In a move to drive retail sales, encourage more leisure time to be spent in Guildford and better understand the needs of its business community, the Business Improvement District (BID), Experience Guildford, has this month launched a loyalty card to reward workers based in the town.
The free card, developed by loyalty marketing specialists Footfall123, has been provided to employees of every retail and leisure business located in Guildford town centre. Each card, created with its own unique barcode, can be presented to businesses which are part of the BID, including retailers, eateries and popular leisure spots, in return for an offer, promotion or discount for each cardholder.
In addition to driving sales and providing workers in the town with a reward for shopping local, Experience Guildford can also analyse the data collected from the use of every Privilege card, to build a clearer picture of the demographical structure of workers in the town alongside their consumer habits. This valuable insight will then be used to make business decisions within Guildford that will positively impact its commercial inhabitants.
The Privilege card introduction comes after Experience Guildford spent over a year consulting with retail and leisure businesses about what improvements could be made within the town centre, which resulted in Guildford becoming a Business Improvement District. The Privilege card launched with 14 different offers, including those from McDonald’s, Sunglass Hut, Millie’s Cookies and a number of independent retailers, with discounts of up to 50 per cent offered.
Kirstie Gattner, project manager for Experience Guildford, explains: “Although it is early days the Privilege card has already been exceptionally well received by businesses in the town centre. We wanted to show that we are working to deliver real improvements within our first few months of being a BID, and this was a great way of giving our BID businesses another platform to shout about how great they are, as well as offering them and their employees another reason to spend time and money in Guildford.
We initially met with Footfall123 in December 2012 and were so impressed with their product, it offers something fresh and exciting, and we loved that the success of their schemes is tangible. Our thanks go to Footfall123 to helping us to get our Privilege Card off the ground, and could not recommend them more highly to any businesses looking to launch a similar scheme.”
Ben Chesser, founder of Footfall123, adds: “Loyalty cards are an ideal way to reward customers for their support and in Experience Guildford’s case also an easy and effective way to track behaviour and use this insight for greater good. Although only in the initial stages of launch, we wish Experience Guildford every success with the scheme.”
Source: Business Improvement District (BID)
