Retail Rewards one way to make the consumer stick to company’s platform and a great way to establish relationship with customer. It also helps in tracking consumer buying patterns [not a privacy issue in India] and develop further promotions and sales.
Accor India a company specializing in loyalty promotions has bagged prestigious clients such as Tommy Hilfiger and Wills Lifestyle. Infact Accor will serve the entire ITC groups retail initiative. The company is said to be in advanced stages of negotiations with Reliance Retail to takeover Reliance One Loyalty Program. Mr. Sandeep Banerjee of Accor said,
We have already had high level negotiaions with Reliance Retail and now it depends on how it would like to build its loyalty programme and take it further.
Accor is not the only company on the pitch as it faces intense competion from Sodexo. the company is planning to approach big retailers like Shoppers’ Stop, Hypercity etc. The goal for them is to add more value in addition to what these retailers are already offering. Sodexo is also targeting mid-size decaded old retailers like Metro Shoes. Mr. Talwar, CEO of Sodexo said,
The purpose is to partner with both big and mid-sized retailers and help them expand their base of consumers. We also intent to help big retailers attract more customers on a common platform.
Can these companies really convince the Indian consumer who usually has higher expectations in loylaty / rewards programme ? Your thoughts and experience can enlighten us.