Briscoes and Rebel Sport: Measuring member loyalty

The Business Problem

Briscoe Group’s stores operate under the two brand names Briscoes and Rebel Sport. Briscoes is an iconic New Zealand brand offering quality and competitively priced homewares, while Rebel Sport is the major sporting goods retailer in New Zealand offering shoppers the biggest brands in the world. They both offer stores across all New Zealand cities and major provincial towns, as well as online via their branded websites. Both brands currently offer a loyalty program (VIP Club) whereby customers can sign up online or in store. In order to continue to deliver the best possible customer experience, maximise customer engagement, retention and increase revenue, the Briscoes Group realised the need to further develop and optimise the loyalty program to ensure its relevance with customers.

THE BRIEF

Research Objectives

To gain a robust understanding of the dynamics of customer loyalty programs, unlocking what consumers need and expect from Briscoes and Rebel Sport in order to further develop an impactful and effective program that inspires loyalty and increases revenue. 

  • Understand current programs engaged with, reasons for sign up, level of activity and engagement. Best in class key success factors (KSF’s)
  • Explore customer needs and expectations from loyalty programs in the relevant categories. 
  • Unlock unmet needs and the problem/s Briscoes Group could potentially solve for their customers via an evolved loyalty program
  • Determine response to several initial concepts/ideas with customers – perceived value, features and benefits with greatest impact, fit with brand, difference from competitor programs, impact on desired behaviour
  • Ascertain how to optimise the loyalty programs to cut through and drive desired outcomes. Identify any key differences across the two retail stores (Briscoes vs. Rebel), across customer segments & which to target for maximum impact

 

THE SOLUTION

The Insights Exchange Approach

Two online communities were set up for both Briscoes and Rebel Sport with participants recruited via customer online newsletters, ensuring a good mix of males, females and representation from both the North and South Islands of New Zealand. 

Community participants received five different topic questions spread over eight days and were encouraged to provide feedback each day, interacting with a moderator who probed for further insights and information to all questions.  The qualitative findings were presented to the client within a full report and presentation highlighting key recommendations and clear learnings for the business.

 

Outputs

Key findings included:

  • Key considerations of new member sign ups to loyalty programs to retain customers, drive sales, and enhance brand loyalty
  • Most important features and benefits of a successful loyalty program (and deterrents)
  • Outcomes of concept testing of preferred loyalty program and why
  • Recommendations around marketing and communications

“We wanted to tap into our current Briscoes and Rebel Sport loyalty members to better identify what they want out of a membership program. The communities provided us with a clear direction for the concepts we were considering and recommendations on how we can evolve our program to ensure we meet our customer's expectations and strengthen our engagement with them. We had clear communications and updates from the team at Insights Exchange and they delivered the report and recommendations on a tight deadline.”

Isabel Campbell – GM Online and Digital – Briscoes Group