Winn-Dixie Starts Reward Program in Place of Coupons
Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. will launch a customer-loyalty program throughout its supermarket locations in Florida and southeastern Georgia. The Customer Reward Card program will sign up its first members March 7.
The Jacksonville, FL-based company will continue to use free-standing inserts, which are distributed in area newspapers and mailed to customers. But they have been redesigned to emphasize the new reward program, and will no longer require customers to clip coupons, said Joanne R. Gage, senior director of consumer marketing services.
The Customer Reward Card marks the first time Winn-Dixie has run a loyalty program, Gage said.
When customers sign up, Winn-Dixie will collect their name, address, telephone number and e-mail address (month and day of birth are optional). Customers who forget their cards can use their telephone number as program identification. At sign-up, they have the right to opt out of receiving mail and e-mail related to the program.
The membership entitles customers to discounts on a wide variety of merchandise. During special promotional periods, the store will also issue points good toward rewards such as free turkeys, hams or gift certificates. Program members will be able to check their reward levels online, at www.wdreward.com.
While most of these promotional periods will be linked to holidays, Gage said the chain could also tie them to store openings by rival chains.
“The beauty of this is that you can run points programs as needed,” Gage said.
Gage hopes to have “a couple million” customers signed up within the program’s first month. While southeastern Georgia and Florida represent the largest concentration of Winn-Dixie stores, the effort will be rolled out nationally if successful. “We expect a fairly quick evaluation period,” Gage said.
Winn-Dixie has done scanner-based product use analysis in the past. The new program will enable it to link products back to specific households, allowing the company to target offerings and evaluate under-performing categories.
“This program gives us a relationship with customers we otherwise couldn’t have,” Gage said.
