Welcome back to The Wise Marketer. Every Monday, our team of editors curate a list of the latest customer loyalty, marketing, and other relevant news. Our goal is to make it simple for busy professionals to quickly digest important news and trending topics. Show your support by joining our mailing list to gain access to exclusive content, events, and promotions. Or you could just follow us on social media!
- Ford enhances its remote vehicle services while expanding FordPass Rewards to all customers
- Claire's begins the rollout of its first loyalty program in the UK
- Casey's General Stores releases new and improved breakfast menu featuring handmade sandwiches
- Supermarket chain Tesco trials zero-waste shopping service at 10 locations in England
- Square announces plans to enable Cash App users to make in-store payments
- Chinese regulators force Alipay to create separate app for its loans business, and turn over user data to the government
- The UAE becomes the latest country to introduce a federal data protection law
- The Biden administration has made $482 million available to assist the aviation industry
LOYALTY PROGRAM NEWS:
Ford Expands Remote Vehicle Services, Adds Rewards Program
Highlight: Starting Monday, Ford is expanding FordPass Rewards program by making it available to all of its 8.5 million members nationwide. The automaker is also strengthening its FordPass Rewards program by adding tiers — blue, silver, and bronze levels — to reward and recognize its most loyal customers. Members in the top two tiers, blue and silver, will be eligible for annual complimentary pickup and delivery services… “With remote services proving critical during the pandemic, we’re now making it widely accessible to Ford owners,” says Elena Ford, chief customer experience officer at Ford. “It’s our job to look after our customers, and being flexible, respecting their time and giving them peace of mind through services like pickup and delivery is one way we can do that. Coupled with tiers, which provides yet another way to engage with the FordPass Rewards program, we are helping to ensure the value of owning a Ford vehicle gets better over time.”
Claire's Launches First UK & ROI Loyalty Programme
Highlight: “We are excited to begin the rollout of our Claire's rewards loyalty program in Europe with our initial launch this week in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland!” said Kristin Patrick, executive vice president, chief marketing officer (CMO). “We are always finding ways in which we can gratify our customers, and with the launch of the loyalty programme we can offer many great benefits, giving them more engaging touch-points with the Claire's brand that generations of trend-conscious girls and women have grown to love!” The new Claire's Rewards program embodies all that customers love about their favourite loyalty programs – cash rewards, discounts and special offers, many ways to earn and exclusive member privileges, such as free shipping and birthday surprises – all for free!
RETAIL NEWS:
Casey's General Stores Enhances Breakfast Menu
Highlight: Casey's General Stores Inc. is introducing its first-ever breakfast menu featuring a handmade signature handheld sandwich that starts with Casey's made-from-scratch dough, a loaded breakfast burrito, and a loaded breakfast bowl. These breakfast food additions are paired with a new fresh-brewed, bean-to-cup coffee program and the retailer's iconic breakfast pizza, which celebrates its 20th birthday this month. “This new lineup is the most significant step in the past 40 years for Casey's food journey,” Chief Merchandising Officer Tom Brennan told Convenience Store News. “Casey's has always set an early morning alarm to start the coffee and roll out our made-from-scratch dough. Now, we're serving new and improved breakfast items and bean-to-cup coffee that will 'wow' our regular guests and attract new ones.”
Tesco zero-waste trial launches at 10 stores in England
Highlight: Customers will be able to buy common household goods in reusable packaging that can be returned to the store to be used again. This follows a year-long online pilot where customers could order products and return packaging from their doorsteps. The trial aims to meet demand for less single-use plastic packaging. Tesco says that if customers at the 10 stores were to switch just three products in their weekly shop, such as tomato ketchup, a bottle of soft drink and washing-up liquid, the packaging would be used and reused more than two-and-a-half million times a year.
PAYMENTS NEWS:
Square will let Cash App users make in-store payments with mobile wallet
Highlight: Square Inc. plans to let users of its Cash App mobile wallet make purchases with the app when shopping at merchants that use its payment-processing technology, as the fintech company looks to drive integration between the consumer and vendor sides of its business. The company announced Monday that Cash App users will be able to make in-store payments with the app either by scanning a Square merchant’s QR code or by pressing a button on the mobile app. The company is starting to roll out the Cash App Pay technology to retail operators as a software update. The ability for Cash App users to make in-store payments using the app has been a “frequent request” among the customer base, Cash App lead Brian Grassadonia said in a release.
China to Split Loan Business From Alipay, Calls on Ant Group to Turn Over User Data
Highlight: Beijing wants to break up Alipay, the superapp owned by Jack Ma’s Ant Group which has more than 1bn users, and create a separate app for the company’s highly profitable loans business, as it intensifies a crackdown on China’s big tech groups. Chinese regulators have already ordered Ant to separate from its main business the company’s two lending units — Huabei, which is similar to a traditional credit card, and Jiebei, which makes small unsecured loans — into a new entity and bring in outside shareholders. Officials now want these lending businesses to have their own independent app as well. The plan would also require Ant to turn over the user data that underpins its lending decisions to a new and separate credit scoring joint-venture that would be partly state-owned, according to two people briefed on the process.
DATA & PRIVACY NEWS:
UAE Announces New Federal Data Law
Highlight: This week, the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications (the “Minister”) announced that the UAE would introduce a new federal data protection law (“Data Protection Law”), the first federal law of its kind in the UAE. The Data Protection Law is one of the initiatives to be implemented under the recently published “Principles of the 50,” a charter of 10 strategic principles that will guide the political, economic and social development of the UAE for the next 50 years… According to the Minister, the Data Protection Law will “guarantee personal privacies and the ability for the private sector to grow, innovate, and prosper. It gives individuals the right to be forgotten, the right of access, the right of correction, and the right to be informed.”
TRAVEL & HOSPITALITY NEWS:
Saving up to 22,500 aviation jobs? Biden administrations to give aircraft companies $482M
Highlight: The Biden administration is making $482 million available to aviation industry manufacturers to help them avert job or pay cuts in the pandemic. The taxpayer-funded relief will cover up to half of the payroll costs at 313 companies, according to the Transportation Department, which said Thursday will help save up to 22,500 jobs… The relief is similar to a much larger aid program for U.S. airlines, which have received $54 billion in the past year and a half. The airlines also agreed not to furlough any workers, but they eliminated tens of thousands of jobs anyway by offering incentives for employees to quit or retire early.
Did you miss last week's newswire? Stay informed: Loyalty Newswire – September 7th, 2021
The Loyalty Newswire is compiled and edited by the staff at The Wise Marketer.