News Corp. is asking newsagents to install an iPad on the counter as part of a newspaper loyalty offer connected with the Rewardle loyalty program. Rewardle has also been pitched to newsagents by the ANF (no ALNA).
I have seen the Rewardle terminal in several newsagencies. In each case, the newsagent said yes to the terminal to be installed because it is free.
Here is what I think is wrong with this News Corp. promotion and why it is not good for a newsagency business.
- It is not free. This Rewardle loyalty program requires prime space on your counter and your time for engagement.
- It is visually noisy. The Rewardle terminal on your counter promoted News Corp. offers, drawing attention from other products at the counter.
- It is selfish. The News Corp. Rewardle program is focussed on newspapers. Newspapers are not your business. The best approach to loyalty is a whole of business approach where customers have rewards they can spend elsewhere in your business, hopefully discovering product opportunities they had not considered before.
- It is not your future. There is no upside in print newspapers. Right now we are in the end-times for print as a delivery platform for news, news analysis and comment. There is no upside from here. Everything News Corp. is doing is about connecting with and leveraging customers to their digital platforms. Engaging with this Rewardle loyalty offer facilitates this goal of News, it is about their business needs far more than it is about your business needs.
- It is not smart. The limited data available to newsagents does not facilitate whole of business decision making.
Regardless of the newsagency software you use, my advice for newsagents is to leverage that for a whole of business loyalty offer. You need to be in control. You need a loyalty offer that serves your needs for your complete business. You need a loyalty offer that nurtures customer engagement for your future beyond a print news product.
The key focus of newsagents right now has to be on business transformation. By transformation I mean attracting new traffic by resetting the business from the shop floor out, pitching new products with a fresh approach to merchandising backed by a customer service experience that is unlike you would have experienced in a newsagency of the past. I don;t see the News Corp. Rewards loyalty program as serving this need.
The News Corp. Rewardle offer is not about transformation. Indeed, I see it as distracting from business transformation.
What I have written here can also apply to other brand or supplier specific loyalty offers as they focus on the brand or supplier ahead of the newsagency business.
Any loyalty pitch in your newsagency needs to be focused on your business, the whole of our business. You need to own the loyalty program so you are able to drive its focus, track the rules and ensure the reward for your customers is exactly what is right for your business.
Just because something looks bright and shiny and is free does not make it good. That may have been the case in a newsagency of the past. It is certainly not true for a newsagency of the future.