Consumer research suggests that consumers will carry five plastic cards on average in their wallet. Since debit and credit cards will account for a least two of the available five ‘slots’, the battle amongst organisations and loyalty aggregators to ensure that their program is one of the three is fierce and will only become more so.

Therefore, the challenge for retailers and property owners now becomes creating loyalty programs that develop meaningful relationships with customers through personalised and memorable experiences.

Australian Centre for Retail Studies

While the majority of readers of this site are perhaps too small to establish a loyalty program that is a serious contender for one of the three available wallet places, the need to establish and cultivate loyalty from their customers is not diminished.

As with so many things associated with customer relations, loyalty is influenced by the value perceived by the customer. Value could take the form of

• discounted prices,
• early access to new products,or
• superlative service.

What are some of the ways you can encourage a level of loyalty from your customers?

Related articles:

• A complete approach to marketing is needed (blog.midboh.com.au)
• Australian Retailers need to get online (blog.midboh.com.au)
• Hear it once, it’s a rumour. Hear it twice, maybe there’s something to it (blog.midboh.com.au)
• It’s beginning to look a lot like mobile shopping for Christmas (blog.midboh.com.au)
• How does your website look on a mobile phone? Have you checked? (blog.midboh.com.au)
• ‘Showrooming’ - What is it? Does it impact you? (blog.midboh.com.au)