Affordable customer loyalty programmes for small and medium sized retailers are now available from retail software specialist Futura. Futura’s most customer-centric business tool yet allows managers to personalise customer offerings, give relevant customer rewards, increase sales and is being piloted by Autonomy, the rapidly expanding womenswear clothing retailer, offering affordable formal and occasional wear at competitive prices.
Unlike other systems, Futura’s new integrated loyalty card system requires no extra procedures or equipment at the till. It is easy to install and captures all customer transactional information and contact details, allowing easy email marketing campaigns.
For Autonomy, making their customers feel special and involved is the definition of their retail model. So Futura’s all round customer view enabling sales to be easily analysed allows management to decide fast which promotions and incentives will best reward their loyal customer base. In the first six months they increased their loyalty customers substantially, and they are now responsible for 8% of sales.
In addition to targeted emails introducing new collections and loyalty reward offers such as free accessories, a monthly email is sent with a statement and vouchers to be redeemed. The system automatically applies standard or promotional points for each transaction to calculate the amount of vouchers sent to each customer.
A recent end of season loyalty promotion focusing on coats generated an extra 10% of sales in this category.
Given the current success of its loyalty offering, Autonomy is considering developing a platinum card for super spenders as well as looking at entering the social media arena to heighten awareness of special offers and the benefits of customer loyalty accounts.
Managing Director Matthew Vohs commented: “We see real benefits from Futura’s loyalty scheme such as being able to analyse customer sales and tailor precise promotions to our customers, as well as rewarding our customers for choosing Autonomy. Already the figures show this loyalty scheme has paid for itself within five months.”
Autonomy is planning to offer their collections online later this year and will be using Futura to handle the web links and stock control.
Managing Director Matthew Vohs