Japan’s Green Stamps loyalty goes digital
Japan’s poplar Green Stamp loyalty scheme is to go digital using YOU Technology’s uEngage end-to-end personalized marketing platform and services.
Japan Green Stamp Company, founded in 1961, operates Japan’s most widespread, successful loyalty program, serving more than 17 million of the estimated 49 million Japanese households (approximately 35% of the market) and approximately 23,000 retail stores throughout Japan.
Competition for Japanese consumers is intense. Research suggests that among Japan’s shoppers, approximately 70% base their choice of retail venue on high service levels.
The YOU platform will link the Japan Green Stamp Company loyalty programme with POS data, shopper behavior insights, and offers. Special promotions can be better targeted based on shopper preferences and purchase history, and merchandising decisions can be made with greater insights.
While the Japan Green Stamp loyalty system has been card based, with semi-personalized offers printed in-lane at checkout it has not previously been possible to collate data about a shopper, or respond th behaviour. As the shopper spends, that shopper’s point total is incremented, and the updated tally is printed on the card. When points accrue to a certain level, the shopper receives a certificate that can be redeemed for merchandise from JGS’ extensive catalog, or discounts at the retail store.
The YOU Technology uEngage loyalty solution will provide several benefits for retail merchants and their shoppers:
It will allow points to accrue with no limit and eliminates point certificate printing, inventory, issuance, manual tracking, and redemption, saving the retailer costs and improving shopper convenience.
Shoppers will also be able to acquire and easily use their points in-lane and on-line with no manual tasks on their part, or by JGS and its retail affiliates.
Today, promotional offers and messages are periodically loaded onto in-lane printers and are issued based on particular shopper attributes or loyalty levels. By integrating YOU’s loyalty-specific CRM database with retail POS systems, the retailer can more dynamically reward shoppers with highly-refined offers based specifically on preference and purchase history.
Real-Time Shopper Insights: Currently, JGS is capturing a limited amount of shopper data, including store visits and spending levels, but no SKU-level product detail. With YOU Technology, JGS and the retailers it supports can capture, aggregate, and preserve years’ worth of detailed consumer data to impact the entire retail operation — from marketing to merchandising.
“Japan Green Stamp is a thriving business that has been continuously innovating loyalty programs for nearly 5 decades,” said YOU Technology CEO Ken Fenyo. “JGS’ agreement with YOU to provide next-generation services will deliver more convenience for shoppers and greater insights for retailers. We are proud to be their partner in this project.”
“Service is crucial to Japanese consumers, and YOU Technology’s loyalty solutions provide a springboard for Japan Green Stamp to enhance service levels,” said Ian Warburg, Vice-President, GS America, JGS’s wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary. “It will also give our retailers far more power to deliver personalized marketing programs for their shoppers, in a tremendously efficient manner. Obviously, we’re thrilled about offering this value to our customers.”