In the first year of the program, 5 million loyalty cards were activated, with 1.4 million card holders having swiped their card in 4 weeks, 2.8 million users in 6 months. Additionally 4 in every 10 transactions involve the loyalty card. Costa is finding that cardholders spend significantly more than non-cardholders. A small proportion of card holders (5%) account for a large proportion of spend (41%) on the card.
The online registration process also allows Costa to identify exactly who these high-value customers are, information that was unavailable to them before.
Independent research also shows that cardholders are more likely to:
- Make a return visit: 88% card holders vs. 79% non-cardholders
- Recommend Costa: 79% card holders vs. 62% non-cardholders
- Overall satisfaction: 73% card holders vs. 65% non-cardholders
For fiscal year 2010/11, Costa Coffee delivered like for like sales growth of 7.8%, with profit up by 24.7% (£425m). This is partly attributed to the success of the loyalty card.
The loyalty card gives Costa a good understanding of who their customers are and what they want. Costa now has the ability to communicate directly with them and build value in ways that differentiate it from competing coffee brands. Not only has customer information given Costa confidence in its strategic decision-making, but it’s also provided new insights that it wouldn’t have been possible to get before.