Steven Denham reports at his Village Counter Talk Blog about presenting to suppliers his learnings from the launch in September of the Magazine Club Card loyalty program in his shop in the UK.
The success for Steve and his team since September is excellent:
We have given out nearly 400 cards up to now with a good number of customers on to their second or third. We have one customer who has claimed 6 free magazine so has bought more than 66 in the past 12 weeks. We need to reward this type of customer as they are the backbone of our business.
It is good to see from Steve’s blog that suppliers engaging on this initiative. Given the win for them such engagement is important. This is a newsagent initiative which they could drive for the success of the most important channel to magazine sales in the UK and here in Australia.
Rewarding consumer loyalty around magazine purchases through the Magazine Club Card is all about enticing increasing sales. The keys are genuine and attainable reward and the promotion of the offer only by word of mouth across the counter.
In our own experience over the four and a half years we have run this program, the increase in magazine sales comes at a cost to other magazine retailers as well as from genuinely new business.
It is rare that we see this marketing initiative fail.
Mark, Loyalty programs like this are a great way to distinguish ourselves from other retailers. Supermarkets are making their loyalty cards more and more attractive (19c petrol discount vouchers).
The one concern I would have with the magazine card is the potential for dishonest customers to abuse the system. It would be great – although probably not cost effective – if a barcoded hard card could be produced. The software might then be able to be modified to manage the scheme with a scan of the card.
I went with the version of the card magazine newspower did and it did not work for me.
Simon,
I have had nothing to do with the Newspower card. However, from the name, it’s not that inspiring. Calling it Magazine Madness was a mistake. The Magazine Club Card works a treat if run with discipline. I’d be happy to discuss this with you if you would like.
Mark
Mark, I get magazines directly from NDD and Gotch but am a sub-agent for Network.
As my commission for Network is only 12.5%, would the Magazine Club model work in my case?
Mark L,
Margin is impoirtant as you would be funding this. Ideally you could get an direct Network account. If not and you want to be competitive give it a shot and the growth you hopefully achieve will help you get a direct account.
Mark