In this week's Newswire you can enjoy a curated list of the latest customer loyalty, technology, payments, and other relevant marketing news. We include a spectrum of topics, all with the intention of keeping you informed and enabling you to star in your next big meeting.
The Loyalty Newswire makes it simple for busy professionals (e.g. YOU) to quickly digest important industry news and trending topics. Keep reading!
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Stay. Loyal. Always.
- Stories and Key Learnings from the Loyalty Summit CXM March 2023
- Tim Hortons in hot water again over Roll up to Win promotion miscue
- Yesway chooses Stuzo Wallet Steering loyalty platform for its customer loyalty program
- Kobie Named a Leader in Latest Loyalty Technology Report by Independent Research Firm
- Myer CEO hails company investment into rewards program
- Epsilon Loyalty Lab is coming to Austin, Texas on April 18, 2023
- Hot Takes this Week
- Quote of the Week
Stories and Key Learnings from the Loyalty Summit CXM March 2023
The first European Loyalty Summit CXM took place in Zurich last week. Co-chaired by Phil Rubin, Iain Pringle, Mike Atkin, and David Slavick, the conference promised a packed agenda of insight, case studies and inspiration. As you read this conference summary report courtesy of Charlie Hills, Mando-Connect, you will see that it didn’t disappoint. Presentations from the CX Academy, Antavo, Comarch, Kognitiv, Loyalty Observatory (Italy), Mando-Connect, and Samsung were highlights of the three-day agenda. A keynote from Rory Sutherland, Vice Chair of Ogilvy & Mather challenged all who attended to take their loyalty knowledge and stretch it to benefit their enterprise. This was a first-time event and was very well received. The conference organizers are planning a US event this summer in Washington, D.C.
Tim Hortons in hot water again over Roll up to Win promotion miscue
Michaels is the largest arts and crafts retail chain in North America, operating 1,275 stores in 49 states and Canada, and online at Michaels.com and Michaels.ca. Working with Comenity Capital Bank, a subsidiary of Bread Financial, Michaels is releasing its new credit card as another enhancement to its Michaels Rewards Program. The Michaels Credit Card offers exclusive perks including up to 9 percent in rewards every day (3-6 percent for non-cardholders in the rewards program and 3 percent additional for cardholders), savings of 20 percent of a first purchase using the Michaels Credit Card and periodic free shipping on online orders.
Yesway chooses Stuzo Wallet Steering loyalty platform for its customer loyalty program
Stuzo and Yesway, one of the country’s fastest growing convenience store chains, announced Yesway’s switch to Stuzo to power the award-winning Yesway and Allsup’s Rewards customer loyalty program. “We’re thrilled to partner with Stuzo and re-launch our programs with their Wallet Steering capabilities,” said Darrin Samaha, VP of Marketing at Yesway. “When we first launched Yesway Rewards, we created a foundation for rewarding our customers. Over time, we realized we had the opportunity to go so much further. Through our partnership with Stuzo, we’re confident we can build on our past success and scale up our program compared to where we are today in ways that matter most to our business – member count and transaction volume paired with profitable incremental bottom-line growth. Stuzo is the only provider of Wallet Steering®, powered by its Open Commerce® product bundle.
Kobie Named a Leader in Latest Loyalty Technology Report by Independent Research Firm
The Forrester Wave™️: Loyalty Technology Solutions, Q1 2023 Report was released on March 15, and Kobie, a global leader in loyalty marketing, announced that it has been named a Leader in the report. Forrester evaluated 12 companies that offer loyalty technology solutions, and the research categorizes these companies as Leaders, Strong Performers and Contenders based on their current offering, approach to the market (strategy), and market presence. Kobie was cited as one of the three Leaders in the space and scored the highest possible score in eight criteria of the evaluation categories including, Member Preference Management, Program Definition and Structure, Fraud Management, Marketer User Experience, Emotional Loyalty Measurement, and Program KPI Measurement.
Myer CEO hails company investment into rewards program
Myer operates 57 department stores across Australia and is known as “Australia’s favourite department store”. The merchandise offer includes Womenswear; Menswear; Childrenswear; Beauty; Homewares; Electrical Goods; Toys and General Merchandise. MYER one, has more than six million digitally contactable members. Members earn Credits on purchases at Myer that convert into Reward Cards on a quarterly basis. Members receive a $10 Reward Card for every 1000 points collected. Myer CEO John King discussed his company’s investment into Myer One rewards, which has resulted in nearly 75 per cent of sales going through the program. He said Myer One was a “diamond in the rough” before they decided to join it with online and physical shopping. “It gives us really good first-party data in which to understand what you as a shopper want to buy and we see what you are buying and then we will then try and tailor our communication to you so that we keep you interested and engaged with us,” Mr. King told Sky News Business Editor Ross Greenwood.
Epsilon Loyalty Lab is coming to Austin, Texas on April 18, 2023
The Epsilon Loyalty Lab is the first-of-its-kind event and we are offering Wise Marketer Newsletter subscribers the opportunity to request information here before event registration is opened to the general public. This one-day event is jointly hosted jointly by The Wise Marketer Group and Epsilon with supporting sponsors The Loyalty Academy and Adobe. The theme of this exclusive, high touch seminar and workshop is ”Moving beyond transactional loyalty”, where we will address the relationships between Customer Experience, Customer Engagement and Customer Loyalty.
Hot Takes This Week
- Canadian Tire launched a fee-based Triangle Rewards subscription program for $89/year. “In a year where customers are spending more purposefully, the Triangle Select program offers Canadians a new way to stretch their dollars and earn even more rewards on their everyday purchases,” said Jason Blanchette, senior vice-president of loyalty and customer insights at Canadian Tire Corp.
- Kampgrounds of America (KOA), a leader in outdoor hospitality, announces an overhaul of the long-running loyalty program, KOA Rewards. The revamped KOA Rewards simplifies campers’ point-earning and redemption process and allows them to use points for discounts when booking stays through KOA.com
- springbig, a provider of SaaS-based marketing solutions, introduced a new integration with Alleaves, a seed-to-sale tech company. The partnership is designed to ease the process of growing and maintaining a strong loyalty and communications program for the cannabis retailer.
- The CRMC made its first announcement of brand presenters for its 2023 event to be held in Chicago June 7-9, 2023. Brands announced include Adidas, Build-a-Bear Workshop, Chico’s, GNC, Lifetime, London Drugs, Majid Al Futtam, Nascar, NBA, Pep Boys and Sonesta. More announcements will be coming soon.
- CCG announced its study of Top Retailers for Customer Loyalty. You can download the report here or access it via the Vault if you are a Loyalty Academy Member or CLMP™
- Latinos will be the future drivers of US spending according to this report. With Latinos being younger, having larger households, and achieving higher education levels, they will be the workforce that will be spending money on their households, caring for the aging cohort, and paying into the systems that will sorely need the funding. Read more here.
Quote of the Week
This week’s quote is related to last week’s bankruptcy filing by Loyalty Ventures, owners of Air Miles in Canada, and the reported proposed sale of Air Miles to Bank of Montreal. Air Miles president Shawn Stewart called the deal a “significant step forward in solidifying the future of the Air Miles program” and went further to say the deal has “no impact on Air Miles collectors’ reward miles balances or on collectors’ ability to collect and redeem Air Miles reward miles.” We agree that Air Miles positioning as a rewards platform for BMO is wise and don’t doubt that collector Air Miles balances are secure, but wonder how the transition will affect consumer confidence in Air Miles as well as Canadian loyalty programs overall.
