Loyalty Programs
The Amazon Prime membership program is incredibly important to the company, and this week, Amazon.com made a bold move by making it available to customers on a monthly pay-as-you-go plan. Previously it was available only as an annual plan (with a 30-day free trial available to new members).
Amazon will offer a monthly version of its Prime membership program in a move that challenges rival Netflix and gives customers new subscription options. Starting Sunday, the Seattle-based retail giant will sell a monthly Prime membership for its video streaming service at $8.99 per month โ one dollar less than Netflixโs standard offering โ along with a $10.99 per month optionโฆ
Did you know 90 percent of shoppers use their smartphones to make purchasing decisions while in-store? According to SessionM, the top activities consumers perform on their smartphones are comparing prices, researching product information and reading online reviews. Additionally, Forbes surveyed more than 1,600 millennials and found 47 percent had recently downloaded a mobile shopping app.โฆ
Wal-Mart is rolling out new cash-back rewards for its credit and prepaid cards. The retailer's cards โ the Wal-Mart MasterCard, Wal-Mart credit card and prepaid MoneyCards โ will now offer 3 percent back on purchases made on Walmart.com, 2 percent back on fuel purchases at Wal-Mart or Murphy USA gas stations, and 1 percent back onโฆ
Two powerful forces are shaping today's retail sector. Separately, each can pose huge challenges if not harnessed correctly. However, combined they can create vast opportunities for deeper, modernized customer loyalty. The first phenomenon is data. Retailers have access to tons of detailed data about today's customers โ information from websites, email lists, social media, onlineโฆ
Loyalty programs have come a long way in recent decades. In their early years, they were little more than simple, dubious rewarding schemes. At worst, customers sacrificed their hard-earned dollars for a cheap glass or other trinket they neither needed nor wanted. At best, a company account paid for the trinket and the superfluous giftโฆ
Starbucks has one of the most successful loyalty programs in the world of retail and restaurants, with over 11 million active members. But the coffee chain is overhauling its โStarbucks Rewardsโ program in part to fix a problem that's bedeviled it for years: slow service at the cash register. Under the current program, Starbucks awards members oneโฆ
Even without a Prime membership, Amazon always offered free (and slow) shipping for orders over a certain minimum. For the longest time, that minimum was $25, but in 2013, the company raised it to $35. In its latest move to push its $99 per year Prime membership with free two-day shipping, the company has now quietlyโฆ
Loyalty programs are in need of careful examination to the point of reshifting focus in 2016. Nearly 90 percent of consumers view loyalty programs in a negative light, according to a Capgemini Consulting analysis of close to 40,000 consumer conversations on social media. The reason? In a digital age, many retailers fall short in offeringโฆ
An Amazon.com customer sued the marketplace over allegations that it charged him for its Amazon Prime program without his consent, according to the Courthouse News Service. "Gregory Harris filed the suit Wednesday against Amazon.com, alleging unfair competition and violations of consumer law and the federal Electronic Transfer Act," according to the Courthouse News Services story.โฆ