The Perfect Retailer Loyalty Program App

Here we discuss how businesses can better implement a loyalty program, and why it’s worth doing in your own mobile app.

• 16.7 is the average number of loyalty programmes per US adult customer;
• 52% of global brands are investing in mobile technologies such as digital wallets as part of their loyalty strategy;
• 61.5% of consumers who participate in loyalty programmes have an income of $100,000 or more.

In addition to eliminating plastic cards, which saves a lot of money from issuing them and saves the planet from pollution and people’s wallets from being bloated, the app allows you to get rid of the following:

• No need to constantly explain the loyalty system to salespeople

• No need to make people think and count how much is left until the next level, etc. It can be visualized and turned into a game: ‘Spend 50$ this month and move to the next cash back level’.

• No need to produce unnecessary generic promotions; you can make personalized offers, based on data about the buyer. This is how we encourage them to make unplanned purchases.

When plastic cards were popular, it was not very classy to give them to each other. In some cases, it could take away the privileges of the card holder. They were replaced by discounts by phone number. Exchanging bonuses became a little easier, but it was necessary to request a confirmation code from the discount holder. One of our clients, John Dory, the large chain of stores selling fish and seafood, took a different path. In its loyalty program, you can and should join family groups to save and spend bonus points together.

There are many options to improve your loyalty program. And one of our clients, a huge chain of beer stores in St. Petersburg, decided not to limit the choice of their customers, and offered them a permanent choice to use a fixed discount now or use cash back to pay for their purchases later.

Just showing a map with stores isn’t enough anymore. A person will still use a navigator to get a route. This is why it is now possible to find out how long it will take to get there, and then open the route on Google Maps right in the apps such as John Dory or Pivtochka. In addition, there is an opportunity to filter stores by hours of operation or availability of the desired hop drink.

The 21st century has long ago moved all communications online. Writing to support to resolve an issue is 100 times easier than dialing and calling. That is why chats appear more and more often in the apps. You can use it to find out if there is a particular item in the nearest store, write about what you liked, or, on the contrary, complain about some problems. In short, you get closer to the brand.

We are used to ratings helping machine intelligence learn our interests and show us more personalized content. But it turns out that it’s also a very effective feedback channel. As of the end of July 2024, there were more than 250 000 customers registered on the Pivtochka app. There are 26,000 people actively using it and leaving feedback.

In the Pivtochka beer store chain app, you can add items to the ‘Tried’/’Want to Try’ category and leave comments for yourself to remember if you liked the variety.

To avoid arguments, keeping your purchase history in the app is one handy solution. You can see how many bonuses, for what and when they were credited or deducted.

This allows you to plan your purchases, keep track of when fresh items go on sale. It is convenient, especially if you are in the deli business.

Pushes are not something new, but they can be configured, for example, by geolocation and send notifications when a person is in close proximity to the store. Or if there was an update of the product in one of the places added to favorites.

If an app is a full-fledged m-commerce, there is a cart by default, but sometimes you can use it to place pre-orders, for example, or to pay for items that you have chosen in the store at a discount.

Some loyalty programs allow for variations depending on the amount of your purchase. And it seems like a regular customer knows about it, but why constantly keep in mind unnecessary information? It is much more effective to visualize it and encourage people to spend more money.

Imagine that you go to one of the big chain stores, you find a shirt you like, but your size is not available. Of course, you could go to the checkout, wait for a salesperson to look in the system (and sometimes call) other outlets and figure it all out. Or you can scan the barcode in the app and look up (or reserve) the size and color you want in a nearby store.

If you are the kind of a shopper who always knows exactly what you want before you even get to the outlet, this feature will make you very happy. You will not have to drive all over the city looking for your favorite beer/wine, etc. For example, in the Pivtochka app, the amount of beer (even on tap!) you have at hand is calculated in real time. And you will always know exactly whether to go to the store near your home or have to walk further away.

Some companies that produce or sell their own product (service), such as John Dory, Dodo, Dominos, Papa John’s, and Burger King prefer to use their own delivery service. This allows them to influence the quality of service, preserve the commercial appearance and freshness of products/dishes, reduce costs, and manage logistics. So, of course, having your own app makes it easy to integrate delivery there as well.
We tell you about delivery trends and fashions in the article.

Answering the question, ‘Why should I download this app?’, the first arguments that come to mind are extra bonuses/promo codes for downloading, installing, or inviting friends. But, as we listed above, there are many other features that cannot be tied to a plastic discount card, some of them influence customer loyalty and thus increase their number. Others gather marketing information to influence the average bill. Others allow the business owner to control the quality of food produced, the level of service, and monitor performance indicators.