With mobile loyalty programs increasingly becoming the rule rather than the exception in most developed markets, successful case studies are worth their weight in gold to loyalty marketers—which is why we’re always on the lookout for a good one. This month’s case study takes us to Australia, where fashion retailer Country Road is leveraging mobile loyalty to generate incremental sales.
By Rick Ferguson
Australia’s CMO magazine has the story, which details the mobile loyalty efforts of Country Road, the Woolworth’s-owned middle market family fashion retailer with 68 free-standing and 77 shopping mall locations in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The retailer’s Cardholder program offers four tiers based on spend, with rewards including welcome gifts, anniversary vouchers, VIP tailoring services, and personal shopping assistants. According to CMO, about 70-80 percent of Country Road revenue comes from loyalty program members.
The company had traditionally communicated offers to members via email, but the realization that 63 percent of their online traffic comes via mobile device prompted the retailer to move boldly into the mobile loyalty landscape. Engaging German mobile loyalty provider Stocard, which offers a multi-merchant mobile loyalty platform with over 70,000 Country Road customers already using the app, the retailer devised a four-month A/B mobile loyalty test centered on geo-push notifications whenever Stocard users traveled near a Country Road retail store.
And the results? Money quote from CMO:
“Over the four-month campaign, Country Road ran eight campaigns and saw a significant lift in incremental sales of more than 21 per cent among exposed customers. For every dollar spent on the campaign, Country Road generated an additional 8.95x incremental return – close to $9 of incremental value. ‘So far, we’ve found all our mobile engagement channels have been very effective at driving in-store transactions, sales and traffic than online channels,’ said [Country Road channels manager, Paul Conti]. ‘I think there’s an assumption that digital marketing strategies drive digital results, but a few times now we’ve proved that isn’t the case – it’s driving instore sales.’”
A mobile-first loyalty play driving in-store sales? Yes, please. Country Road’s test a prime example of contextual loyalty: bringing rewards and recognition to consumers on their terms, and integrating loyalty into their lives in a way that brings value both to customers and brands. We’ll be seeing more such success stories from around the world – and we’ll bring them to you here.
Rick Ferguson is Editor in Chief of the Wise Marketer Group and a Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional (CLMP).
