US: Whole Foods' rewards a natural for growth
Until 2014, Whole Foods had not so much as tested a customer-rewards program because it likely didn’t see the need to. Its shoppers sought out its stores for the quality of its natural products as well as for the amiable, knowledgeable staff – not for discounts.
But with the September launch of a pilot affinity (loyalty) program, called Whole Foods Market WFM -1.01% Rewards, as well as efforts to stock the shelves with more inexpensive items, Whole Foods appears to have recognized that price is becoming more of a competitive issue, regardless of its helpful employees and service.
Early indications are that Market Rewards is resonating with shoppers. Activation rates are high and member basket sizes are above the average, co-CEO Walter Robb told analysts during a first-quarter conference call Feb. 11. The program, launched in New Jersey in September, is now scheduled to expand into Washington, D.C., in the spring, “with hopes of having it live in a majority of stores for the 2015 holiday season,” Robb said, according to Supermarket News.
Whole Foods credits the program, along with its first national marketing campaign, for contributing to record first-quarter sales, up a better-than-expected 10.2% to $4.7 billion. But none of these efforts would be worth the increasing number of 365 private label products on Whole Foods’ shelves without the encouraged participation of its workers. The chain’s executives appear to know this too, in spades.
Source: forbes.com
