Liquor retailers now realise there is enormous untapped potential to revamp their loyalty programmes to drive customer engagement and expand share of wallet. Here’s how to elevate liquor loyalty solutions to create more relevant and personalised omnichannel experiences that meet changing customer demands.
With cost-conscious consumers hopping between sources in their search for bargains and customer acquisition costs soaring, customer retention is a top priority for liquor retailers.
For many years, loyalty programmes were a simple way to help drive customer acquisition and retention. However, with changing consumer behaviours and formidable new competition, few meet the needs of today’s retailers or consumers.
Many retailers can’t access data on their customers’ preferences, purchasing behaviour or communications, and end up extending the same set of offers to all customers, regardless of what they care about.
Local regulations can limit the types of rewards and promotions that can be offered, making it difficult to align with customer expectations for fast and easy personalised services.
And retailers face powerful competition from food delivery and online-only retailers working hard to provide convenience to customers, but ultimately preventing people from going into liquor stores in the first place.
The reality is, today customers don’t just compare your service to that of your competitors, but to the best service they’ve ever received, anytime and anywhere.
At a time when consumers are visiting liquor stores more often but spending less, you know that loyalty schemes are well overdue for an overhaul.
Liquor retailers are investing in innovation, digitisation and branding to launch new loyalty solutions that deliver a complete view of customers’ preferences and purchasing behaviour, with the ability to create fast and memorable experiences.
If you’re looking at how to develop your loyalty and personalisation capabilities, here are the steps to take to deliver an exceptional CX:
1. Take control with a standalone loyalty programme
Modern loyalty systems offer a dual benefit: in addition to helping acquire, engage and retain customers, they give you a 360-degree view of all customer preferences, purchase behaviours and trends.
Equipped with this information, you can adapt your pricing, product recommendations and offers, and tailor events and experiences to every individual in your customer base.
While points-based programmes and certain types of events or offers may not be possible in your state, region or store location, there are many ways to build customer trust and loyalty.
Many retailers are implementing tiered systems where customers earn different levels of benefits based on their spending or engagement. Higher tiers offer greater rewards, such as larger discounts, early access to new products, or exclusive services like personalised shopping assistance.
Subscription services are also gaining traction. These can offer members regular deliveries of their favourite spirits, access to limited edition items or curated selections at a fixed price. Subscriptions encourage repeat purchases and deepen customer relationships.
2. Extend your loyalty programme to your mobile app
Today loyalty programmes are an integral part of a smartphone app: : 63% of smartphone users are more likely to purchase from companies whose mobile sites or apps offer them relevant recommendations on products.
Mobile apps facilitate on-the-go access to loyalty rewards and special offers, plus the ability to track purchases and points. Features like push notifications can also drive engagement by alerting customers to new products, upcoming sales or last-minute deals.
By delivering loyalty discounts and rewards at point-of-sale and on the app – not just via a card - they lowered the hurdle for customer adoption and made it faster and easier to use.
The customer essentially manages their own loyalty experience and should be able to collect points, make payments and redeem points straight through their mobile device at any time.
3. Differentiate your offering with exclusive events and experiences
Retailers are extending rewards programme into tailored experiences and promotions that create memorable and enjoyable shopping experiences.
They can include exclusive access to special in-store events like mixology classes, wine and liquor tastings, meet-and-greets with distillers and vintners, new product launches and other educational or experiential events.
Events can help you understand your customer demographics and build heat maps to predict how much of a specific product customers will want to purchase during key periods of the day or week. It gives you the customer data to customise future promotions and ensure you have the right stock on hand and right specialist staffing for your customers’ needs.
These experiences also build a sense of community among customers to foster loyalty and repeat business. You could create exclusive clubs or groups that offer members-only benefits, such as special discounts, first access to limited-edition items or invitations to private events.
4. Apply analytics to create more relevant and personalised offers
The next stage is to use the data-driven insights to create cluster- or even site-specific offers. Tailor your offers for local buying opportunities and use your customer data to make informed decisions about stock, promotions and marketing strategies. That lets you customise product bundles, pricing and promotions to increase sell-through without compromising margin.
You can then capitalise on opportunities to craft offers that feel personally relevant to everyone in your database by combining internal data (such as transactions and location) with external data (such as competition, weather, traffic conditions and demographics).
This includes tracking the effectiveness of different loyalty strategies and continuously refining them based on customer feedback and behaviour patterns.
5. Use AI-driven marketing tools to hyper-personalise the CX
AI and machine learning helps you to analyse and predict customer preferences, automate personalised marketing and manage inventory more efficiently.
These tools let you tailor the shopping experience to individual preferences and behaviours by offering personalised recommendations, promotions and rewards that resonate with each customer's tastes and buying habits, such as suggesting new wines or spirits based on past purchases or offering special deals on favourite brands.
By interacting with customers at the right moment, with the right offer and in the right channel, you can drive behavioural changes in customers and multiply the lifetime value of loyalty customers.
Want help to modernise your liquor retail loyalty programme?
As you transform your customer experience to deliver the seamless and personalised buying journeys your customers crave, your retail systems must transform as well. If you’re looking for help to develop your loyalty and personalisation capabilities, get in touch. We’d love to help you develop more meaningful relationships that deliver profitable growth.
