personalization and expansion will bring” adding “we recently started the beta test of the Sprouts reward program in Tucson and Nashville, one older market and one newer market.”

He continued “We’re in the test and learn phase of this project, as we gather feedback from our team and customers. We’re very early in our journey to build a loyalty program that excites and engages our customers while increasing their share of wallet with Sprouts.

Etsy set to launch first-ever loyalty program.

Etsy announced it will begin testing its first-ever loyalty program, a move designed to boost the e-commerce site’s sluggish sales. “Etsy Insider” will be a new buyer membership program. As the Etsy announcement reads “It’s an invite-only closed beta we’re rolling out to a select group of buyers in the United States this September.”

Etsy Insiders will get access to benefits like free US domestic shipping, a special birthday bonus, and a limited-edition tote bag created with an Etsy seller–Kerry Stokes of Etsy shop Calhoun and Co–to design. They will be working with select Etsy sellers to offer deals and drops–item discounts and first access merchandise for Etsy Insiders. Learn more here.

Jacksons Food Stores Unveils Next Generation Rewards Platform.

Jacksons Food Stores partnered with Bounteous x Accolite and PAR Retail to launch a new customer experience platform, which includes next-generation mobile apps and web integrations. The PAR Retail-designed customer loyalty platform overhauls Jacksons’ Let’s Go rewards program where purchases earn “stars” (points) that customers can use to select available rewards from a catalogue of freebies, including new healthy options. Every $1 purchase earns 10 stars.

Founded as a single service station by John D. Jackson in 1975, Jacksons Food Stores has grown into a chain of more than 300 company-operated locations in Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, California and Utah under the Jacksons Food Stores and ExtraMile by Jacksons c-store brands.

Delek US enters in agreement to divest retail stores to FEMSA (Mexico).

Delek US announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to sell 100% of the equity interests in the Delek subsidiaries that operate Delek’s retail business to a subsidiary of FEMSA for cash consideration of $385 million. The transaction is anticipated to close sometime late in the third quarter or in the fourth quarter 2024.

Delek US Retail is a leading convenience store chain with 249 corporate stores operating under the DK brand, primarily in the southwestern United States including locations in Texas and New Mexico. FEMSA is one of the largest conglomerates in Mexico with operations in over 17 countries

Mastercard announces Q2 Earnings.

Mastercard reported Q2 earnings to analysts on July 31, sharing in the earnings call that second quarter net revenues were up 13% and adjusted net income up 24% versus a year ago on a non-GAAP, currency neutral basis. A contributor to the results was revenue from value added services and solutions growing by 19% year-over-year on a currency neutral basis.

Michael Miebach, Mastercard Chief Executive Officer commented about services offered to improve MasterCard issuer portfolio performance, saying “For example, SEB in the Baltics is building their customer loyalty strategy together with Mastercard and Revolut is working with us to develop and execute their marketing strategy, launching campaigns across the U.K., Ireland and Italy.”

LifeVantage Optimizes Rewards Circle with New Benefits.

LifeVantage Corporation (Nasdaq: LFVN), a leading health and wellness company with products designed to activate optimal health processes at the cellular level, announced an exciting refresh to its Rewards Circle Customer loyalty program in its U.S., Australia and New Zealand markets.

The Rewards Circle refresh comes 16 months after launching the program in March 2023 as part of the Company’s LV360 initiatives. The latest enhancements to Rewards Circle were driven from Customer retention data since launch, while also making Subscriptions more lucrative for Consultants looking to grow their LifeVantage business.

Germany’s Baby Boomers Flip the Script on Digital Wallet Usage.

PYMNTS.com reports that nearly half (47%) Baby boomers and seniors in Germany use digital wallets for online shopping today, more than Generation Z consumers. PYMNTS Intelligence finds that once consumers in Germany store credentials and use a digital wallet, higher satisfaction levels with their customer experience are reported.

This and much more can be found in “Digital Wallets Beyond Financial Transactions: Germany Edition,” a PYMNTS Intelligence and Google Wallet collaboration. This report examines consumer perceptions and use of these wallets in the last year and into the future in the German market.

Takeaways from the Global Payments Forum

The Global Payments Forum brought together senior payments executives, global standard-setters, and technical experts to discuss payments innovation and efforts for more secure, faster, more transparent, and lower-cost payments. New technologies and modernized standards are yielding results, and speakers shared examples of progress being made today and visions for the payments systems of the future.

Fraud prevention was top of mind as AI-enabled scams have driven billions in losses and costs. Maintaining security and trust in payments is essential but expensive and requires sustained investment in new technology. Read more here.

UK regulators keen to understand the future of digital wallets.

On 15 July 2024, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Payment Services Regulator (PSR) published a call for information (CFI) on BigTech and digital wallets, which runs until 13 September 2024.

The CFI notes that the share of retail payments involving a digital wallet in the UK is growing (estimating that 14% of point-of-sale terminal transactions and 38% of e-commerce transactions, by value, involved a digital wallet in 2023) and as such, it is no surprise that regulators have been eager to better their understanding of how digital wallets are used. Here’s what you need to know.

Novae: Consumers want liquidity, freedom from their loyalty programs.

In this interview, Rodrigo McCarthy, executive board member at novae, said the travel industry is a category where consumers are increasingly looking for more flexible ways to make use of their reward balances. “Consumers now have more options,” he said. “They’re more demanding, and they expect more from their loyalty programs.”

“The consumer today is really looking for a true digital experience that gives them all of the liquidity and freedom to be able to use their points or their reward balances as they wish,” McCarthy said. He went on to say that consumers want options ranging from redeeming points for crypto or combining rewards with credit cards to redeem rewards “instantly at any Point of Sale around the world.”

Thailand’s Digital Wallet enabled Social Program triggers massive engagement.

In April 2024, Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin approved a $14 billion social program as a way to “resuscitate” the economy from a decade of low growth under the military-backed rule. As of this past week, it is reported that over 23.7 million Thais have registered their wishes to receive the 10,000-baht (about US$280) distribution via a digital wallet.

The program is expected to impact 76% of the 60 million population, so this week’s initial response represents over half of the overall goal. People who receive the benefit must spend the money within six months in the area where they live and can buy goods from small shops registered under the program. The Finance Ministry expects the cash handouts to add between 1.2 to 1.8 percentage points to the gross domestic product and propel growth next year to 5%.

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