Examining Loyalty Programs
In an increasingly fragmented retail landscape, customer loyalty programs are an important tool to help retailers maximize their “share of wallet” among consumers. In fact, a recent study by Maritz Loyalty Marketing, a market-research and consumer-loyalty-program consulting and implementation firm, found that rewards program members are more likely to have spent a greater amount of money in the past six months across the 11 retail categories examined in the study, including home improvement, electronics, grocery and book stores.
The study “What’s in Your Wallet?” also examined various demographic characteristics, including rural versus city living, marital status, income levels and gender, for significant differences to determine what types of people are carrying consumer loyalty program cards in their wallets.
The study revealed loyalty program members are more likely to be one or more of the following: female, young, living with children under the age of 18 in the household or from the Northeast.
The Man Myth: Do Woman Like to Shop More Than We Think?_ Women (62 percent) are significantly more likely to belong to a store or membership loyalty program than men. However, more than half of the men surveyed (54 percent) say they are part of a program.
Younger customer loyalty program members tend to be younger than those who aren’t members, with 71 percent of those 25-34 years old belonging to store or membership programs. And survey respondents older than 55 comprised the highest percentage of non-program members.
_Simply having kids is another influencing factor. Household that have children under the age of 18 are significantly more likely to have a store or membership program card or a co-branded credit card.
Across the U.S.A., regardless of the fact that many stores are national chains, according to the study, members of customer rewards programs tend to be clustered by region. The Northeast (70 percent) and West (63 percent) have the highest concentration of store or membership loyalty program participants. People in the South (37 percent) and the Midwest (42 percent) are significantly more likely to not belong to any type of consumer loyalty program.
For more information about the study, contact Maritz Loyalty Marketing at [email protected], www.maritz.com or (877) 4MARITZ.
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