Transcript of the episode: https://youtu.be/qd_slflbmm0

Katarzyna Nawrocka on loyalty schemes at night. Good evening, everyone. I’m joined today by Amelia Dąbrowska, and we’ll be discussing loyalty schemes in the food retail sector. Good evening, Amelia.

Good evening, Kasia, and good evening, everyone.

Amelio, for those who haven’t seen our first episode, let’s briefly explain what a loyalty scheme is.

A loyalty programme consists of long-term marketing initiatives aimed at engaging customers, boosting sales or increasing brand visibility in the market.

So how do we categorise loyalty schemes? From my own experience, I’m familiar with points-based schemes, as they’re probably the oldest.

Definitely. Definitely the oldest, but not the most popular, as there are only three providers in this category in the food retail market. We also have loyalty schemes, discount schemes and programmes based strictly on cashback.

And which of these programmes can we find in the food industry?

Pretty much anyone. In the food industry, one of the oldest loyalty schemes in Poland is a cashback-based scheme. I say „based on” because the terms and conditions also set out circumstances under which you can receive additional discounts through this scheme.

You mentioned that points-based schemes are the least popular, yet they’re still being introduced. None of us likes to wait a long time for a reward.

Absolutely. None of us likes to wait a long time for a prize, which is why marketers in the food industry have got clever and come up with the idea of an instant prize. And this isn’t a prize from a rewards catalogue, but one available in a supermarket.

We’ve decided against the points-based scheme – the least popular one – and we’ve come up with a solution that makes it not quite so burdensome or time-consuming. But we’ve also got the others. Perhaps we should talk about what sets them apart.

Another category is discount schemes, where we receive discounts on specific food items or financial discounts.

And there is a third category as well.

There is also a third category: cashback. It is the oldest, but by far the least popular, within the loyalty schemes category. And I’m not just referring to the food retail sector here, but to the retail sector as a whole. I360 has identified 120 loyalty schemes in Poland. In short, that’s the number of schemes that have the word „loyalty” in their name. The food sector accounts for 10 per cent of these; however, in terms of value, this is not a 10 per cent category, given how much Poles spend on groceries each year.

So, if there are 12 loyalty schemes in the food sector, let’s talk about a few of them.

I’ll start with a scheme that I’m sure you’re all very familiar with – the Biedronka loyalty scheme. All we have here is a plastic card; when we sign up, we receive one large card and two small ones, so that we can share them with the whole family. When shopping, we can also provide a phone number, which is directly linked to that particular card. We receive discounts on the range of products available across the entire Biedronka chain. An interesting fact is that if you lose your card, you won’t be issued with a replacement. We can simply apply for a new card. Another scheme I wanted to mention is the one run by the Lidl chain. Here, there is only a mobile app, which you need to scan when making purchases. It’s a scheme where you receive additional discounts on products, and there’s a surprise in the form of scratch cards – you never know what prize you might get. Additional features certainly include a receipt repository and the Lidl Pay app, where you can pay for purchases made in a particular shop directly from the app. Another such programme is the Auchan network’s ‘Skarbonka’ scheme and mobile app. ‘Skarbonka’ is a cashback scheme where you receive a refund into a virtual account, which you can use on the entire range of products at Auchan. The Żabka chain has definitely gone out of its way to cater for the youngest participants in loyalty schemes, as it is the only one to offer membership from the age of 16. Here, there is only a mobile app where you earn ‘żapsy’ for purchases made within the chain. One zloty equals four ‘żapsy’, which you can use on the range of products specified in the app. This is how you earn points. The final programme I’d like to tell you about is the one run by the Carrefour chain. Here, you receive a voucher worth ten zlotys for accumulating six hundred points. We earn points through our purchases: for every zloty spent up to 9.99, we receive one point, and for every further 10 zlotys spent, we receive three points. So we have to work quite hard to collect enough points to get this voucher.

When it comes to money, what is the level of incentives in loyalty schemes in the food retail sector, and what exactly do these incentives involve?

Incentives are a percentage of every zloty of revenue that a programme participant receives in the form of a points discount or cashback.

If I’ve understood it correctly, then I’m sure everyone else has too. And what’s the situation like in the food industry specifically?

Here, I would like to explain how this works in the case of loyalty and discount schemes. I will only be using threshold figures. The incentive rate for the ‘Mój Carrefour’ programme is 0.47 per cent, and for the ‘Kupiec’ buying group it is 2.43 per cent. As for discount schemes, Auchan stands at 12.55 per cent and Biedronka at over 34 per cent.

So Biedronka is the market leader in Poland.

According to the latest research by Monitor Loyalty Schemes, Biedronka is the most popular loyalty scheme in the whole of Poland.

To sum up, which of these programmes can we consider to be the best and most comprehensive?

The best and most comprehensive programme would certainly be one that incorporated most of the features found in programmes across the entire food industry. It should definitely include both discounts and loyalty points, and we should receive an additional refund in the form of cashback. It should definitely consist of an app and a plastic card, and it should include a receipt repository and the option to pay directly via the app. Of course, no such scheme exists, and we don’t choose our supermarkets specifically for their loyalty schemes, so let’s treat this as a bonus rather than something that forces us to make purchases.

Amelio, thank you very much for meeting with us today. You’ve cleared up all our doubts.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

Dear readers, if you have any further questions about loyalty schemes in the food industry, please leave them in the comments. We’ll be happy to answer them. See you in the next episode.