Recent Press Releases - Article

USA RELEASE: CORNER PANTRY REWARDS EXCEEDS TARGET BY 26%

KANSAS CITY, KS (10/03/02)

Corner Pantry and Visible Results today announced the first week's results for the Corner Pantry Rewards Loyalty Program. Despite the program being in a 'soft' launch phase, David Tucker, President/Owner of Corner Pantry is pleased to report that enrolments have exceeded targets by over 26%, with almost 3,000 members joining in the first week of the program - each spending an average of $17.70 over this time.

Vendors and local businesses have been extremely supportive of the Corner Pantry Rewards program and are providing thousands of prizes - around 800 prizes per day will be given out in October including tickets to the Carowind Amusement Park, Coke products, Beanhead Coffee, tickets to Carolina Panthers games and the USC / Arkansas game, discounts for admission to the Putt Putt Family Fun Center, Snickers Bars, cookies, Pepsi products and large stuffed Tigers from Carolina Distributors. "[Vendors] are clearly excited about the ability to target their products to our customers and conduct business in an exciting and different format," Mr. Tucker explained. "The customer response has been overwhelming, and it is clearly generating repeat business for us even in the first week of operation. Our customers are ecstatic about winning prizes through the Reward Card - it makes their visit to the store more fun for them."

Mr. Tucker also said that customers were very happy with the earned rewards component of the program, where members accumulate points to earn rewards such as two liter Coke or Pepsi products and $2.00 off coupons for gas and convenience store goods. "One customer remarked how nice it was to have a positive, friendly focus in the program, rather than the typical grocery store where they have two sets of prices, one for the card holder and one for the non-cardholder."

To support the program long term, Corner Pantry will also be implementing an employee incentive scheme designed to reward employees for behavior above and beyond their normal duties. The incentive program focuses on encouraging employees to build good relationships with customers and increase positive customer contacts.

Mr. Tucker considers Corner Pantry's decision to implement a loyalty program to be ".a sound business decision. [It] increases our ability to become offensive instead of defensive when big box retailers invade our market using the predatory tactics we've seen in other areas. The team at Visible Results has made the implementation process easy to follow. They have been professional and hard working. It's been a lot of work for our management team, but it's nice to see the positive results of everyone's hard work and commitment so quickly, and most importantly, our customers love it!"