Privilege cards are redefining the shopping experience and offering attractive incentives
It's thrilling and exciting, a necessity and a sport, an obsession and even warfare at times but no matter what form it takes or the emotion it elicits, shopping is great fun. It's also rewarding, thanks to privilege cards.
"Privilege cards are a form of loyalty or reward cards that are offered to existing or potential customers of the company, as a means of measuring and rewarding customer loyalty to a brand.
"Some loyalty programmes choose to restrict who is eligible to receive these cards whereas others don't restrict membership.
"Some offer discounts, while others use a points-based currency to track usage of the card, which can then be exchanged for a range of products or services," says Dave Battiston, CEO, Rewards Management Middle East (Air Miles).
Air Miles is a free loyalty programme that has one million members.
"These cards help track customer purchase patterns and demographics, and aid effective marketing practices which in turn, increase the frequency of visits and the average spend of each customer up to 45 per cent," says P. K. Faisal, Manager, Retail Marketing, Landmark Group, which launched its loyalty programme in the Middle East in 1999 and currently has 165,000 customers.
"They also help develop a profitable relationship with customers and offer higher level of perceived emotional and functional benefits compared to other marketing activities," says Faisal.
In the UAE privilege cards are offered by a range of establishments. "The UAE boasts one of the world's highest per capita incomes because of its high GDP growth. So it's no surprise that the UAE's retail market has grown considerably in recent years with competition between brands heating up," says Battiston.
Since competition is so intense in the retail sector, retailers have had to find ways to maximise customer satisfaction and create new and innovative ways to increase customer retention and spend, says Faisal.
Privilege cards can be part of loyalty programmes run by a single brand and only reward spending at that company.
On the other hand, partnered programmes such as Air Miles and its sister company Nectar in the UK bring together several brands and allow members to accelerate the time it takes to earn rewards.
"Partners or participants share the cost of running the programme and can therefore give more rewards back to consumers. This model has proven to work well for the participants and is popular with consumers, both in the UAE and across the world," says Battiston.
Exciting rewards
Air Miles members can earn their miles at more than 100 participating companies in the UAE. "Members earn Air Miles for every dirham they spend, and they can double dip by using an HSBC Credit Card to pay for their purchases," says Battiston.
The Landmark Group's Centrepoint Privilege Club members can earn points at outlets such as Babyshop, Shoe Mart, Splash, Home Centre and Lifestyle and partner stores such as Ecco, Lee Cooper, Bata, Fun City, Retro, Pablosky and Valencia.
The value-added services include promotions, sneak sale previews, free gift vouchers and lucky draws. Sister malls Mercato and Town Centre's Jumeirah Privilegeplus card also offers customers a range of rewards.
"Exclusive instant discounts are presented to members at many restaurants, beauty, retail and entertainment outlets, along with monthly draws. We have a mix of 90 participating retail, beauty and entertainment outlets besides restaurants from both malls," says Raida Michel El Khoury, Public Relations and Corporate Communications Manager, Mercato and Town Centre Jumeirah.
Other malls that have privilege cards include Wafi City and the Sharjah City Centre. Sharjah City Centre's Value Card holders can receive attractive discounts and win fabulous prizes from participating stores at the mall.
According to Fuad Sharaf, General Manager, Sharjah City Centre, the mall's customers have responded positively to the prizes and bonuses on offer while retailers have also seen good results.
American Express, which offers credit and charge cards, also has a 'Membership Rewards' customer loyalty programme, which allows members to gain points on card transactions and redeem them for travel, fine dining, leisure activities, charity and products.
American Express is celebrating the 10th anniversary of this programme with a Double Rewards campaign that gives card members a chance to win millions of points in monthly grand draws.
Airlines such as Emirates and SriLankan have Skywards, a frequent flyer programme that delivers rewards and benefits to the airlines' most frequent customers.
According to Brian LaBelle, Vice President, Skywards, "The worldwide membership for Skywards has topped two million with members resident in over 200 countries. Given the significant growth of Emirates, our membership rate is growing at an exponential one member per minute."
Skywards Miles can be redeemed for free tickets to hundreds of destinations on Emirates or SriLankan and other Skywards partner airlines, flights upgrades, hotel accommodation, excursions, and exclusive shopping.
But it's not just malls, credit card companies or airlines in the UAE that offer cards, Thomas Cook Al Rostamani Exchange also offers a privilege card called the IntroCard, which gives members worldwide accidental death insurance cover of Dh20,000 in association with Arab Orient Insurance Company. Every fifth remittance is free.
The 'Dine In' loyalty programme by Hyatt offers rewards each time a member dines in participating restaurants at the Grand Hyatt Dubai, Hyatt Regency Dubai and Park Hyatt Dubai.
Rewards can be redeemed for certificates that can be used towards part or full payment of your total bill in participating restaurants.
The Marriott also has a programme called Marriott Rewards, which offers travellers in the region the opportunity to earn and redeem rewards at the Courtyard by Marriott Dubai Green Community, the Renaissance Golden View Resort in Sharm Al Shaikh, Egypt, and the London Marriott West India Quay, among others.
