Barclaycard to Launch Loyalty Scheme for Small Stores

Barclaycard is launching a loyalty scheme for small stores on the back of research, which shows six out of 10 retailers are attracting fewer customers due to the economic downturn with owners and proprietors the worst affected.

Barclaycard plans to launch the loyalty scheme in the next 12 months and is working with Welcome Real-time, a loyalty solutions provider, on the infrastructure.

It claims the scheme will support smaller retailers in the battle to retain and gain customers in a way that has never been done before.

Dan Salmons, director of payment innovations at Barclaycard said: “Barclaycard is committed to working with our retail customers to develop innovative solutions that will help them gain footfall and increase spend no matter what their size. Our research shows there is a demand for a loyalty scheme that is simple to use and will benefit retailers whether they are a corner shop, restaurant or supermarket.

“With close to 90,000 retail customers, Barclaycard has an understanding of the retail sector as well as of our cardholders’ shopping needs. We aim to deliver a rewards’ scheme that will change the way people shop in the UK, help retailers gain new business and give up to 10m of our cardholders an enhanced shopping experience.”

The YouGov poll for Barclaycard found 62% of retailers have been impacted by the economic downturn with both visits to their stores from regular customers or new customers being affected. But the situation is worse for owners/proprietors, with 68% experiencing an impact on footfall.

Three quarters of respondents (77%) also revealed they believe larger retailers have an advantage because they can offer loyalty schemes to entice customers into their stores. According to the study, sole traders felt this more acutely with four out of five (80%) reporting they were at a disadvantage to larger retailers as they couldn’t offer a loyalty scheme to their customers.

The research indicated a third (33%) of owners/proprietors would sign up to a loyalty scheme if the option was available to them. This same group indicated the main deterrent to introducing a loyalty scheme was cost, according to 54%.

Barclaycard will make further announcements about the development of the rewards scheme in the coming months.