Customer card
Customer cards are carriers of customer-related data and / or a customer loyalty program. They are considered to be a particularly informative and efficient instrument for attracting customers through interesting service or goods offers as well as for inducing customers to repeat purchases, thus for customer loyalty and for obtaining personal data. Customer cards are either personalized or transferable . Upon joining, the customer receives a card made of plastic or paper, which often also has a magnetic strip with stored data.
It is estimated that in 2005 more than 70 percent of households in the United States had a supermarket customer card , and in the Netherlands even more than 80 percent.
Purpose and functionality
Companies issue customer cards to their customers in order to bind them to themselves in the long term, to analyze purchasing behavior or to influence them through purchase incentives and to create customer profiles using the stored transaction data. In exchange for entering the data on the card, the customer receives pecuniary benefits, additional services or other perks. This usually distinguishes customer cards from similar actions in the past, such as issuing and collecting discount stamps .
criticism
One of the criticisms of customer cards is that they aim to evaluate customers' purchasing behavior . Often, different companies from different sectors issue a common customer card and thus maintain a common database. Also, motion profiles could a person-loyalty card created during frequent use. With increasing fear of data abuse, the willingness of many customers to use such a card also decreases. Issuers of loyalty cards must therefore pay attention to the attitude of customers. "If you don't handle customer data responsibly, you deprive yourself of the basis for individualized retail marketing ."
Types of loyalty cards
Loyalty cards are different; they can have one or more of the following functions:
- Access cards, for example for automated video stores or telephone companies (e.g. GlobalOne ) or SIM card
- Customer cards with direct benefits, i.e. granting a certain discount on the purchase price (e.g. CityPower Card from regional energy service providers , Esprit club Pre-Card, Ikea Family Card, extra card from Kaiser’s )
- Customer cards with a payment function, such as a credit card for airlines or discount cards at drugstores and perfumeries (e.g. Douglas Card), which are also customer cards
- RegioKarten, amalgamation of several local companies such as advertising associations that issue a joint customer card, customer cards from railway companies (e.g. bahn.bonus from Deutsche Bahn or ÖBB club & bonus from ÖBB )
- Bonus cards , for example frequent flyer programs of the airlines and their alliances, the programs of various hotel chains and retail customer cards
It is also possible to use smartphone apps to save and use the identification numbers of the customer cards purely digitally on a smartphone . Examples of such apps are the Apple Wallet, Yunar, Stocard , Key Ring, FidMe and mobile pocket preinstalled on iOS .
Manufacturer
- Winter AG
- Trüb AG
- In Switzerland there are various customer cards that are operated by Loyalty Services AG .
literature
- Marcus Forschepoth: Data protection for customer cards and online bonus programs - Are we going to be transparent customers? , Books on demand, Norderstedt 2010, ISBN 978-3-8391-3925-7
- Lars Meyer-Waarden: La fidelisation client. Strategies, pratiques et efficacite of the program de fidelisation. Vuibert, Paris 2004, ISBN 2-7117-6966-6 , ( Collection FNEGE ).
Web links
- "Payback pays nothing back" Die Zeit online, August 19, 2008
- "Rewards That Reward," Wall Street Journal , September 24, 2008
swell
- ^ S. Gupta, DR Lehmann: Managing Customers as Investments. Wharton School Publications, Upper Saddle River 2005
- ↑ Hans-Otto Schenk: Psychology in trade. Decision-making principles for retail marketing, 2nd edition, Munich-Vienna 2007, p. 226, ISBN 978-3-486-58379-3
- ^ Kai Biermann: The cell phone as a customer card manager. Zeit online, April 20, 2012, accessed September 24, 2012 .