AN EXCITING NEW REWARDS PROGRAMME FOR WHITCOULLS CUSTOMERS

Whitcoulls, a long established and significant player in New Zealand’s book and specialty retail space, reached a milestone this month when their dynamic new customer rewards programme, ‘Whitcoulls Rewards’, reached the 175,000 member mark.

“This is an amazing result”, enthused Justin Boyes, Sales & Marketing Manager for ARW Group. “Our initial projections involved building the customer base to 100,000 members within 12 months, so to have now enrolled more than 175,000 within seven months proves both the popularity and value that the program brings to our customers”.

Whitcoulls Rewards offers a unique shopping experience with members receiving loyalty points, special privileges, rewards, prizes, and benefits communicated to them on their state-of-the-art thermochromic Whitcoulls Rewards ‘smart’ card.

Customers can use their Whitcoulls Rewards card to receive benefits when making a purchase in a Whitcoulls store. It doesn’t matter whether they are buying Books, DVDs, Stationery, Gift Wrap, Greeting Cards or Magazines. The only exclusions to accruing rewards are Phone Cards, Lotto tickets & Gift Vouchers.

Whitcoulls Rewards is simplicity itself. Whitcoulls customers earn points whenever they spend $5 or more at a Whitcoulls store. Each dollar a customer spends earns them one point. And every 100 points earns the customer a $5 Rewards voucher that can be redeemed on their next purchase.

Using the Whitcoulls Rewards card also entitles customers to win instant prizes in-store, receive exclusive member-only offers, and be invited to author events and movie previews.

At the time of transaction, the customer’s Whitcoulls Rewards card is swiped through a counter-top unit and is instantly updated with both the number of points earned and relevant programme offers. A key element of the innovative Graphicard™ loyalty marketing platform developed by Visible Results is the compact terminal which delivers relevant tailored messages, offers, and promotions printed to both the face of the Whitcoulls Rewards card and to vouchers via the terminal’s integrated thermal printer.

Whitcoulls Rewards members receive a regular complimentary email newsletter featuring the latest new releases, exclusive member offers and promotions, updates on what is happening in-store, and advance notice of Whitcoulls major sales.

Visible Results New Zealand General Manager Nick Foster is delighted with how well the programme has been received by Whitcoulls customers. “During development of the structure and consumer proposition with members of the Whitcoulls management team, we were confident all the elements of a successful programme were being considered”.

“The fact that - since launch - a significant proportion of total sales are made in conjunction with the Whitcoulls Rewards card demonstrates that customers are highly engaged. And with such generous rewards on offer we are seeing that Whitcoulls customers are increasing both frequency of visits and spend. All-in-all, it’s a very pleasing start to a great program.”

The new Whitcoulls Rewards card replaced the current single-category paper-based bonus stamp cards.

Whitcoulls Group Limited
Whitcoulls is a long established nationwide book and stationery chain with the largest share of the New Zealand market. Within the Whitcoulls division, Bennetts Tertiary sells textbooks and related course materials to students and other campus users.

Whitcoulls is a division of the A&R Whitcoulls Group (ARW) Limited.

Contact:
Justin Boyes, ARW Sales & Marketing Manager, M: +64-9356-5456 or Justin.Boyes@whitcoulls.co.nz
www.whitcoulls.co.nz

Visible Results Limited
Visible Results is a leading developer of unique loyalty marketing programs that provide innovative relationship marketing solutions for retailers and other consumer-facing branded businesses. Visible Results’ global organisation supports a broad spectrum of clients across the specialty retail, mass merchandising and shopping centre sector in Australia, New Zealand, USA, UK, Asia and the Middle East.

Visible Results are the global provider of the unique Graphicard™ solution.

Contact:
New Zealand: Nick Foster, General Manager, Visible Results Limited, +64-9-980-9848 or nfoster@visibleresults.com
Australia: Mark Pullen, General Manager, Visible Results Australia P/L, +61 2 8332 6868 or mpullen@visible-results.com.au

www.visibleresults.com