Analyzing Safeway's Rewards Program
...discounts are provided by the manufacturers anyway, to help promote a new product or a particular brand. This enables Safeway to save some money in their rewards program. Safeway first started out a mailing that reached all its cardholders. This mailing included a letter welcoming the customer to the program. Safeway segmented their customers into Primary and Secondary shoppers. Secondary shoppers consisted of the customers whose spending patterns indicated they did a majority of their shopping some place else. Their package included coupons for various items they shopped for. They also received coupons for items they did not shop heavily for, to entice them to buy these items. By getting customers who didn’t shop in specific departments to think about shopping there, they changed customer behavior. On the other hand primary shoppers were not enticed to shop at various departments. I believe Safeway felt there was no point in giving them extra discounts to certain departments, because they already shopped there. With this approach Safeway entices secondary customers who do not having a shopping history at there store to come back. Meanwhile primary customers who shop at their store will continue to do so. Safeway uses personalized laser letters and inserts for their coupons. There is an astonishing estimated 451,000 versions of the mailing lists that go out. To build a relationship with is cardholders, Safeway also created a newsletter. The newsletter contained tips and recipes for using certain products. Safeway also marketed their own products, in an effort to sell more. Safeway’s program included personal recognition. Members would get certain benefits on particular products on certain days. For instance it has been noted that Safeway offered a free carton of Safeway brand ice cream on their birthdays. Safeway started building a personalized relationship with its customers, even sending out personalized Christmas cards in the holiday season. The end result in the use of this program provided considerable results for Safeway. Store sales increased and they were attracting new customers. PreVision marketing helped Safeway to develop an easy to use system, which provided immediate rewards for the customer. The E-business technology’s Safeway is using consists in the storing of customer data. For example when one signs up for the Safeway customer rewards card, they must fill out an application. In that application you have to include an address, and various perso...