Welcome back to the Wise Marketer! Each week, our team of editors curate a list of the latest customer loyalty, technology, and other relevant marketing news. Our goal is to make it simple for busy professionals to quickly digest important industry news and trending topics. Show your support by joining our mailing list to gain access to exclusive content, events, promotions, and more. Or simply enjoy today's newswire!
- Sam's Club and Synchrony debut rewards for Electric Vehicle (EV) owners
- View the results of the 2022 Annual Freddie Awards
- Ride-hailing company Ryde launches NFT project as part of its loyalty push
- PYMNTS and Paytronix collaborated to deliver a new report detailing consumer preferences towards restaurant, loyalty programs and subscriptions
- In-person Loyalty events return to India after pandemic
- Meta announces plans to open retail store in California to showcase virtual reality products
- Following the acquisition of 479 Sales & Marketing, The Bluebird Group adds Walmart as its latest retail partner
- ShelfNow becomes world's first blockchain-enabled B2B online marketplace
LOYALTY
Sam's Club and Synchrony Announce Rewards for Electric Vehicle Drivers
Highlight: In conjunction with Earth Day, Sam's Club (NYSE: WMT), a leading membership warehouse club, and Synchrony (NYSE: SYF), a premier consumer financial services company, today announced a reward on the Sam's Club Mastercard that provides additional value for cardholders when charging an electric vehicle (EV)... We are continuously evaluating credit card rewards and features that will recognize cardholders for doing things that make a difference, like choosing to personally help the environment by driving an electric vehicle," said Tom Quindlen, EVP and CEO of Diversified and Value, Synchrony.
2022 Annual Freddie Awards (31st) Results
Highlight: The 2022 Annual Freddie Awards recently announced the results of this year's event, which was held at The Boeing Center in New Orleans, LA. View the results.
Ryde debuts NFT collection in loyalty marketing push
Highlight: Ride-hailing company Ryde has launched its debut NFT project as part of its efforts to grow and strengthen its community of users. Additionally, the NFTs will serve as great tools for building loyalty among communities as it offers greater operational efficiencies in administering a membership program than traditional systems, Ryde's spokesperson told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE. We spent a lot of time thinking about how other NFT project communities and game developers keep their communities engaged, and reward desirable in-app activities. With this project, we hope to be able to deploy NFTs in a way that generates more real-world value, especially for the rapidly growing market segment of Singaporeans who hold crypto assets," the spokesperson said.
The Digital Divide: Regional Variations in US Food Ordering Trends and Digital Adoption
Highlight: Digital Divide: Regional Variations in US Food Ordering Trends and Digital Adoption, a PYMNTS and Paytronix collaboration, details findings from a survey of 2,553 United States consumers to find regional variation in consumers' views and attitudes toward restaurant ordering options, loyalty programs and subscriptions. Download the full report.
EVENTS
Loyalty Marketing in-person events returning to India!
Highlight: The 15th Edition of The Customer FEST Show is scheduled physically in-person on 11th – 12th May 2022 at JW Marriott, Mumbai. This is a 2-day event which will have 2 parallel tracks and a gala awards ceremony on day 1 in the evening. Close to 100+ speakers would contribute over 2 days of keynotes, curated panels, leadership conversations and deep dives.
Highlight: The Loyalty Academy will be holding its Inaugural Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional™ workshop in Mumbai on 28-30 June 2022 at the Taj Lands’ End. Sponsored by Epsilon and hosted by Strategic Caravan, the workshop will enable delegates to earn their full credentials as a CLMP™! Details available here.
RETAIL
Meta is opening its first retail store next month
Highlight: Meta is launching its first hardware retail store on its campus in Burlingame, California. The store, which opens May 9th, will let visitors try out and buy Meta’s Portal videophones and Quest virtual reality headsets. They’ll also be able to demo the Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses that debuted last year and get help ordering them online... The move is a significant foray into hardware sales for Meta, following the footsteps of companies like Google, which opened its first retail establishment last year after several more limited pop-up stores.
The Bluebird Group Adds Walmart As a Retail Partner
Highlight: The expansion adds to Bluebird's seasoned team of strategically-minded experts and allows them to offer a larger array of services designed to help in-demand brands become retail-ready and deliver their products in-store and online. "Our combined industry knowledge, data insights and analytics will provide our brand partners with the best services available," says Jason Kapsner, Founder & CEO of Bluebird. "The 479 team shares our mission – to be analytically forward-thinking and trusted stewards of our brand and retail partners. Their Walmart expertise is evident in their long-standing client relationships." Bluebird has strong relationships with retailers such as Target, Best Buy and Costco. The acquisition of 479 allows the company to expand their expertise to Walmart, Walmart.com and Sam's Club.
TECHNOLOGY
B2B marketplace ShelfNow becomes the world’s first blockchain-enabled marketplace
Highlight: In partnership with Trackgood, a New Zealand software company, ShelfNow is introducing blockchain capabilities to its platform to optimise transparency and ethical practices for its producers and buyers. By scanning a QR code on their smartphones, buyers can discover the places and faces of those involved in the supply chain. Philip Linardos, Co-founder and CEO of ShelfNow, said: “As consumers are becoming more aware and interested in ethical brands, there is a greater demand from buyers to work with transparent and ethical producers. The integration of blockchain technology will allow us to lead the way in enabling our buyers to discover like-minded producers and see proof of ethical claims that brands make. Furthermore, we are excited to be launching a programme to support our producers to introduce blockchain technology into their small businesses – something that would be difficult for SMEs without our support.”
Did you miss the previous newswire? Stay informed: Loyalty Newswire – April 18th, 2022
The Loyalty Newswire is compiled and edited by the staff at The Wise Marketer.
