Here's what you need to know: Stein Mart updates its loyalty program to drive foot traffic, Lyft overhauls its driver rewards program, Korean blockchain startup is creating a trading platform for loyalty points, Amazon is only helping itself, and here's a tip: take a vacation before your points expire ...
Loyalty Program Announcements
Stein Mart Updates Loyalty Program: Everything You Need To Know
Quotable: “The company said it expects to re-engage its current credit card holders while acquiring new cardholders to help drive more foot traffic into its stores as well as customers online. The decision to enhance its rewards program comes as many retailers are faltering as consumers choose e-commerce sites over brick-and-mortar locations.”
Lyft overhauls its driver rewards program to take on Uber Pro
Quotable: “At the highest level, you can get perks like trip information before accepting a ride, qualify for a monthly credit for AT&T phone plans, get 5 percent cash back at gas stations, and call for free, 24/7 roadside assistance.”
Loyalty Strategy
A Guide To 'Fan-First' Marketing In A Transformative Industry
Quotable: “Brand marketers also need clarity on the experience attendees have at their events, with a focus on meaningful engagement as opposed to attendance numbers. Instead of leaning on event producers and promoters to provide deeper understanding of attendees, various tools have emerged for taking a deep dive into consumer demographic and psychographic insights alongside actionable data.”
This Startup Is Building A Secondary Market For Frequent Flier Miles
Quotable: “In the case of Mil.k (an abbreviation for the Mileage token), its founders are literally creating a secondary market where loyalty points of various companies can be traded and monetized. The Korea-based blockchain startup is building a platform where the price of points are shown in real-time based on supply and demand.”
New Study Shows Too Many Travelers Let Airline and Hotel Rewards Expire
Quotable: “According to a new report released by Bankrate.com, in a survey of 2,558 U.S. adults, almost half (46 percent) of all enrollees in airline or hotel rewards programs have let their points or miles expire somewhere along the line. And, among credit card rewards program members, 29 percent admit to having allowed their accumulated points or miles expire.”
Education
Last Call: Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional (CLMP) Workshop
Quotable: “For those who wish to achieve the distinction of Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional™ (CLMP) all at once, the Academy offers an annual certification workshop. This is an in-person event led by senior faculty members of the Academy over a 3-day period. The workshop is intense and covers all core modules plus some of the elective topics offered in the full curriculum.”
Retail
Amazon sellers say online retail giant is trying to help itself, not consumers
Quotable: “Amazon has become a powerful marketplace alongside its role as an online retailer, with more than 2.5 million third-party sellers who have become global businesses on its platform. Early on, Amazon compelled sellers to use its warehouses to guarantee speedy Prime shipping, in addition to other programs that largely benefited consumers. But now, sellers and former employees familiar with Amazon’s internal strategy say the company is increasingly focused on boosting its profits on the backs of its sellers ...”
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial stupidity: ‘Move slow and fix things’ could be the mantra AI needs
Quotable: “The “move fast and break things” ethos embodied by Facebook’s rise to internet dominance is one that has been borrowed by many a Silicon Valley startup: develop and swiftly ship an MVP (minimal viable product), iterate, learn from mistakes, and repeat. These principles are relatively harmless when it comes to developing a photo-sharing app, social network, or mobile messaging service, but in the 15 years since Facebook came to the fore, the technology industry has evolved into a very different beast.”
Mobile
Consumers View Mobile Payments As Poorly Protected Against Financial Loss
Quotable: “The good news for mobile-payments proponents is that Pew found more than half, 56%, of its respondents had made a payment with a smart phone in the preceding year. Extrapolated, that means approximately 143 million adults had made a least one mobile payment over that time, according to Pew, citing U.S. Census Bureau population data.”
The Loyalty Newswire is compiled and edited by the staff at The Wise Marketer.
