Few months back I walked into the newly opened Hyper City in Bengaluru, and I was pleasantly surprised with the wide aisles, wide range of assortment, immaculate merchandise display, helpful sinages, et all. I had a great shopping experience. Well, almost.
Hyper City's marketing team have devised a strange method of earning the extra rupee by charging the customer "enrollment fee" for the stores' customer loyalty program, Discovery Club. The least I would have expected is tagging membership eligibility to a minimum bill value.
On hindsight it does not totally amaze me, since Shoppers Stop, Hyper City's sister concern, also has had a similar policy for its First Citizen membership as well. Shoppers Stop, along-with Spencer's Retail, are considered to be the pioneers of Indian organized retail and it does shock me to see that despite reaping benefits, in terms of detailed customer insights, they still firmly believe in implementing such an archaic system.
When retailers globally, are looking at innovative ways of obtaining Single Customer View, across their multi - format businesses and driving customer acquisition and retention strategies around Lifetime Customer Value, it amazes me to observe that the customer has to pay a price for his loyalty. This is the same loyalty on which the retailer's entire business hinges upon.
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Disclaimer - The views expressed in this post are aimed at improving retail processes as far as loyalty schemes are concerned, and are the blogger's personal opinion and does not reflect the opinion of the firm where he is employed.
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Disclaimer - The views expressed in this post are aimed at improving retail processes as far as loyalty schemes are concerned, and are the blogger's personal opinion and does not reflect the opinion of the firm where he is employed.
