What are loyalty programmes being used for?
People are going mad for loyalty programmes whose cash-back and discount benefits are helping to reduce the sting of hard times.
Data show that millions of consumers are using loyalty points to buy essentials such as groceries, prepaid electricity and fuel. Others save them up for treats such as a month-end bottle of whisky or a holiday.
Last year, The Truth Customer Loyalty White Paper showed that consumer demand for loyalty programmes is increasing at 6% a year, with economically active people belonging to an average of 4.6 programmes each.
Loyalty-programme usage in the younger segment is growing at double the average rate across all ages. In 2016, 60% of all South African consumers under the age of 25 used loyalty programmes.
Consumers revealed that they use their loyalty points for vital medications, food or they save them for something really specific. One respondent mentioned that she saves all her loyalty points every year for a specific purpose - attending the Up the Creek music festival on the Breede River in January with her husband.
"My Makro points buy the booze and any camping gear we need, our food is paid for with Smart Shopper and Superspar points, and my Clicks ClubCard points pay for the sunscreen and all the other cosmetics," she said.
"It's hugely satisfying to get it all free."
By far the most popular programme is Pick n Pay's Smart Shopper - about 12 million shoppers have been issued with the blue cards.
The programme works for both spenders and savers: there are personalised discounts to be had weekly on the products each consumer regularly buys and points to accumulate for redemption later.
"Some customers save their points to reward themselves in December, and others redeem them to get through a bleak January," said John Bradshaw, PnP's head of marketing.
"But most save them until they get to a certain target and then buy themselves something special," he said.
Many consumers use programme overlaps to maximise their points. Momentum Multiplier members get double PnP Smart Shopper points, for example.
The second-most popular loyalty programme in the land is Clicks ClubCard, which surpassed Edgars' Thank U card last year thanks to its switch to cash-back rewards from voucher-based rewards.
Discovery Vitality Active Rewards had an 88% increase in member engagement after introducing the frequent reward element.
"In the South African loyalty market- place, most people just want cash back or a free cup of coffee," said the Truth research authors.
This is particularly true of women - 70% of the women in WhyFive's Brandmapp 2016 survey, involving 27446 respondents, said they preferred cash-back rewards compared with 56% of men.
Men are generally more interested in loyalty programmes that offer status - such as high-level tiers - but only if it is clearly visible to others, said loyalty consultancy Truth, which collaborated with WhyFive on the research.
Leading the financial services and banking loyalty programmes is FNB's eBucks in sixth place overall. eBucks is one of the country's oldest loyalty programmes, in existence since 2000. Members - 5.4 million of them - can earn and spend rewards with 40 of the bank's partners in-store, online or by cellphone.
Credit: TimesLive
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