RETAIL AND LOYALTY: Offering Customer Delight

During the last two years, smart card-based retail and loyalty applications

have taken off in various parts of the country. While Bharat Petroleum (BPCL)

has launched a petro card called Petro Bonus, Singh Motors, a petrol pump near

New Delhi’s Nehru Place, has implemented its own pre-paid smart card for 1,000

of its regular customers.

The Singh Motors’ smart card carries cash value pre-paid by the customer.

As and when the cardholder drives in to refill his vehicle, the cash value is

calculated and reduced on the smart card. BPCL’s Petro Bonus on the other hand

is part of the company’s loyalty program. The petro card is a stored-value

card that can be used to buy fuel and lubricants at the company’s retail

outlets as well as other products and services like purchases at the bazaar

outlets in some petrol pumps. Also, the card can be used at fast food outlets,

dhabas, restrooms, automated teller machines and internet kiosks and earn

loyalty points in the course of making purchases. The card, costing Rs 250

initially, can be loaded with amounts of higher denominations too.

On the retail front, stores like Akbarallys in Mumbai, and Snowhite and Home

Saaz in Delhi have also launched similar cards. All these companies are using

these cards to offer loyalty programs where the customer gets additional mileage

points for using the card. The purchases are recorded on the card itself and

customers can redeem the accumulated points to get gifts and discounts thus

promoting repetitive buying habits among customers.