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A retailer’s checkout page showing the Save Local loyalty program details. A retailer using Shop Local could chose to participate in our loyalty program designed for their shoppers. Our program enables 1,300 indie stores to team up and be more competitive. Many big-box retailers already offer loyalty programs.
The New York Times profiled Blackbird, a new loyalty app servicing indie restaurants.
Blackbird’s loyalty program offers users points called “$fly.”
AmericanExpress, which owns Resy, offers a loyalty program through its credit card. Resy users are instructed to link their credit card to the Resy app.
Resy via the AmericanExpress credit card offer members a $200 airline credit.
Resy via the AmericanExpress credit card offer members airline lounge access.
Resy via the AmericanExpress credit card offers memberes Uber Cash.
The Venetian hotel’s Grazie Rewards loyalty program is free to join and offers a discount of up to 5% off.
Juliska, a tableware manufacturer and brand, has a loyalty program for D2C shoppers.
Vietri, a tableware manufacturer and brand, offers a rewards program. (Juliska and Vietri appear to use the same software.)
Juliska’s program gives users points for promoting the brand.
Juliska offers free 3-day shipping to shoppers that spend $1k per year.
Juliska allows shoppers to redeem points on products.
Vietri offers $200 off when a member of their program uses 4,000 points.
Juliska promotes its Loyalty Members Club rewards program on its website.
Annieglass, a tableware and giftware manufacturer and brand, has a loyalty program.
Loyalty Programs
How restaurants, hotels, and tableware brands are using loyalty programs--and what indie stores can learn from this.
Perk-yI recently read about a new loyalty program and wondered what we could learn from it. The founder of Eater and Resy, Ben Leventhal, has started Blackbird, a loyalty program service designed for indie restaurants, reports The New York Times (Read the article). Using the Blackbird app, a diner receives a perk for eating at a restaurant. The retailer sets tiers for which the user qualifies for the perk. For example, a restaurant, Nat’s on Bank in New York City, gives tier 1 customers a free cocktail. When they reach tier 3 (after the 10th visit), they receive a free appetizer with each visit. Blackbird often gives away food and drinks instead of monetary discounts—which we know is often better for the business’s bottom line.
Hardware is Hard to Make Work
Blackbird gives restaurants a sensor to put under tables to detect when a user of the app enters the restaurant and where they are sitting. This hardware is already installed in 20 restaurants. I have a, pardon the pun, reservation about this. This sounds a bit like surveillance and creepy. Plus, Apple doesn’t usually default apps into allowing you to be tracked all the time—so this hardware feature may be short lived and these sensors may end up in the bus bin.
One Trick Pony for Customers
Blackbird does not allow one to book a reservation or order food at the restaurant. Will a customer download an app that just does one thing to receive a free drink? With Manhattan drink prices, maybe. But, will one become a frequent user of it?
Loyal to Data
The Blackbird app lets a restaurant look at pooled data from restaurants to gauge a restaurant’s standing. I think this is valuable because where there is measurement and ranking, there are often better results. I imagine this feature will attract restaurants to try the app. They want to look in their peers’ silverware drawers.
Customers Love to Score Points
The app gives users points, called "$fly," which can be spent at restaurants. Customers are often intrigued by arbitrary point systems, and it does keep them involved. Points are better to give out than money, as the point issuer can simply “print” more and change the thresholds for redeeming them. The airlines give us points and not money back for this reason. (In 10 years, 50% of Delta airlines’ profit may come from credit card revenue. That’s right: Delta is a financial company wearing an airline Halloween costume.)
Blackbird is free to use for the consumer, much like Eater, Resy, and OpenTable. The company will make money by selling the user data and selling the restaurants advertising.
Check, Please
There is a lot of money to be made (and spent) on restaurant software and apps. American Express bought Resy in 2019 for $200m. Blackbird has raised $35m, and its investors include top names like via Andreessen Horowitz (a16), a VC firm.
What’s the grand plan here? The larger pitch and benefit Leventhal is offering is replacing maitre d’s with software. This app is a play to replace people with machines—something for which investors are always hungry. Sadly, the lesson with software and making money is to promise your technology will replace as many working people as possible, and investors will swarm to you. The irony: some of these investors are pension funds funded by teachers, cops, firemen, and hospital workers who rely on lots of people working to fund these pension fund investors. (If you want to see an example of investors' desires to replace working people, I recommend watching the Netflix show Super Pumped about Uber. Investors salivated at replacing tens of thousands of blue-collar taxi cab drivers with autonomous vehicles.)
While restaurants are known for their high failure rate, what can be said of restaurant apps? I wonder if there is a pet cemetery somewhere with these apps still roaming around so we can count them. They may number in the hundreds. Maybe Foursquare is there. Blackbird sounds a lot like Foursquare.
While there are many dead loyalty programs, there are some very successful ones, including those from Amazon, Costco, and Delta. Resy, which is owned by American Express, does offer a points-based rewards (loyalty) program called Global Dining Access. (Read more about that program here.) (Eater doesn't appear to offer a loyalty program. Yet.)
Our Loyalty Program
Our free loyalty program, Save Local, will enable the shopper to save 5% off their purchases, receive free gift wrapping, and other benefits.
I find the 5% discount to be a good amount because so many things are marked down by 5%. Costco gives members 5% off when shopping online. The Venetian Hotel gives 5% off to its members. It’s a discount that merchants can live with.
Some brands in our retail industry already offer loyalty programs, including Juliska, Vietri, and Annieglass (Juliska and Vietri even use same rewards software). These brands offer points, free shipping, and other perks. Some points can even be redeemed for a monetary discount.
Like Blackbeard and airlines, we could offer a points system. We could offer “$local” points. When you make a purchase at our store, you earn $local points and can redeem them for benefits. Or, radical idea, we just call the points: points. Let’s simplify it.
Blackbird will be showing restaurants pooled data, and we are pursuing a similar strategy via our Leader Board. The Board will let retailers and brands see industry-wide sales rankings using anonymized data.
Ideally, we could charge a membership fee to join Save Local. (Costco and Amazon charge membership fees.) But, as a small entity, let’s start by offering it for free. The goal is helping lots of indie stores sell more and a fee could slow our success. There’s no time to waste when it comes to helping indie stores get loyal customers.
Homework:
Look for loyalty programs.
- What do they offer you?
- What does this benefit work out to as a percent of the purchase?
- Does it get you to frequent the business more?
- Is there a cost?
Read the Times article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/04/dining/blackbird-resy-founder-ben-leventhal.html
My post The Price Is Right talks about loyalty programs: https://bridge.myshoplocal.com/news.cfm/22157/The-Price-is-Right-
Juliska rewards:
https://www.juliska.com/pages/rewards
Vietri rewards:
https://www.vietri.com/pages/vietri-rewards
Annieglass rewards:
https://annieglass.com/#smile-home
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Loyalty rewards program save local
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