About
Supabarn is a family-owned supermarket chain with stores across New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. Known for its focus on community, fresh produce, and exceptional customer service, Supabarn has been a staple in its local communities. However, the supermarket faced significant challenges with its existing loyalty program, Supabarn Rewards.
Challenge
Loyalty Fundamentals
Supabarn's existing loyalty program, Supabarn Rewards, faced several complex challenges. Despite having 40,000 members, many were either unidentifiable or inactive as they were not consistently tagging themselves at checkout.
The program, while costly, lacked a clear return on investment (ROI). A major issue was that a significant amount of physical loyalty cards were not linked to customer profiles, depriving Supabarn of critical customer insights.
The overall program was significantly behind the standard set by industry leaders like Woolworths' Everyday Rewards, which boasts a 70% tag rate, a intuitive member mobile app, member based pricing, and personalised member offers funded by suppliers.
Digital Channels & Member Engagement
The digital interface of the existing rewards program was web based and not mobile optimised, resulting in less than 3% of members activity logging in to engage with the program. There was also no digital receipt capability within the interface, which was not only suboptimal for member experience, but it also was a costly for Supbarn to continue to print the receipt and didn’t align with ESG commitments. This lack of digital engagement also resulted in additional operational costs due to increased customer enquiries in stores and online.
Retail Media
Supabarn couldn't implement SKU-level offers, missing out on supplier funded opportunities. This program shortcoming combined with low levels of customer data and poor digital channels mean that AI-driven personalisation was not possible. This further limited member engagement and access to commercial opportunities with suppliers.
Reporting and ROI
The ability to measure program results and ROI was not possible due to minimal reporting across key metrics. Further to this, limited campaign analytics meant that there was no opportunity to commercialise customer and SKU-level insights with suppliers.
Retailers face numerous challenges, with loyalty programs often failing to meet their needs. Feedback from the industry indicates that the big supermarkets have an unfair advantage, leaving smaller retailers struggling to compete. For consumers, fragmented programs and engagement friction lead to loyalty fatigue. The average Australian consumer is signed up for 4.4 loyalty schemes, but only 20% actively scan their loyalty in-store, and a staggering 80% of members are inactive. Moreover, 54% of members drop out over time, underscoring the need for a more engaging and efficient loyalty solution.
The broader context of loyalty programs highlighted the urgency of these issues. Loyalty has become more critical than ever due to the cost-of-living squeeze, making rewards a key driver of increased spending. The retail media sector in Australia is expected to grow significantly, presenting a $1.2 billion owned media revenue opportunity in grocery and liquor for 2024. Rising customer acquisition costs and an increased focus on retention and growth necessitate efficient loyalty solutions. While privacy reforms have made first-party data more valuable and reliable than third-party data, making it essential for retailers to focus on retention and growth.
Solution
Recognising the myriad challenges with their existing loyalty program, Supabarn turned to Go Rewards for a comprehensive solution that would revitalise their customer engagement and streamline operations. Go Rewards seamless integration with World Smart allowed for an easy transition, ensuring existing customers could be incorporated effortlessly by simply updating their phone numbers.
Go Rewards stood out due to its innovative approach to app aggregation, driving key business outcomes by consolidating various loyalty programs into one user-friendly app. This aggregation not only increased member utility but also boosted acquisition and engagement rates, as customers could manage all their loyalty rewards in one place. The multi-tenant nature of Go Rewards ensured innovation efficiency, speed, and cost-effectiveness in implementing best-practice loyalty strategies.
The platform's unified buying power enabled enhanced supplier engagement and revenue generation, creating a symbiotic relationship between Supabarn and its suppliers. Unlike other loyalty solutions, Go Rewards provided the benefits of aggregation without disintermediation, maintaining the integrity of Supabarn’s direct customer relationships.
With next-gen loyalty features, Go Rewards met customers where they are – on their mobiles. This was critical as almost 40% of people now leave their wallets at home, relying instead on smartphones and smartwatches for payments. The app’s key features, such as member-only bonuses exclusive discounts, and notifications for bonus points and voucher expirations, significantly enhanced the user experience. Members could scan their loyalty cards and receive cash vouchers once their points balance hit $10, with vouchers redeemable within 60 days, driving repeat purchases and improved customer retention.
From a business perspective, Supabarn benefited from increased loyalty member sign-ups, enhanced engagement, and higher tag rates. The data captured provided valuable insights into customer behaviour, enabling more targeted marketing and merchandising strategies. This data-driven approach supported better supplier attribution and campaign funding, ultimately boosting top-line revenue and margins.
Go Rewards' compelling loyalty proposition leveraged “always on” and “boosted” SKU offers, which can be funded by suppliers or retailers, further increasing engagement and ROI. The integration of card linking streamlined the process, speeding up checkout and increasing customer satisfaction, while also aiding new customer acquisition.
Results & Impact
Within six weeks of launch, Supabarn observed a remarkable transformation. The customer tag rate surged from 11% to 19.1%, and 15,500 customers had already joined the new Supa Rewards program within Go Rewards. Customer feedback was overwhelmingly positive, highlighting the enhanced user experience and the ease of managing loyalty rewards through the app.
The enhanced data insights from these customers enabled Supabarn to better understand customer behaviour at a granular level, right down to individual SKUs. This newfound visibility allowed for smarter marketing and merchandising decisions, driving further growth and efficiency.
Supabarn’s partnership with Go Rewards has not only revitalised their loyalty program but also positioned them competitively against larger players in the market. The combination of seamless technology integration, enhanced customer engagement, and valuable data insights has driven significant improvements in customer satisfaction and business performance.
Future Plans
Looking ahead, Supabarn plans to enhance offer relevance and engagement through personalisation as they continue to learn more about their customers and their buying habits. By leveraging the robust data provided by Go Rewards, Supabarn aims to unlock substantial additional revenue, by using first-party data to engage customers with highly relevant offers, increasing both basket size and shopping frequency.
Additionally, Supabarn intends to explore new features within Go Rewards to further streamline the shopping experience and foster even greater customer loyalty.
“Throughout this journey, we’re uncovering ways to provide exciting, fun, and intuitive experiences through gamification. Go Rewards is a flexible platform for us to develop, test, and learn together with our customers.”