Visible Results News - Article

RESULTS-DRIVEN LOYALTY - 1 May 2004 - Convenience Store Decisions, www.c-storedecisions.com

Childers Oil is just getting started with a new tech-driven loyalty program. Another retailer has taken it to the next level. Childers Oil Co. thinks it might have an ace in its back pocket. The Whitesburg, KY-based chain has chosen Visible Results USA's revolutionary GraphiCard technology and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system as the base of a rewards program for 30 of its 40 Double Kwik convenience stores. The technology essentially lets retailers make "members" out of their customers.

Using the program, a customer inserts a loyalty card into a specialized point-of-sale terminal during each transaction. A unique thermo-chromic process tallies points garnered for total purchases, along with other personalized data, and displays them on the front of the card. Additional data -- which is customized to the retailer -- can include targeted offers, special promotions and sales, advertising messages, instant win games and more. A re-writeable magnetic strip incorporated into the back of the card stores specific data about transactions as they occur. It also enables the back of the card to be re-written every time the customer presents it, turning it into a self-contained database that encourages repeated use and engenders customer loyalty.

"This program allows marketing efforts to be tailored to specific segments of our customer base," says Don Childers, owner of Childers Oil, which flies the BP, Shell, CITGO, Exxon, Texaco and Marathon flags.

"It also provides the flexibility needed in our fastpaced business and brings a unique technology into our area that no (competitor) has to offer." Childers likes that the program focuses on immediate customer rewards rather than discounts. Program rewards at Double Kwik include free car washes, packaged beverages and snacks from key vendors, as well as Double Kwik "branded" bottled water.

While Childers Oil is just getting started with its loyalty program, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) has expanded the scope of two reward programs it implemented last December at its Mission Market grocery and Arrowhead Travel Plaza convenience stores in Pendleton, OR. Like Childers Oil's program, CTUIR's programs are also based on Visible Results' GraphiCard Technology.

CTUIR's locations initially promoted a general "Rewards on the Rez" program for all customers, while also offering a "Professional Driver Rewards" program for truck drivers at Arrowhead Travel Plaza. Customer demand has encouraged the tribe to roll out the truck driver program to its Mission Market as well.

"We deployed these programs to encourage local residents to shop at the stores, which are located right on the Umatilla Indian Reservation, instead of leaving to make purchases in the neighboring town," says Don Nelson, general manager of Arrowhead Travel Plaza. "Requests to accept Professional Driver Rewards and Rewards on the Rez across the board, coupled with significant interest and enrolment in the two programs, demonstrate that our solution is working." Nelson says both programs feature increasing rewards levels, with 12 points earned for every dollar spent in CTUIR's stores.

Professional Driver Rewards members receive one bonus point for each gallon of diesel fuel purchased. Points earned are redeemed for in-store credit; customers can either redeem points at each reward level or continue to accrue them until reaching the desired reward level.