Are you a member of your favourite supermarket's loyalty scheme? Whether you are or not you've probably noticed an increase in the number of in-store discounts for those who've signed up. Are the special prices a good deal or not? And how do you find out? We caught up with a retail expert to talk about the latest shopping trend.
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00:00 Hi, my name is Lucy Davis. I work for SAP Amastis and I'm a retail expert. It's not
00:10 necessarily a great thing for brands to only offer discounts. So it's just really making
00:16 sure they get the customer service right and make sure that they speak to that customer
00:20 in the way they want to be spoken to.
00:23 They're under different names at different supermarkets, but they all boil down to the
00:27 same thing. Club card prices, more card exclusives, nectar prices and many more have become increasingly
00:34 popular in recent months as the cost of living causes many more shoppers to look for savings
00:39 where they can. Essentially, customers are being rewarded for their loyalty. By signing
00:44 up and scanning their membership upon payment, shoppers can get special prices on certain
00:49 items. But it can be costly if you leave your card at home.
00:53 People shop all over the place now. It's really hard to keep up with our customers. We're
00:57 shopping online, we're shopping on TikTok. We might be receiving SMSs about deals, we
01:03 might be getting emails or an app. There are so many different ways of keeping in touch
01:07 with us. And it kind of has to be a matter of really, really learning about that customer
01:12 with that mission and making sure each time that customer comes back, they have a better
01:17 and better shopping experience.
01:20 Speaking of loyalty, the one thing that comes to my mind that I've seen, even just in my
01:24 own personal experience, is the sort of the club card prices. You get a better deal if
01:29 you are a member of club card or I think other supermarkets are jumping on the bandwagon.
01:35 Do you think this is the future of shopping? And do you think this is, I've seen some negative
01:41 complaints from customers about this as well, about the prices might be inflated before
01:46 they're then put down. Do you think this is well received by customers?
01:51 It's really mixed, isn't it? I know it's been quite a lot of it in the news. And I think
01:57 people's attitudes towards it are mixed as well. Personally, I love having the discounts,
02:02 but it's so incredibly high. The price is so high without it that you kind of like,
02:09 and that's where people get annoyed. They feel like they're being forced to hand over
02:13 their data. So it's a real value exchange here. So retailers are asking people in a
02:18 very nice way for their email address or for their telephone numbers so they can communicate
02:24 the deals to them.
02:25 Advancements in tech aren't all bad though. Lucy believes they can even make our shopping
02:29 experience easier.
02:31 Even five years ago, people were really suspicious of club cards and what they could do for you.
02:37 And people are just becoming more and more used to them. And we really want to be rewarded
02:41 for our loyalty nowadays. It's become very much mainstream. So you don't have to remember
02:47 which shop you've got which offers with. They basically, a lot of them geolocate now where
02:53 you are, and it'll pop up when you make the payment and it'll find the deal for you, which
02:57 is brilliant. So it kind of makes our shopping experience much easier.