The Logic Group, which manages information and transactions for businesses across Europe has made twelve predictions for payments and loyalty in 2006. A summary of these predictions are:

• The number of sectors and outlets where plastic cards can be used to pay for goods and services will continue to grow apace. Increasingly these will be integrated with other IT and instore systems
• Organisations that process card payments will begin looking at compliance with Visa and MasterCard’s Payment Card Data Security Standard as a matter of urgency.
• Card fraud will migrate from an increasingly secure high street to the more vulnerable Internet and call centres; inevitably this will lead to an increased need for payer authentication programmes.
• New devices like wireless terminals and self service kiosks will be introduced to attract increased consumer spend as well as improving customer service and business efficiencies.
• Key areas for Chip & PIN this year are the hospitality sector, unattended payments and branch counters.
• New card types, especially electronic gift cards, will also make a big impact, with research from Giftex predicting a 300% growth rate for the European E-Gift market.
• Customer loyalty card programmes will focus more on delivering insight into consumer behaviour patterns rather than just doling out reward points.
• Loyalty cards will increasingly evolve into new areas, such as combined loyalty and credit cards, loyalty and electronic gift cards. Web based systems and instant rewards will become increasingly popular.
• IP networking will continue to grow in prominence.
• Organisations will continue to look for areas where they can reduce operational cost through outsourcing of non-core areas.
• Corporate governance and compliance laws, such as Sarbanes-Oxley and the Turnbull Report have already had begun to bite and this trend is set to continue throughout the year.
• With the need for business to respond quickly and effectively remaining paramount an increased focus can be expected on improving business decision making through greater customer insight and management

For the full report go to the logic group website.

Price is the overriding factor, even for affluent shoppers

Loyalty scheme based on points have little impact on retaining customers, according to new research by YouGov on behalf of behaviour-based marketing company Catalina Marketing.

Only 9% of shoppers who took part in the survey said card initiatives such as Nectar and Tesco’s Club Card keep them visiting the same store or retailer. Price cuts were the most effective way of fostering loyalty, with 40% of people mentioning them, followed by bogofs, mentioned by 35%.

According to 64% of people surveyed, price overrides convenience and locality (singled out by 54%) when they chose which store to shop at, while the actual name of the retailer above the door only made a difference to 12% of shoppers.

If given a choice of rewards, the most popular – with a 45% vote – would be money vouchers. Only 2% said being entered into a prize draw was an attractive option to them.

According to the survey, consumers want regular information about promotions, with weekly, or at every shop being the most suitable time period for providing this. Consumers would prefer to be contacted by established methods such as direct mail, email and point-of-sale, which each scored more than 20%, while more ABC1 shoppers own them than C2DE, suggesting that the more affluent are perhaps more sensitive to price than they are often assumed to be.

More than 50% of respondents said they would be interested in owning a loyalty card for other retail formats such as convenience stores, pharmacies, DIY stores and takeaways.

Many CRM and loyalty programmes never engage the whole company or the customer, damaging both customer relationships and corporate values. Tony Clarke of ICLP explains how to fix the problem.

Consumers often feel that companies frequently fail to live up to expectations, especially with regard to so-called loyalty programmes, which can turn out to be little more than a ruse to collect personal data in exchange for a load of impersonalised, irrelevant communications, propositions and services.

Too many CRM and loyalty programmes never fully engage the whole corporation or the customer. Inane platitudes from company bosses about the 'customer coming first' are often met with derision by the consumers, so much so that many programmes could actually be harming corporate values rather than, as is their goal, enhancing them.

The article describes how it is companies get it wrong. The first is by not delivering on the promises made to customers, and in not making the proposition right for the target audience, thus reducing relevance and the impact of the programme. The second is by corporations not defining their goals clearly and ensuring that the programme is delivering to these objectives. The third is that companies do not account for the programme in the right way, by either not fully allocating the costs, or by not correctly accounting for the benefits accrued. The fourth is that the staff are not fully engaged and trained on the programme, leading to a break down in delivery, and the lack of established and measured KPI’s. The fifth and final element is the lack of proper use of data to frame the development of the programme, and in driving the day-to-day communications and interaction with consumers.

The full article is available at www.thewisemarketer.com

Many consumers are unaware that their preferred retailers offer an online sales channel, confirms recent research by distance shopping expert Zendor.

Despite the recent explosion in online shopping sales, retailers are still missing out on opportunities by failing to promote their websites effectively. In some sectors, more than three-quarters of consumers questioned were unaware that their ‘favourite’ retailer offers an online channel, suggesting that retailers are not communicating clearly enough with their customers.

With the recent upturn in online sales predicted to continue during 2006 - the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) forecasts a 36% growth this year - retailers who do not maximise the potential of their online store could risk losing out to competitors.

Zendor’s survey analysed sector-by-sector success in promoting sales channels - more than 200 consumers were asked to nominate their favourite retailer in a sector and were then asked whether this retailer offered an online channel.

The DIY and Garden sector faired the worst, whereas the clothing and furniture sectors performed the strongest with 85% of consumers correctly aware that an online channel is offered

The survey also revealed there is still a demand for a catalogue channel. For the full press release go to www.zendor.com