Smarter Information Capture Can Simplify Retail Rewards Programs

According to a study conducted by Colloquy, American consumers hold 3.3 billion memberships in customer loyalty programs. Retailers have noticed that customers like loyalty programs, and they’ve joined together to offer rewards. AT&T, ExxonMobil, Macy’s, Nationwide, Rite Aid, Direct Energy, and Hulu have formed a coalition rewards program that is designed to give consumers flexibility in spending points. This rewards program, called Plenti, lets consumers use one card to redeem points at multiple participants. Plenti’s participants hope that the new rewards program will let consumers spend all of their earned points, instead of letting them go to waste. Retailers like Rite Aid hope that this rewards program will win over business from customers who shop at rival drugstores like Duane Reade or CVS.

Coalition loyalty programs are new to the American retail space, but they are common in other countries. In Canada, the LoyaltyOne Air Miles program has more than 100 partners, and is used by 75% of households, according to Fortune. In the UK, loyalty rewards program Nectar includes Apple, Ford, and Vodafone. 70% of households in the UK use this rewards program. Fly Buys, the largest loyalty program in New Zealand, has over a million household members.

As American consumer loyalty rewards programs become more complex, retailers need sophisticated technology to handle all of the data they’re gathering. Retailers want to process customer information as efficiently as possible. Customers want the savings of loyalty rewards programs, but they don’t want to spend time filling out forms to get it. Acuant’s technology makes signing up for retail rewards programs simple by allowing cashiers to simply scan ID cards and driver’s licenses. Acuant’s idScan^® software can be set up to immediately auto populate data from an ID into an integrated solution. This ensures that customer information is accurate, and allows retail employees to provide better customer service. With Acuant’s efficient ways to sign up for rewards programs, retailers can increase customer loyalty.