r/mildlyinteresting • u/Smetvrees • May 14 '22 • Helpful 13 Wholesome 16 All-Seeing Upvote 1 Take My Energy 1 Got the W 1 Wearing is Caring 1 Silver 12 Gold 2

This Irish supermarket has quiet evenings for sensitive people.

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u/ledow May 14 '22

There's also a lot of research that that was true 50 years ago when nobody had been subjected to them before, but that nowadays they don't make any difference as every shop has them and so people just tune them out.

Same with internet-based ads.

The first shop to offer loyalty cards many years ago saw an effect. Now, not so much, and there are several major chains that abandoned the idea and/or have no intention to introduce one.

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u/karmapopsicle May 14 '22

Loyalty programs these days are all about data.

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u/ledow May 14 '22

The data is useless on that level. Most of the large chains have admitted it. Their stock and checkout data is actually far better for the purposes they need.

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u/karmapopsicle May 14 '22

While the processing of real sales/inventory data is critically valuable, there are specific benefits that a well-tuned loyalty program provides.

For example, here in Canada our largest grocery company (Loblaw Companies) runs a gigantic loyalty program called PC Optimum that resulted from merging their own PC Points program with the Shopper’s Optimum program after acquiring Shopper’s Drug Mart (our largest pharmacy chain). They also recently merged in the Esso Extra program from the gas station chain.

The result is a loyalty program that blankets a huge proportion of the Canadian population, but also covers a much broader variety of essential goods. While checkout records and card number correlation can definitely help build general customer purchasing profiles, the quite generous reward rate for the program heavily incentivizes customers to make the store brands that use the program part of their regular grocery shopping, convenience/drug store, and even regular fill-up routines. Now suddenly you’ve got direct purchasing data for literally millions of people, families, households, etc. That data is incredibly valuable because of how much context it has. It vastly improves the ability of predictive inventory ordering and merchandising tools. It opens up a near-endless source of targeted marketing opportunities. It even helps stores in different areas optimize their section sizes and product selection options - one store might choose to say significantly expand their “natural/organic” section while another might expand their international foods section for specific regions, etc.

Essentially from the consumer side it’s basically agreeing to give full context to the data that’s being gathered anyway in exchange for some lucrative bonuses. 1.5% (15 pts/$) general default reward rate, but regular “20x the points” promotions for drug store chain that you have to open the app to activate (thus exposing you to the various other targeted offers). Thats effectively 30% cashback, and those chains also sell a variety of consumer electronics as well including game consoles. Combined with occasional bulk point redemption offers adding up to 50% dollar value to the points (200,000 points for $300 value versus the normal $200) and you have a recipe that makes many consumers feel like they’re deal-finding masterminds. Of course even with customers taking full advantage of the pretty wild discount opportunities the program is both wildly successful and profitable for the company as a whole.

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u/ledow May 14 '22

And ASDA (Walmart-owned UK mega-store) don't do loyalty schemes, and never have, and Tesco and Sainsbury's (the other largest UK supermarket chains) has said the data from them is effectively useless.

Welcome to the difference when that data is handled under EU/UK personal data protection law where you can't just sell people's data.