Loyalty Card Fatigue Reaches New Heights, According to Research


Over half of consumers (56 percent) believe it takes too long to earn meaningful reward points and only 25 percent think the redeemable items are worthwhile, according to research from online rewards community Pigsback.com and loyalty management company Reward.


[PressFlow.co.uk, Apr 29 2008] The research, which surveyed over 2000 Pigsback.com members, revealed that 98 percent of people have a loyalty card while 65 percent hold three cards or more, but many of these consumers are experiencing 'loyalty card fatigue' causing them to forget to collect and redeem loyalty points.

Revealing statistics showed that over a third of consumers are annoyed because they have too many cards to carry. This is reinforced by the fact that 36 percent are forgetting to hand over cards at the counter. A further 27 percent regularly have the wrong loyalty cards with them at the time of purchase suggesting that they don't perceive the programmes as important enough to carry around.

Jo Malvern of Pigsback.com said: "Our research shows that the number one thing that our members are looking for in a loyalty programme is that it is easy to collect the points. We also found that many are tired of having to remember to use different loyalty cards when shopping on the high street. Working with Reward we have been able to tap into this sentiment, allowing our members to earn PiggyPoints (our online currency) when they use their existing payment cards across Reward's retail network."

Gavin Dein, Chief Executive Officer at Reward commented: "This backlash against loyalty is a real wake-up call to retailers. Forgetting to hand over loyalty cards is a symptom of two things: poor rewards meaning that many programmes simply aren't important enough to remember and loyalty card fatigue meaning that people simply have too many to be bothered with or find them too much hassle.

"The loyalty concept is extremely important, especially in a time of economic downturn, but retailers and rewards sites need to make sure that they get their programme right in order for their members to reap the benefits. We have addressed consumer concerns by developing a programme for Pigsback.com that allows consumers to save with almost no effort and gives cash-back up to 4p in the pound."



About Reward
Reward is a loyalty management company, dedicated to delivering passion-based loyalty programmes. Established in 2001, the company today has an established network of high street and online retailers to include: Halfords, JJB, Little Chef, Superdrug, Burton, Dixons Store Group and Amazon.com and passion brand partners to include: Tottenham Hotspur, Barclaycard Football and AC Milan. Reward is an independent company run by founder and CEO, Gavin Dein and includes board directors from leading e-commerce and financial management companies including: Venda Ltd, Consensus Business Group and iD Data.

Reward has three core offerings:
- Its unique loyalty platform
- Its managed service loyalty programme
- Value-add services, such as consulting; call centres; data analytics; marketing services

About Pigsback.com
Pigsback.com is an online community which rewards and entertains its members in their interaction with their favourite brands. Launched in Ireland in 2000, and then subsequently in the UK in 2005 and Canada in 2007, the site now has more than 1 million active members, with 650,000 from the UK. Pigsback.com is known as a great site for entertainment, shopping and rewards with offers from brands like L'Oreal, Comfort, Topshop, Virgin Holiday and CD Wow!

Members can also earn PiggyPoints, Pigsback.com's online currency as they interact with the site. 1 PiggyPoint is equivalent to 1 penny. Members can collect PiggyPoints by shopping with any of the online partner brands, entering competitions, redeeming coupons and taking part in online polls. PiggyPoints can then be exchanged for a whole range of exciting rewards, including vouchers from brands such as Boots, M&S, John Lewis, Topshop, Pizza Hut, Blockbuster and Odeon cinemas.

The PiggyPoint reward currency has the highest redemption levels in the market and with over 300 brands on the site there really is something for everyone.

www.pigsback.com

For further information and images, please contact:
Kerry Hallard/ Nicola Craft/Toby Brown
Tel: 020 7292 8680
Email: reward@buffalo.co.uk




Press releases distributed by PressFlow.co.uk - The Online Press Release Distribution Service.