Gardening store signs up 1.4 million cardholders
Scheme only launched a year and a half ago
UK retailer The Garden Centre Group says that 1.4 million customers have joined its loyalty card scheme in the 18 months since its launch.
The group’s marketing director Lorrie Robertson said that loyalty cardholders spend “considerably” more than standard customers and that 55% of sales in stores are now attributable to the scheme.
He added that the card is now the “largest gardening club in Europe”, and said: “Customer insight is very important for any business, particularly when you are looking at trends, and obviously product mix and ensuring that you align what you stock with what the customer actually wants to buy.”
Cardholders collect five points for every £1 spent in-store or online, which equates to a 5% reward. The club currently offers any member over the age of 60, double points for any valid purchase made on a Tuesday.
The group’s CEO Nicholas Marshall said it was looking ahead to a “bumper Christmas,” although he added that the weather had been against the sector this year and “if anything, the recession has got worse in the last 12 months”.
The group made a pre-tax profit of £13.2m for the year to 27 December 2009.