Wine Making

Loyalty Cards Systems Beware, Some Should Be Avoided



Wine Tasting Class
Take a Wine Tasting Class Today

There are a lot of advantages in taking a wine tasting class if you are among people who love wine. Chances are that if people invite you for a glass of wine, .....
Recently, I discussed a loyalty card system with a vendor who was selling quite a number of his systems to restaurants. I was shocked to discover the lack of detailed information that this vendor catered for, and the opportunities the system he provided squandered.

The way their scheme works is that whenever a restaurant customer is presented with a bill, they provide their loyalty card to the waiter, who swipes it at the till. If the customer has accumulated sufficient points from previously purchased meals, he/she is awarded a rebate on the price of the meal.

This is simple price discounting based on repeat purchases. No other marketing activities are carried out - either by the loyalty card company, or by the restaurant - to proactively influence the number of times the card holder frequents the restaurant - they rely solely on the meal discount to attract customers back for more meals.

This is a system that is woefully underexploited.

I asked about the level of detail that was transmitted to the card site - and was once again disappointed - only the total meal cost was transmitted. The customer profile that was being created was extremely superficial. My view was further confirmed when I asked whether the 'significant other', or other family members' details were collected. Once again, no.

The key things wrong with this service offering:


Mothers Day Gift Online
How to Send the Perfect Mother' s Day Gift Online

The internet has brought with it a plethora of opportunity for global employment, communication, and .....
Lack of transaction details. These days, with broadband communication and high volume data disks, there is really no excuse not to collect data at transaction level.

The simple act of recording the bill at individual meal item level opens up a wealth of information:


Number of main meals - if there are children in the family unit (provided during signup), analysis of the bill will provide a clear indication of whether the whole family always eats out, or if on occaision the parents treat themselves to a quiet night on their own - possibly anniversaries, or birthdays, or just a regular night away from the kids.

Types of meals - red meat, fish, vegetarian - which could be used for special promotions

Beer, cheap wine, or expensive wine drinker