Loyalty Programs In The Consumer Age

August 2012 Integrated Solutions For Retailers

By Matt Pillar, editor in chief

With the consumer now firmly rooted at the center of the retail experience, loyalty programs must evolve now or suffer the consequences of irrelevance.

New loyalty initiatives are built not on cards, but on software and mobile phones. Here, Dave Burton, product director, CRM and services for Epicor, helps us navigate the new realities of retail loyalty.

Loyalty programs are rapidly moving toward mobile. What challenges are retailers facing in terms of determining which mobile platforms and technologies to build on?

Burton: The biggest challenge is not unique to mobile — it’s the same challenge we bump up against when it comes to any technology: Which platform do you want to attach your enterprise to? People remember the sting from the VHS versus Beta tape days, and similarly retailers today struggle to decide which way to move with their mobile initiatives — whether that’s using short code, text, or QR codes, or linking to PayPal, a mobile wallet, or branding your own proprietary wallet. The big question is actually, “Where will consumers lead us?” and none of us have that answer.