There are plenty of full news stories listed on our main news page - make sure you don't miss them! Here are some of the latest news highlights...  
 · Marketers plan more digital & print integration
 · Expectation matching key to customer loyalty
 · Telcos: the next frontier in customer loyalty?
 · Supermarket engagement high, but can improve
 · Loyalty m-wallet offers instant PoS redemptions
 · Holiday shoppers happy but retailers could do better
 · French restaurant launches loyalty scheme
 · Customers more loyal to brands that ask their opinion

 
More: See the main news articles
 

Points International, owner and operator of Points.com, has expanded the existing relationship with Air France-KLM with the launch of a new Corporate Platform, helping foster relationships with small, medium and large-sized merchants and partners. The new platform, which Air France-KLM calls the Flying Blue Business Tool, allows small and medium-sized businesses to easily offer and distribute Flying Blue miles as rewards and incentives to members of the Flying Blue programme. Merchants and partners can now efficiently increase repeat customer visits, resulting in greater brand loyalty and increased revenue. The new tool features a centralised, easy-to-navigate interface that allows merchants to issue miles in multiple forms - directly into accounts, via email, redeemable codes or certificates.

Web: http://www.pointsinternational.com

According to media and marketing services company, Valassis, shoppers saved US$4.6 billion with coupons in 2011 - US$500 million more than in the previous year - embracing a 'forever frugal' mindset developed during recessionary times. This 12.2% increase is among the findings revealed in the Annual Topline US Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) Coupon Facts Report for year-end 2011, released by NCH Marketing Services Inc., a Valassis company. In 2011, CPG marketers distributed 305 billion coupons, representing an 8.1% decrease from 2010, a record-setting year for distribution. In fact, the last three years represent the highest annual volumes of coupons distributed since the pre-recession period. Overall, 2011 was an impressive 20 billion coupons up on 2007.

Web: http://www.valassis.com

Accor has launched A-Club Places, an application on Facebook that enables A-Club loyalty programme members to earn bonus points. Every time an A-Club member stays at one of the programme's 2,300 participating hotels and checks in the application, the member will be able to unlock badges, which reward regularity, variety of destination, loyalty to one type of hotel, etc. Each badge enables members to earn A-Club points that can be redeemed as A-Club reward vouchers for use in Accor hotels, with partners, or converted into airline miles. The launch of this application is part of Accor's strategy to develop its presence on the Internet, on mobile phones and social networks. Sales through these direct distribution channels represent close to 29% of the Group's total sales.

Web: http://www.accor.com

In-app purchases are the lifeblood of many apps, and while it may seem like getting users to the sale proposition quickly is ideal, a new Localytics study finds that building relationships with app users and fostering long-term usage are more important. Of all users in Localytics' study who made an in-app purchase, 44% did not do so until they had interacted with the app at least ten times. On average, a user who makes an in-app purchase will do so 12 days after first launching the app. In research from last year, Localytics found that 26% of apps are used only once after being downloaded. As a result, the app publisher community has made a concerted effort to shift away from incentivised downloads toward engagement and customer lifetime value.

Web: http://www.localytics.com

Loyalty marketing and CRM specialists, ICLP, is calling on UK retailers to adopt customer loyalty programmes as a means of surviving the tough economic climate. In the current market, retailers need to be offering more than competitive pricing: they need to consider long-term market share over short-term footfall and offer customers a real incentive to remain with their brand. Phil Szymala, business insight director at ICLP UK, says: "The recession has acted as a catalyst for the rise of discounting among retailers in the UK as consumers look for the lowest price on quality brands, but this approach is just a short-term solution. Without motivation to remain loyal, consumers searching for the best deal will switch between retailers."

Web: http://www.iclployalty.com

eBucks, FNB's rewards programme in South Africa, saw the highest activity recorded over the 2011 festive season (October - December 2011) since its inception in 2000. Members spent R140m (£11.33m), reflecting a growth of 60% on the previous year's festive season spend of R87m (£7.04m); well above the modest figures forecast for the South African retail industry. While no official retail figures for this period have been released yet, the Bureau for Economic Research/Ernst & Young Festive Season Retail survey revealed that 2011 Q4 retail sales volumes were expected to be between 5% and 7% higher than in 2010. The spend redemption on fuel increased the most dramatically, rising by 388% year-on-year. Similarly, travel spend also grew by a significant 70%, with local travel being the most popular choice for members. And, according to Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx, South Africans spent at least 30% more online in 2011 than they did in 2010. The most popular items purchased in the eBucks shop were big-ticket electronic items, like the Apple iPad 2.

Web: http://www.ebucks.com

CVS/pharmacy's ExtraCare Rewards programme, with more than 69 million active cardholders, says that ExtraCare cardholders can now send their quarterly ExtraBucks Rewards to their ExtraCare cards, eliminating the need for shoppers to carry paper rewards into their local CVS/pharmacy. This enhanced paperless option for redeeming ExtraBucks Rewards expands on the first digital 'Send to Card' option rolled out last August which gave cardholders the ability to send selected ExtraCare email offers directly to their ExtraCare Card.

Web: http://www.cvs.com

Emirates and Alaska Airlines have launched a new frequent flier partnership that will offer travelers the opportunity to earn Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles when they fly to any of Emirates' 118 destinations worldwide, including points across Africa, India and the Middle East. Emirates Skywards members can also earn miles across the Alaska Airlines network in the United States (including Alaska and Hawaii), Canada and Mexico. Under the new partnership, travelers connecting between any point on Alaska Airlines and Emirates' networks will be able to check in for their flights at either carrier's counter, receive their boarding passes and check their bags to their final destination. To celebrate the partnership, both airlines are offering double miles on each others' flights from March 1 until May 31, 2012.

Web: http://www.emirates.com

Car rental specialists, Hertz, and UK loyalty programme operator, Nectar, have renewed their partnership. Hertz is Nectar's sole car rental partner. Hertz and Nectar will be rewarding customers with six points for every £1 spent until 31st March 2011. From then, Hertz customers will be rewarded with two Nectar points for every £1 spent. Since Nectar's launch in 2002, over £1.5 billion of rewards have been redeemed by its collectors.

Web: http://www.hertz.com

RBC and Shoppers Drug Mart are launching a nation-wide programme that makes it more convenient for Canadians to bank and at the same time earn rewards at Shoppers Drug Mart/Pharmaprix locations throughout the country. The programme features a co-branded RBC Shoppers Optimum banking account and debit card with enhanced Shoppers Optimum rewards. Other benefits include unlimited debit transactions in the account, access to Canada's largest combined network of ATM's and branches (including more than 300 new RBC ATMs in Shoppers Drug Mart/Pharmaprix locations) and the ability to convert RBC Rewards points to Shoppers Optimum points. In addition to the banking account and debit card, RBC and Shoppers Drug Mart will introduce a series of co-branded products.

Web: http://www.rbc.com

Cognizant has announced that its cloud-based Automated Coupon Redemption (ACR) solution, part of its IntelliStore 'intelligent store of the future' platform is now available. Cognizant IntelliStore ACR is designed to help retailers and manufacturers drive sales, reduce costs, improve customer loyalty, and enhance the shopper experience by integrating online, mobile, and in-store shopping. The service, with minimal upfront cost and no instore hardware, offers a way to embrace paperless digital coupons. Manufacturers, media companies, and retailers receive real-time redemption information for digital and paper coupons the moment the incentive clears the POS system in grocery, drug, and mass-merchant retailer.

Web: http://www.cognizant.com

The latest research from YouGov's Mobile Wallet study reveals low awareness and usage rates for contactless card technology. Findings indicate that banks and retailers need to do more in order to increase usage of the technology. The study found that 12% of the British population believe they own a contactless card, yet according to the UK Cards Association, there were 19.6 million active cards in the UK in November. Just 8% of the British population and 13% of contactless card owners recognise McDonalds as a 'wave and pay' provider - the most recognised outlet in the findings. Four out of five contactless owners say they have never used their card for a contactless transaction, with most owners making transactions using chip and pin. Only 5% of owners use their card for contactless transactions more than once a week.

Web: http://www.yougov.co.uk

To counteract the tendency to cut costs after the New Year celebrations, South African telecommunications group, MTN, has decided to reward customers who recharge their MTN mobile phone lines with a daily chance to win extra airtime, and a weekly chance to win a cash prize of R100 000. The Yello Surprises Campaign, which runs until the end of March, will reward every 500th customer who recharges with double their recharge value, and one customer each week will win R100,000 cash.

Web: http://www.mtn.com

A newly-released white paper sponsored by TSYS and conducted by Loyalty 360, Turning Customer Data Into Action, has found that, while the vast majority of brands collect customer data, they face many obstacles in using the data to drive strategic change. Marketers who are able to overcome these challenges, however, report that making the data actionable delivers bottom line results. Results most often realised by using the data include increased loyalty programme participation (58.5%), increased marketing ROI (54.7%), increased number of transactions (52.8%), and increased marketing effectiveness (52.8%). A free download of the paper available here

Web: http://www.tsys.com

Travellers can now earn 1000 Enrich miles per booking made using Malaysia Airlines' Facebook application, MHbuddy, during the 'Enrich Gift 4 Buddies' campaign, which runs until 31 March 2012. Enrich already has some 1.9m members globally. Some 80% of MHbuddy users are Enrich members. Enrich members can earn and burn miles each time they purchase an eligible fare ticket on Malaysia Airlines, or with any of its more than 20 airline partners.

Web: http://www.malaysiaairlines.com

Members of the Good Sam Club, an RV owner's organisation with over 1.3 million members across North America, can now apply for a Club Pilot Flying J RV Plus Card. This will allow them to save on each gallon of petrol and diesel fuel purchased; US$0.10 per gallon on bulk propane purchased, and 50% on holding tank dump station charges at all applicable Pilot Flying J locations across the US. Pilot Flying J locations offer a range of conveniences and services for RV travellers, including dedicated RV fuel lanes, convenience stores, on-site restaurants, safety, and a clean environment for families.

Web: http://www.goodsamclub.com

United Continental Holdings has launched MileagePlus Headliners, an auction programme that enables United and Continental frequent flyers to use their miles to bid for a range of experiences, including trips, airline adventures, and tickets for theatre and sporting events. Examples include an opportunity to train like a pilot in United's flight simulator in Denver; a Mammoth Mountain ski trip, including travel and a private mountain guide; and local events, including tickets to performances by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra or at New York's Carnegie Hall and Lincoln centre. Each month, MileagePlus will offer at least one unique bidding opportunity that includes VIP access. Later in January, members will be able to bid to attend the Team USA Experience at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Web: http://www.unitedcontinentalholdings.com

Bahrain Air is to launch a loyalty rewards programme for the frequent fliers on its entire route network. 'Loyalty Rewards', which will be offered to all its frequent fliers, is a straightforward programme in which members submit their boarding card stubs for tickets. The programme has been used in Bahrain since August. Seven boarding pass stubs earn a one-way ticket, and 11 boarding pass stubs earn a return ticket to any Bahrain Air destination (excluding the relevant taxes). The class of travel earned will be the same as that on the boarding stubs.

Web: http://www.bahrainair.net

Southwest Airlines has become the latest point transfer partner in Chase Card Services' Ultimate Rewards programme. This enables members to transfer points for travel to 72 cities in 37 states on more than 3,400 flights a day, coast-to-coast. Southwest offers travellers a variety of benefits, from flexible fares to no fees for first or second checked bag, as well as in-flight WiFi access.

Web: http://www.chase.com

Major German car rental company, Sixt, is to become the exclusive rental car partner of Payback. The agreement spans a period of five years and covers the promotion of a range of Sixt products, including holiday car rentals throughout the world. Plans are also in place for campaigns involving Sixt Leasing, DriveNow and the autohaus24.de site for new cars.

Web: http://www.payback.net

Global retail marketing programme provider TCC has been granted the license for the use of Rovio's popular Angry Birds franchise in retail loyalty promotions. The multi-year agreement grants TCC worldwide rights in retail channels including supermarkets, hypermarkets, drugstores, health and beauty chains, newspaper and newspaper kiosks, fuel retailers, and convenience stores. TCC and Rovio are now developing ranges of products that can be used in their programmes, including a range of ceramic mugs, soft toys, and other collectable items. According to Chris Taylor, head of special events campaigns for TCC, "The Angry Birds downloadable game has been a massive worldwide phenomenon and will be a highly desirable promotional incentive for consumers everywhere". Over the past two decades, TCC has worked with more than 250 of the world's major grocery retailers (such as Carrefour, Tesco and Metro), providing unique in-store promotions and programmes designed to modify customer behaviour and increase sales.

Web: http://www.tccglobal.com

In the US, financial services technology provider Fiserv has teamed up with North Shore Bank to create new cheque account products that will allow the bank to take advantage of ongoing disruptions in the market, and to help the bank attract new customers as well as to retain existing ones. The partnership adds North Shore Bank to Fiserv's existing Relationship Rewards programme which provides flexible incentives to recognise and reward each customers' entire banking relationship. As a result, North Shore Bank plans to use Relationship Rewards to introduce new cash-back cheque account products, as well as other products to appeal to various customer groups.

Web: http://www.fiserv.com

Three quarters (75%) of consumers in the UK now have 3 or more loyalty cards and nearly half (41%) say they would not leave home without one, according to a survey by Global Prepaid Exchange. The study found that loyalty cards are now used by nearly all consumers, with 91% reporting that they use a loyalty card when shopping for food. Many consumers said that they often save up their loyalty points to buy something specific, and would choose to shop with a store that offered a loyalty card over a competitor that did not. "Loyalty card usage among consumers has exploded recently and they have really helped supermarkets know their customers and incentivise them," explained Kevin Harrington, managing director for Global Prepaid Exchange. "Some worried that customers were unhappy about the information that was being collected about them, but 70% of the consumers surveyed agreed that loyalty schemes help retailers better understand their needs".

Web: http://www.globalprepaidexchange.com

In India, online shopping portal IndiaPlaza.com has launched its IndiaPlaza Affiliate Programme, which gives all of the e-commerce operator's customers a chance to earn extra money by referring their friends to the portal. Customers simply need to share web links to products via their web site, social network, blog, or personal email, and when their friends click on those links and make purchases a percentage of the total sale value is immediately credited to the original customer's affiliate account. An affiliate customer can earn up to 10% of the total value on special seasonal promotional deals. IndiaPlaza.com currently boasts more than 1.5 million customers, accounting for nearly 0.5 million transactions per year, through its catalogue of approximately 8 million products (including books, music, videos, CDs, electronics, cameras, mobile phones, appliances, apparel, flowers, chocolates, cakes, sweets, toys, handicrafts, watches, food items, and other products). The company also manages loyalty programmes for a number of brands in the financial services, FMCG, hospitality, IT and airline industries.

Web: http://www.indiaplaza.com

In Kuwait, Gulf Bank has launched a loyalty programme for its credit card customers, offering reward points for every transaction made using Gulf Bank Visa and MasterCards. The more a customer spends, the more points they earn, and points can then be redeemed with the bank for cash, which is credited back to their credit card account. The new loyalty programme also increases the range of offers and promotions available to cardholders. Once points have been earned they remain valid until redemption (unless the credit card account is cancelled by the cardholder), and points are automatically transferred over to any replacement card issued, in the event of their card being lost or stolen. Customers can check their points balance through Gulf Bank's 24-hour customer contact centre. In addition to the new Gulf Bank Loyalty programme, the bank will continue to operate its existing Gulf Rewards Discount programme, which provides a variety of offers including discounts and vouchers from 120 merchants covering 300 outlets throughout Kuwait.

Web: http://www.e-gulfbank.com

More than ever, deal-hungry consumers in the United Kingdom are turning to coupons and vouchers to make their budgets stretch further. As the economy continues to struggle, research from Valassis has found that consumers are more likely to turn to coupon promotions to make their Christmas as special as ever, with 32% of women (compared to 27% of all shoppers) looking for more promotional offers than they were one year ago. Some 78% said they planned to use promotional offers when doing their Christmas shopping, with 54% intending to use 3 or more different promotional mechanics. Almost one quarter of all shoppers (23%) who were looking for more promotions said that they had less money to spend on Christmas in 2011 than they did in 2010. But, perhaps most importantly, a worryingly low 8% of shoppers said they would remain loyal to their usual supermarket of choice if other retailers were offering better discounts at Christmas. Echoing this trend, 42% planned to shop in more stores to redeem all the store-specific coupons and vouchers they had collected.

Web: http://www.valassis.com

Winn-Dixie's Fuelperks! rewards programme has saved members more than US$35 million on fuel purchases since the supermarket introduced the programme in 2008. Since then, the programme has become widespread throughout Florida and southern Georgia, part of Alabama and southeast Louisiana. The key to the Fuelperks! programme lies with Winn-Dixie's Reward Card loyalty card. Customers earn fuel savings each time they shop and swipe their loyalty card when purchasing groceries. Then, to redeem their Fuelperks!, that simply insert their Reward Card into a petrol pump at any of the 900+ participating Shell stations. Fuelperks! Rewards accumulate; the more a customer spends on groceries, the more Fuelperks! they earn. For every US$50 purchase, customers earn a US$0.05 per gallon discount, while spending US$100 earns a US$0.10 per gallon reward. The total spending requirement does not need to be in a single transaction. Purchases are automatically tracked on check-out receipts and, each time the next US$50 threshold is reached, another US0.05 per gallon reward is earned. Winn-Dixie also offers a small range of bonus items each week, with most being worth an extra US$0.05 or US$0.10 per gallon reward, although some items count for an extra US$0.20 to US$0.50 per gallon discount. There is no limit on the number of bonus items that can be purchased. Fuelperks! can be earned for nearly all food and prescription purchases, but not for tobacco, money orders and lottery tickets. Winn-Dixie Fuelperks! is operated in alliance with retail marketing coalition Excentus and Shell.

For additional information:
·  Visit Winn-Dixie at http://www.winn-dixie.com
·  Visit Shell at http://www.shell.com
·  Visit Excentus at http://www.excentus.com

In the US, Womply has added a Loyalty Cloud service as part of its suite of merchant-facing online and offline tools, including its 'Effortless Offers' product which provides a simple loyalty programme platform for local merchants. Merchants can create offers that reward their own customers for repeat visits, and Womply handles everything else from marketing and redemption of offers to analysis and customer insights. The Loyalty Cloud allows Womply to intercept credit and debit card transactions at participating merchants and to push cash credits back onto customers' payment cards, making the programme truly effortless for the merchant and customer because neither party has to do anything to redeem an offer. According to Sheldon Robinson, general manager of the Smith Commons restaurant in Washington, D.C., "The Loyalty Cloud helps us understand our customers better - how often they visit, when they visit, how much they spend, and more - so we can strengthen the relationships we've established and deliver a better customer experience". Womply is already working with more than 100 merchants in the Washington, D.C. metro area, and additional merchants are expected to be added soon in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York.

Web: http://www.womply.com