The power of loyalty in indie retail

Ongoing special offers are key to returning customers. If repeat visitors continue to come back for more, rewarding their loyalty through cards and schemes is a smart move.

Many farm shops and delicatessen have introduced their own loyalty schemes in which customers can gain a number of special perks. Money off products. Exclusive access to promotions.

Plus, bonus points for future discounts. The spend-to-bonus point ratio can vary, but it’s not uncommon for some delis and farm shops to offer very healthy deals. Norfolk Deli customers can get five points for every £1 spent if they have signed up to their ‘Perks’ loyalty scheme.

A welcome bonus for customers is when farm shops and delis allow customers to gain points through other means other than purchases. Sometimes, customers can qualify for loyalty schemes through recommendations to others or even acknowledgements on social media, as Lydia Tomkinson, marketing manager at Eversfield Organic, outlines.

“Our loyalty scheme, Eversfield Organic Rewards, lets customers save up points from different activities, such as shopping with us, referring a friend, or following us on social media, which can then be redeemed as money off vouchers.”

“There are, of course, challenges with getting the right offer at the right time to the right people,” says Lucy Jones, owner of the Cornish Food Box Company. “The food & drink industry is typically fairly low margin so when setting out our special offers we have to be aware of the overall costs we will incur.

“Encouraging repeat orders through our Cornish food box subscription service is the best way of managing this. One of our latest special offers gave new customers a free organic fruit box when they signed up to have regular veg box deliveries from us.”