Question 1: Summary of the report findings
The report is about a survey conducted by EKN on industry study of 60 and above retailers to gauge the existing state of loyalty programs in the retail industry. The report presents the study findings, explains the major takeaways and provides prescriptive details including the latest framework for customer loyalty in the retail industry. Some of the main findings include:
There exist disconnect between retailers’ perception of the key drivers of customer loyalty and their main strategies to improve their loyalty programs.
Retailers have several systems for customer engagement, despite offering a loyalty program or not.
Customers of retailers who provide loyalty program are no more loyal than those of retailers who do not provide one.
Frequency and activity are still the measures of program effectiveness additionally explaining their transactional nature. Strategic emotion or influence measures for instance Net Promoter Score (NPS) experience low adoption.
Retailers anticipate a reasonable rise in revenue contribution from members in their loyalty programs over the coming three years. They are also preparing for the coming shifts in technology platform improvements.
The report also includes a comprehensive Loyalty Solution Provider Vendor Landscape that identifies the best vendors in this area along with the list of services they offer and a Retail Honor Board that explains Best practices from top retailers. The report concludes that loyalty is an emotional concept. In order to enhance customer loyalty, loyalty programs will need to expand in their ambition and scope from rewarding frequent activity with a monetary reward, to being the means through which the retailer can establish a rewarding personal relationship with the customer.
Question 2: The two concepts from the textbook that either support or dispute the findings and recommendations of the report.
The Technology Revolution (Chapter 1 of the Textbook)
Technology Revolution refers to the changes that occur in the technology platform. The report anticipate that retailers are preparing for the next round of technology platform improvements and this is also supported by the textbook, which illustrates that store owners will become little more than order takers due to advancements in technology.
The Customer Revolution (Chapter 1 of the Tex book)
Customer Revolution refers to the changes that occur in the nature of customers over a period of time. The report finds out that customers have really changed and even to effectively administer loyalty, loyalty programs need to expand their scope and ambition from rewarding frequent activity with a monetary reward, to being the means through which the retailer can establish a rewarding personal relationship with the customer. This argument is supported by the textbook, which acknowledges that customers currently demand flawless customer service.
Question 3: The most interesting thing about this report.
The most interesting thing about this report is that it was able to come up with findings of industry study of over 60 retailers in order to gauge the current state of loyalty programs in the retail industry. This is remarkable and put it above just a professional report but more of a consumer report since it was able to come up with comprehensive findings regarding the topic of the study.
