Improving a loyalty program and boosting promotions is a never-ending work in progress.
Experts discussed this subject at CSP’s 2024 Outlook Leadership conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, earlier this month.
“We’re challenged on a daily basis to prove the efficacy of the program,” said Darrin Samaha (second from right), vice president of marketing at Fort Worth, Texas-based Yesway. “We have these discussion-slash-arguments it seems every other day. If you take the broad approach [versus a personalized approach], there’s really no way to validate what you’re doing, and that’s one of the reasons we want to elevate our program, look at the share we’re getting and try to drive more profitable promotions.”
Samaha was on the panel with Spencer Bean (far left), director of strategic accounts at Philadelphia-based PAR Retail; Taylor Bromley (second from left), senior manager of third party implementation at Richmond, Virginia-based Altria; and Jim Dodge (center), vice president of convenience at Chicago-based Mars Wrigley. The moderator was Max Clark (far right), vice president of sales and growth at PAR Retail, which integrates loyalty programs, seamless payments, immersive digital customer experiences and more.
- Yesway is No. 19 on CSP’s 2024 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by store count.
In which area to start in a loyalty program becomes the question because there are so many options, Samaha said. “You can do so much to start, and I think there has to be a focus in the organization. So we said, ‘It’s a no-brainer. Let’s look at fuel, energy and tobacco.’”
Yesway launched a program in January and is still in the early stages, Samaha said. “But the results are really compelling. Across three different segments, we’ve been sending out more personalized offers to drive energy share.”
Yesway’s three segments are single-unit purchase, daily and frequent.
“We were able to drive over a one-month period a 3.5% average increase on our energy just from one campaign,” Samaha said.
The next step would be working with consumer-packaged goods funding, he added.
“It’s an ongoing battle, but we’re up for the challenge,” he said. “We have right foundation in place. We pick and choose and bite off more as we learn more.”
When looking at what drives the best outcomes, Par Retail’s Bean said regardless of the category such as consumer-packaged goods, fuel, tobacco, foodservice or something else, “It’s important to have a platform and run a program that can measure how much of that purchasing you’re getting at your stores, what that capacity is and thus what the opportunity is that represents to go after.”
Bean continued, “Having a platform that has those capabilities is what we’re seeing leads to a lot of success for the retailer being able to steer and capture some of that incremental spend that’s going to their competitors today.”
Samaha added that four or five years ago, the question regarding loyalty would be, “How’s your loyalty program doing?”
Elevated Conversation
Today, however, the conversation is elevated where every discussion includes questions about digital capabilities. “It’s broader thinking and now we have the ability to say, ‘Yes, we can test and learn, we can do a lot more than four or five years ago.’
“We approach art with the science in mind,” Samaha said. “Let’s look how we can grow the category and also how can we make for a better, more personalized experience in the context of the program. From a UI/UX perspective, we still want to elevate it more inside the actual app. Those conversations are very important to have.”
Think about giving the customer a better experience, he said. “What we can execute in the store or with what products we’re bringing in. Is it innovation? Is it an LTO?”
It’s advantageous to have supplier partners who bring a similar mindset, he said. “Those who say, ‘We’re not just going to bring our sales team to push more shelf space,’ but maybe the brand team or the social team is sitting there so we can think more wholistically about what we’re doing. It’s not just a promotion, which are great, but I like to think, at least on my team, that we try to look for inspiration outside the category.”
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.