Good practice:

Networking Platform of small stores to maintain customer’s loyalty

Teruel Open Mall is composed of 180 stores (15,000 m2 sales area) and more than 600 professionals located in the historic center of Teruel’s city.
In a context in which the client is increasingly unfaithful, it is necessary to look for formats and ideas that increase their loyalty with the store’s brand.
The shops of the Historic Center of Teruel use the same card in all the shops attached to the project. Each time a customer buys in a store a discount of 2% is applied, which is charged to the “virtual card wallet”, so that he can spend it on future purchases at any of the establishments connected to the network. A connected retail cannot refuse to make that discount (2%), but it can increase it if he wants, in that case the discount increased can only spend in the store that has done it. Each retail can choose the amount of discount to be applied, the season of the year, the type of product in which to do it, and to which specific customers.
The success of the project is that all parties benefit. The establishments attached are mainly shops, but there are also restaurants, bars, hairdressers and some professional services. The biggest benefit comes from the whole group together and of the commercial area. Each business has also individual benefits of loyalty from its customers. Customers are beneficiaries because they see how every time they buy, they save, since whenever they do, they take back money loaded on their cards.

Initial investment: 36,000€. Annual maintenance: 800€
Every store needs a computer, tablet or notebook and an Internet connection. A card reader is also convenient.
The association needs at least one person to strategically direct the Project.

It has been running successfully since 2010.
We currently has 20,400 clients from the city of Teruel, which has 36,000 inhabitants.
The annual turnover is 7 million euros.
We have created our own direct means of communication with the client. In few minutes we can launch personalized communication campaigns and gifts that improve customer’s shopping experience.
For the association this has allowed us to increase our income, which we invest in doing activities for the associated businesses.

It is key to define the strategy properly:
• The supply of shops and customer demand must match at the same time.
• Both types of discounts must be allowed.
• It has to be applied a fee (self-management) that allows to reinvest in the project.
• It has to get an attractive commercial mix.

The practice has its own benefits to any commercial relationship regardless of the country, which are obtained in the short term:
• Creation of a direct communication channel with customers to do relational marketing, almost immediately in consumer promotion campaigns.
• Optimizes Big Data management to better adapt the offer to the needs of customers.
• Enhances customer-brand engagement.
• Improve the financing of the Association, since clients accumulate a balance, which takes on average 9 months to spend. During that time, the Association has in its bank account between 40.000 and 45.000€.
• The system improves the customer’s shopping experience with numerous campaigns, such as random gifts with money to spend on purchases, prizes to be collected in the stores, small prize campaigns with the accumulation on the card, for example, of 10€ for future purchases, free purchases...