According to ICLP, traditional, points-based, loyalty programmes such as Tesco Clubcard do still work. Its recent survey of 1,000 shoppers found 59% would spend more time with a brand if they had one of these loyalty programme in place. Meanwhile, 37% of these shoppers agreed that Clubcard means they are more loyal towards Tesco than Aldi and Lidl, which don’t have an equivalent programme. Therefore, scrapping Clubcard altogether probably isn’t a good idea.

Instead, Roberts says it will only be a matter of time until Tesco updates Clubcard to something that’s more digitally-savvy. He explains: “They have the [mobile payments service] PayQwik, have trialled paperless receipts and the Clubcard mobile app is fairly solid if limited. Tesco is creating the seeds for something much bigger.

“Shoppers want a unified mobile-based shopping experience where they can scan, pay and access loyalty all in one place. It’s on the horizon. Lewis just has bigger fish to fry at this moment in time.”

However, Blundell believes any delays could ultimately be an oversight, with the likes of Amazon rapidly expanding into groceries.

He concludes: “Amazon is so successful because it has tonnes of data on consumers and has found a way with Amazon Prime to really reward the loyalty of these members digitally. Amazon might not be a big threat to Tesco right now, but it will be in five years time. The longer it waits to evolve Clubcard, the more susceptible Tesco leaves itself to disruption.”

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.marketingweek.com