Welcome back to the Wise Marketer! That is, if you've been here before! 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!
- Hyundai, Avis, Lyft and State Farm lead the automotive sector in loyalty
- Natural Grocers's 1.6 million {N}power loyalty members accounted for 73% of net sales
- New retail partnership brings Petco shops to select Lowe's locations
- 7-Eleven named Best Overall Digital Transformation at the Modern Retail Awards
- Entries to the International Loyalty Awards 2022 will be accepted until 14 February 2022
- Bank Indonesia, in collaboration with ACI Worldwide, launches national digital payment infrastructure dubbed BI-FAST
- For the second time, Meta threatens to pull Facebook and Instagram from Europe over privacy disputes
- Recent study finds more women in senior executive and leadership roles
LOYALTY PROGRAM NEWS
Hyundai, Avis, Lead Automotive Sector Loyalty
Highlight: Hyundai, Avis, Lyft and State Farm are among the leaders in loyalty in the automotive sector, according to Brand Keys. Those four brands were tops in their respective sub-categories of vehicles, car rental, ride share and insurance. Other automotive sector brands that best met expectations and engaged consumers in 2022 included Curb (taxi hailing), Exxon Mobil (gasoline) and Via (carpooling), according to the Brand Keys Silver Anniversary Customer Loyalty Engagement Index. Automotive sector leaders reveal a radically widening gap between customer expectations and brand delivery, as well as a more emotional consumer decision-making process, according to Robert Passikoff, Brand Keys founder and president.
How Natural Grocers' health loyalty program is powering growth
Highlight: Natural Grocers’s {N}power membership ranks have steadily ticked up over the past two years. With its large assortment of supplements and strict product standards, the grocer has been able to draw in a sizable number of shoppers looking to take preventive health measures during the pandemic. But the company has also done its fair share to make sure it’s converting new shoppers into loyalty members. Last summer, Natural Grocers revamped its {N}power program to add more benefits as well as streamline point and reward accumulation.
RETAIL NEWS
Lowe's, Petco to Harness the Power of Home and Pets with New Store-in-Store Concept
Highlight: The first Lowe's + Petco store-in-store concept is expected to open at Lowe's Alamo Ranch, Texas location in early February, with plans to expand to 14 additional Lowe's locations in Texas, North Carolina, and South Carolina by the end of March 2022… “For many of our customers, their pets and their homes top the list of things that matter most, especially after two years spent mostly together within the same four walls,” said Bill Boltz, Lowe's executive vice president of merchandising. “This partnership enhances the total home solution we offer them by bringing home improvement and pet care products, services and expertise together under one roof.”
7-Eleven Earns Recognition for Its Digital Transformation
Highlight: The convenience retailer was honored for Best Overall Digital Transformation at the Modern Retail Awards on Feb. 3. This year's Modern Retail Awards honored retailers that powered through the changes and uncertainty brought about in 2021 while finding ways to address social injustice through marketing campaigns, pivot to keep pace with shifting consumer habits and more. As the retailer noted, 7-Eleven transformed its loyalty app to provide frictionless experiences such as mobile checkout and digital wallet, and continued to accelerate 7NOW Delivery over the past year.
EVENTS
Entries to the International Loyalty Awards 2022 Are Now Open
Highlight: The Loyalty Magazine Awards has rebranded for 2022 as the International Loyalty Awards in recognition of its global scope and stature as the most influential awards event in the customer loyalty industry. The International Loyalty Awards celebrate the world’s most innovative and memorable loyalty initiatives from across six continents. The awards recognise brands that are building lasting and profitable customer relationships and bring together the global leaders of loyalty, to celebrate innovation, creativity, and sheer brilliance. The Wise Marketer is a media partner for this event and Managing Editor Bill Hanifin will be participating as a judge for the competition. Entries are open and we encourage submissions as quickly as possible, submitted here. The closing date for entries is 14 February 2022 a mere 8 weeks away!
PAYMENTS NEWS
Bank Indonesia launched national digital payment infrastructure
Highlight: Bank Indonesia (BI), Indonesia’s central bank, last week launched BI-FAST, the archipelago’s first national digital payments infrastructure designed to expedite retail payments in real-time, 24/7 in an efficient and secure manner… Indonesia is the latest in a series of Southeast Asian countries to upgrade its national payments infrastructure to drive digital economies and accelerate growth. As legacy payment systems continue to impede mature market innovation, the region’s countries are leapfrogging increasingly outdated technology and leveraging strong domestic central infrastructure as the foundation for real time digital and cross-border payments.
DATA & PRIVACY NEWS
Meta Renews Warning to EU It Will Be Forced to Pull Facebook
Highlight: European Union regulators have for months been stuck in negotiations with the U.S. to replace a transatlantic data transfer pact that thousands of companies relied on, but which got struck down by the EU Court of Justice in 2020 over fears citizens’ data isn’t safe once shipped to the U.S. In its annual report published Thursday, Meta said that if it couldn’t rely on new or existing agreements -- such as so-called standard contractual clauses -- to shift data, then it would “likely be unable to offer a number of our most significant products and services, including Facebook and Instagram, in Europe.”
TRAVEL & HOSPITALITY NEWS
Survey Shows Incremental Rise of Women to Hospitality C-Suites
Highlight: In 2021 there were more women in senior executive roles, more women on the podium and more women owners in hospitality than the last time the group analyzed this issue in the industry in 2019. These changes come with a shifting perception of diversity in corporate enclaves. “Recognition of the value and importance of diverse leadership is now widespread, so we expect these trends to accelerate,” researchers wrote. The Castell Project analyzed 671 hospitality companies in the U.S. and Canada to produce its 2021 leadership study. It reviewed attendance details of the four largest hospitality investment conferences in the U.S. to understand how women participated in and gained visibility through conferences in 2021.
Did you miss the previous newswire? Stay informed: Loyalty Newswire – January 31st, 2022
The Loyalty Newswire is compiled and edited by the staff at The Wise Marketer.
