iVend Loyalty – Freedom to Plan

Key Insights

With ever-changing dynamics of the customer experience, it is very important to consider the implementation and enhancement of the iVend Loyalty solution. This knowledge article will help you to implement your vision for the Enterprise you own. Highlighted, are the key parameters based on which a Loyalty solution should be assessed for efficacy and long-term relevance. The parameter – Freedom to Plan, can lead Loyalty managers to select an IT solution which suits their Loyalty scheme the best.

Loyalty programs have become an integral component of retailing. The success of a Loyalty initiative is based on two key factors:

1. Well-crafted products to delight customers

2. An all-encompassing IT application to support the Loyalty scheme.

Categorizing the Promotions

Listed below are the types of Loyalty plans a retailer should consider while analyzing the rules for governance on a promotion or plan engine in a Loyalty application that they are evaluating for their business.

1. Instant Reward Promotions

Here, a Loyalty member receives an instant reward when they shop with a retailer or any of the retailer’s partners.

Cash-Back: A percentage or fixed financial reward is given to Loyalty members on a specific level, when they spend a defined amount on a particular product or service within the promotion dates. Cash-back plans are also known as Rebate Plans.

Discount Promotions: A discount percentage is offered either on the product or on the total bill value of the Loyalty member’s transaction. It is applicable at the POS and is an instant benefit to the Loyalty member.

What is the difference between discounts and cashback/rebates?

· A discount is a reduction in price that is provided to customers for a number of different reasons. Sales discounts are price reductions that are granted at the time goods are purchased.

· A cash-back/rebate is a reduction in price which is provided after the full payment has been made for the product/service purchased. Simply put, rebates are discounts that are offered on purchases that were completed in the past.

Points Promotions: Members accumulate points with each purchase based on the product or service purchased. Points can be categorised between reward points and level points. They allow retailers to offer partnership opportunities and bonus points. Members can redeem these points for products they wish to receive from the Loyalty catalogue.

Experiential Rewards: Members are loyal to a brand, when the experiences provided are unique and different from others. Members appreciate retailers who fulfil their wishes and offer them choices. They do not wish to be treated as ‘just another customer’. These promotions help in reinforcing brand value and strengthen member relationships.

Combination of the above promotions: Promotions can be configured through a combination of points, discounts, cashback/rebates and gift cards/coupons.

2. Promotions with rewards for later use:

There are promotions which do not have instant gratification with valuable goods or services, but offer rewards in the form of gift cards, coupons, or vouchers which can be used for purchases later.

A retailer may allow the use of the following rewards in the same visit as well if they wish:

Gift Card: Gift cards are issued to members or customers in return for the amount they pay, which is an equivalent of a store credit. Members can use them later in lieu of currency. Gift Cards can be used in part, with the remaining balance staying on the Gift Card until it is used at a later time.

Coupons: A coupon is a ticket or document that can be exchanged for a financial discount on a product. Customarily, coupons are issued by manufacturers of consumer packaged goods or by retailers, to be used in retail stores as a part of sales promotions.

Vouchers: A voucher is a certificate, worth a certain monetary value that may only be spent for specific reasons or on specific goods.

How iVend Loyalty offers Freedom to Plan

iVend Retail with integrated Loyalty helps retailers in planning all of the above promotions. iVend lets retailers choose from a variety of options and decides what and how they wish to promote their products and services.

Listed below are all the components of a promotion, which can be configured in iVend Retail and Loyalty:

1. Type of promotion that needs to be planned

2. Target segment of members for whom a promotion is required.

3. Duration of Dates and Time for which the promotion is applicable.

4. Reward offered to qualified members.

5. Qualifying Criteria, Conflict Resolution Criteria and Conflict Resolution Methods.

6. Exception Criteria for which the promotion should not qualify.

7. Stores for which the promotion is applicable.

8. Fulfilment of the reward to members.

9. Terms, Conditions and Policies pertaining to the promotions.

Points Promotions in iVend Loyalty

In iVend Retail, the points and promotions can be configured via the ‘Loyalty Plan’ screen. A retailer can configure all components of the promotions mentioned above. A single plan can have multiple rows, for specific member segments and applicable conditions for a specified store. Similarly, if a retailer wishes to create a different plan for other stores, they can do so effortlessly.

The screen, ‘Loyalty Plan’ as shown below, is used to configure a Loyalty plan. It has buttons for ’Applicable’ and ’Exception Rule/Special Days Setup‘, which can be used to add more conditions or criteria to the rules.

Applicable Store and Day with Time Applicability

In the ‘Loyalty Plan’ screen, we are able to configure the start date and end date. But in ‘Loyalty Plan Applicability’ screen, we can even define the day of the week and time for which the plan will award points.

The Applicable Store(s) section can add the stores for which the plan will be valid.

Exception Rule/Special Days Setup is the page where more criteria or conditions can be added to make the plan more specific.

Special Days are a set for days which are first defined through a master screen. These can be added here in multiples to ensure that the plans are applicable only on these days.

Points Plan examples

What follows are some examples of plans that can be configured using the screens above in combination with Member Segments, Criteria, Exception, Rules, Recurrence and Applicability:

· Member Segments

· All members - All members get Y points when they spend X amount

· Selected members - Some selected members get Y points when they spend X Amount

· Members on a particular level - Member who are on XYZ (say ‘Silver’) Level, will get Y points when they spend X Amount

· Members of a customer group - Only members within a particular customer group (for example, ‘VIP’) will get Y points when they spend X Amount

· Criteria

· Selected Item(s) - Members of any of the segments defined above get Y points when they purchase any particular item(s) selected.

· Selected Item Group- Members of any of the segments defined above get Y points when they purchase any item(s) from item group selected.

· Selected Item(s) - Members of any of the segments defined above get Y points when they purchase any particular item(s) selected.

· Promotion - Members of any of the segments defined above get Y points when they purchase any particular item(s) for which the selected promotion is applied.

· Layaway - Members of any of the segments defined above get Y points when they purchase any particular item(s) for which the selected layaway plan is applied.

· Bill Value - Members of any of the segments defined above gets Y points when the bill value of the transaction is more than X Amount.

· Bill Quantity: Members of any of the segments defined above get Y points when the quantity of the items bought in a transaction is more than X in number.

· Exception Rules

Predefined exception rules are provided on this screen which will exclude all items configured in the Loyalty plan, if they fall under the exception rule. The exception rules are:

· Exclude all items on promotion

· Exclude all items with discount override

· Exclude all items with discount greater than X

· Exclude all items with price

· Exclude all items with price override greater than X

· Exclude items on layaway

· Recurrence and Applicability

· Members can get X points or multiple of X, based on the recurrence selected.

· These plans may be applicable for all the stores, or only for a particular store.

· These plans can be defined for a particular day of a week and for a certain time.

Other Promotions in iVend Retail

All the other promotions such as Cash-back, Discounts, Gift Cards, Vouchers and Coupons can be configured from iVend Retail. In the screen below, the user can set the discount he wishes to offer on the product based on a minimum bill amount, etc.

iVend Retail Bonus Buys promotions can be used to set up promotions such as: Buy X Products and get product Y free or 50% discount on Product Y. The screen below shows how this is configured.

Bonus Buys Hierarchy

With a lot of promotion rules in the system, it becomes important to define the hierarchy for the rules. There are times when a member is eligible for more than one promotion. In this case, the hierarchy definition plays an important role where the promotion highest in the hierarchy order is applied first.

Coupons and Gift Certificates:

In addition to the discount and cashback promotions, iVend Retail provides the freedom to create Coupons and Gift Certificates. These can be distributed to the customer via different channels.

Coupons

Gift Certificates

Conclusion

Supporting a wide range of promotions and Loyalty plans, iVend Retail with integrated Loyalty is an obvious choice for retailers. In addition to the Freedom of Planning, iVend Loyalty also comes with a set of predefined Reports and Dashboards, which show the performance of every promotion that is being offered to the customers.