Three ways to make customers fall in love with your brand

For the retail industry, Covid-19 has been a tale of two halves. Stocard’s data reveals that while grocery retailers saw a massive increase in store purchases immediately before and during Australia’s national lockdown, non-food retailers – particularly Fashion and Clothing and Health & Beauty suffered a significant drop in purchases. With a decrease of 66% and 31% in weekly in store purchases respectively during the lockdown phase.

However, Stocard’s research reveals that over the past year, the retail industry has made a remarkable recovery, with every category now performing better than prior to the lockdown phase. In fact, weekly Fashion and Clothing purchases are up 103%. It is truly a turnaround story.

Based on our own access to millions of Australian shoppers’ loyalty card usage data, I have identified three key areas retailers should focus on to continue to propel forward and build loyalty amongst their customers.

1. Capitalise on your customer’s data

Stocard’s data shows that a staggering 4 in 5 Australian Stocard users have a grocery loyalty card. That is approximately 4.2 million Stocard shoppers. Furthermore, 45% have a health and beauty card, 45% a department card and 46% a fashion loyalty card. Our data also reveals that Stocard users on average use the app 10 times per month and have 12 digital loyalty cards stored on the app.

With so many Stocard app users being part of loyalty programs, this presents a huge opportunity for Stocard to provide retailers with data about their most loyal customers. 

But what sorts of data can Stocard collect and how can it be used?

Through the app, Stocard can generate a variety of data points ranging from what time of day customers shop, what their food preferences are and whether they have kids. Such 1st party data provides a unique opportunity for retailers to create more personalised marketing programs and have more loyal and engaged customers.

For example, Woolies recently announced that they had invested in their loyalty platform Everyday Rewards and formally launched it in Tasmania where a legacy program had been in place previously. As a result, the membership base grew to 12.8 million by the end of December, and scan rates at Woolworths Supermarkets increased to 50.8%.

2. Focus on the brick-and-mortar store where you can create an emotional connection

While Amazon has been delivering a seamless and convenient way of shopping during the pandemic, the brick- and- mortar store still has a place in shopper’s hearts. In my opinion, Amazon lacks personalisation and misses the human touch that makes shopping experiences truly memorable.

This is an opportunity for brick and mortar shops to ‘double down on personalisation’ to continue driving shoppers in-store. What’s key is the omni-channel communication where retailers can engage with their customers via digital channels to encourage shoppers back into the store. There, consumers can interact with salespeople, further building emotional connections with the retailer and driving loyalty. Partnering with Stocard is a great way to creae an omni-channel customer experience.

3. Support sustainable retail because your shoppers do

Shoppers have cared about sustainability long before Covid-19 and this trend will continue to impact loyalty. Buyers will look to remain loyal to retailers that demonstrate action over platitudes; retailers that enable consumers to be part of the solution.

As sustainability grows in importance and moves to become a purchasing driver, retailers will need to focus more on delivering sustainable initiatives. For example, Coles supermarket recently announced that it will no longer sell single-use plastic tableware in all stores.  Which is believed to divert 1.5 million kilograms worth of single-use plastic from landfill each year.

At Stocard we are seeing more paper catalogues being replaced with a digital-only catalogue and more eco-friendly and cost- effective promotional materials being created. A mobile platform like Stocard is the perfect vehicle to relay offers and messages that point shoppers towards alternative more sustainable behaviours. Using Stocard’s app, shoppers can digitise their plastic loyalty cards for free and browse retailers catalogues digitally. Through these features, Stocard has replaced 700 million cards globally and 600 million printed offers. This is something that I am especially proud of.

We at Stocard are certainly excited for what is to come and how we can support our partners and the wider sector in these areas. If you would like to find out more about Stocard, please visit our website or reach out to me directly via LinkedIn.