How Can Loyalty Programs Help Brick-and-Mortar Stores Attract Customers?

The digital strategies of grocers work for their long-term goals; securing the highest customer loyalty is important and stands as the top-notch priority for stores. Based on PYMNTS research, a survey was done on more than 2000 US consumers where 82% of grocers still have offline shopping as their most preferred purchasing method. The study also revealed that the aspects that keep a consumer loyal to a store are largely tied to brick-and-mortar involvement. For example, while a friendly staff at a grocery store enhances your shopper’s loyalty by 51%, opening up a new store near your customer’s house will increase their loyalty by 45%. However, virtual purchasing ability would only add 23% to their loyalty.

Surely, it doesn’t mean grocery store owners should neglect their virtual existence or slow their digital strategies. 42% of shoppers look for loyalty programs with good rewards, and around 19% desire an application with in-store abilities. Shopping in a brick-and-mortar store experience hasn’t changed as much as it was 10 or 20, or 50 years ago. But, of course, shoppers have changed; they also have a virtual relationship with companies and brands in their lives, so they expect more from brick-and-mortar stores than those from 10, 20, or 50 years ago.

Loyalty Enhancing Features

Your customers will be more loyal to you if you offer reduced prices, which is the top-notch feature. Customers will stick with you if you continuously provide them with enticing deals and discounts. Because of this, Cosco has the most devoted customers. Cosco’s extremely loyal clients make up about 87% of its total customer base, compared to 49% of Walmart’s customers.

The competition for grocery stores is quite rigid. The study reveals that while most consumers shop for groceries online, they buy from one or two merchants, choosing around three or more brands. And when the same customer chooses a brick-and-mortar grocery store, they can perform the transactions more conveniently.

How Can Brick-and-Mortar Stores Help Win Over Grocery Shoppers?

Experts say the right path for brick-and-mortar stores is to focus on the customer experience. And instead of focusing on a discount strategy, they should design smart grocery store loyalty programs that demonstrate their store knows their consumers. Yes, survival is important for all companies, and having a long-term strategy to enhance your customers’ experience is a good way to do it.

Find Out What People Are Shopping for in Grocery Stores

A pre-pandemic survey revealed that 56% of millennials shop in brick-and-mortar stores at least once a week. Major reasons are immediate gratification from taking utilities home, seeing and trying things, seeking advice from the sales staff, and more. It is about the touch and feel experience, which can’t be done online. Companies develop an in-store experience around what makes people enter the store, and studies prove that customer experience, performance, and brand trust are major factors.

Here are the three Rs of customer experience outlined to focus on:

• Relevance: Creating a store that sells customized and personalized products focuses on providing a relevant customer experience
• Resources: Allocating effort, money, and time to boosting customer experience
• Relationships: Establishing and strengthening customer relationships for the store to succeed in the long run.

How Do Loyalty Programs Benefit Grocery Stores and Their Customers?

While loyalty solutions for grocery stores have been around for quite some time, the market is quite competitive today. The advantage of customer loyalty programs for grocery stores is clear—they offer easy access to consumer data, showcase purchase patterns and behavior, and help stores connect directly with the consumers, which eventually boosts the sales of grocery stores.

The loyalty programs help owners to know who their shoppers are. It helps them communicate with their customers in a better way and optimize their offers to meet the needs of the shoppers. Loyalty programs boost the purchase frequency and money-spending ability of consumers. With personalized loyalty programs, retailers can create a one-to-one relationship with customers. With regulations getting more restrictive, the programs have become more important. You need explicit permission to market to customers depending on their participation in loyalty programs.

How Do Customers Benefit?

A single person can join several loyalty programs, no matter where they shop from. When shoppers are treated as loyal regardless of where they shop from, they keep coming back. According to the 2017 Colloquy Loyalty Census, around 142.5 million people have loyalty memberships in the United States grocery sector.

Best Practices in Customer Loyalty

A major component when planning a customer loyalty program is matching coupons, discounts, and deals for customers on a customized basis. The token-based reward is extremely effective and personalized; customers can use it to buy anything they prefer. Another great option is going for referral programs. While you refer and ask someone to make a purchase, you are given a reward for every purchase they make. This way, you can develop a team of your own and expand your earnings.

Conclusion

To help grocery store owners make their presence felt as brick-and-mortar stores, a loyalty solution for grocery stores is an age-old technique. For decades, offline stores have used this to develop excellent relationships with their shoppers. However, times are changing, and customer expectations are rising, so your loyalty programs should as well.

Check out the Loyal-n-Save loyalty programs and find out which ones suit your grocery store the best.