Sunday, April 22, 2007

Some opening points

This blog has been created to discuss retail loyalty programs, from an Australian perspective. "If you want loyalty, get a dog" claimed one loyalty commentator, thus inspiring A Loyalty Doggerel. In the Australian landscape, loyalty programs have reached some state of maturity or at least steady state, after a journey of fifteen or so years or more.

From the frequent flyer programs of Ansett and Qantas in the early 1990's, the watershed introduction of FlyBuys in1994, the proliferation of credit card programs in the wake of FlyBuys, through to the crafted retail programs of the 21st century such as MYER one or EmailCash, the Australian loyalty landscape is worthy of commentary.

What have Australian retailers got to learn? Have these programs made a difference? Why do companies invest? Do customers really care? What if they all disappeared? What makes one program more effective than another? How do Australian loyalty program shape up against similar programs overseas? What about the Australian retail scene makes a loyalty program more or less effective in Australia compared from their overseas counterparts? How do similar markets such as New Zealand compare? There are many points to ponder. I hope, if you've stumbled by, it's a rewarding journey!