Welcome to the first of our blog series as we follow independent supermarket Dike & Son on their exciting next generation Loyalty journey.
Loyalty schemes have previously been seen as something only large supermarket chains could offer as the complexity and costs involved were prohibitive for independent retailers. This is thankfully no longer the case as independent retailer Dike & Son demonstrate with their recent launch of Azpiral PRO loyalty system.
A bit of Loyalty history
Dike & Son is a family-run supermarket that has been trading since 1851. Much more than a supermarket, it is a hub for local produce, stocking food and drink supplied by over 150 local growers, makers and bakers. It also hosts a café, delicatessen counter and was the first independent supermarket in the UK to offer its customers the facility to do their entire weekly shop online, with local home delivery. Dike & Son has a strong place in the heart of the local community it serves and its customers tend to be organically loyal, but as a business they have always looked for ways to reward and encourage that loyalty.
Adam Vincent, Company Director, Dike & Son says, “We have tried to initiate loyalty schemes over the years, a few schemes for independent retailers popped up but they have never really worked well. About ten years ago we introduced a Christmas Loyalty scheme where customers would collect stickers when they spent £10. These could be exchanged for certain goods in-store. There were various pitfalls such as relying on staff having a stock of stickers at the till and remembering to give them out. It was also open to fraud in that stickers could be replicated and traded. We then looked at an electronic-based loyalty scheme which was an improvement but still very limited – and had the inconvenience of a separate terminal that wasn’t linked to the POS, it was also open to abuse and didn’t have any data analytics.”
Next generation Loyalty is key
“Loyalty is essential to us. An absolute must to keep up with our competitors. When we were introduced to Azpiral PRO by MADIC UK we were all over it! We were so pleased to find a loyalty scheme for independent retailers that was sophisticated, next-generation and affordable. A big deciding factor for us, in upgrading to evoPOS, was its ability to integrate with Azpiral loyalty. We began rolling out our store branded loyalty system in September this year and take up has been excellent. "
Dike & Son have always tried to run a generous loyalty scheme around Christmas as they recognise it’s a time when everyone could do with a bit of a financial lift! Customers get five times the points they usually would for the five weeks leading up to Christmas. They can redeem the points for money off their next store spend. Dike's have seen their loyalty card uptake grow to almost 4,000 customers since they launched in October.
Adam says: ”Introducing Azpiral PRO through our evoPOS integration has been a big win for us. We’re always looking to evolve and going forward we’re excited about launching loyalty points via our new website and online ordering system next Spring. We’re also looking forward to offering specialised promotions to our customers – made possible by the data gathering functionality within Azpiral PRO.”
.png)
.png)
