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Published on March 7, 2008

During this period of economic uncertainty, major retail operators Central and The Mall Group have focused on launching loyalty marketing programmes to encourage regular shoppers rather than attracting new ones.

Customer relationship marketing (CRM) and customer experience management (CEM) are key initiatives from the two retail giants in promoting a good shopping experience for their regular customers.

Piyawan Leelasompop, vice president for marketing at Central Department Store, said the company would focus on the CRM campaign with "loyal" customers.

She said Central Department Store had 1.7 million loyalty members in the One Card system, of which between 70 per cent and 80 per cent are active shoppers. The company also has 700,000 customers who hold a Central Master Card.

"We expect to increase the number of One Card members to 2 million by the end of this year, with up to 800,000 holders of the Central Master Card," said Piyawan.

Piyawan added that card members had been recognised by the company as shoppers with high spending power and strong loyalty to Central.

She said the average spending per ticket for One Card members would be about Bt1,800, and up to Bt5,000 a ticket for holders of the Central Master Card.

"We will focus on event marketing and promotional campaigns that provide immediate returns to our loyal shoppers," said Piyawan.

"According to our internal survey, most shoppers would like to be involved in such campaigns which provide immediate benefits to them, especially price discounts or gift vouchers."

Piyawan said today's shoppers were less inclined towards emotional buying and impulse purchases, but would check and compare prices with other stores.

Central Department Store expects its sales to grow by 8 per cent this year to Bt27.5 billion. The company posted Bt25.5 billion in sales last year, up 5 per cent over 2006.

It operates 12 Central department stores and one Zen department store. Piyawan said the company achieved growth of 17 per cent in January alone, compared to the same month last year. It also posted year-on-year growth of 15 per cent in February.

"We expect to achieve Bt6 billion sales in the first quarter this year, a 10-per-cent increase from Bt5.4 billion in the same quarter last year," said Piyawan.

Chamnarn Maytaprechakul, senior chief marketing officer of The Mall Group, said 2008 would be a year for the company to spend more time in analysing the market and itself rather than sticking to historical data.

"The current economic situation is not certain. We are going to be cautious about the conditions and analyse the whole market situation to prevent any mistakes. We will focus on the real outcome of the campaigns we organise," said Chamnarn.

Chamnarn said the group would focus on six "Cs" in launching marketing initiatives.

He said the first C was Combination. The group will combine marketing campaigns created by its working divisions and integrate them to make a full market impact with the same direction and objectives, in order to avoid any duplication.

The second C is Creativity. All marketing campaigns will include creative ideas that differentiate them from others.

The third C is Concentration. All massive marketing campaigns launched by the group will be customised to particular groups of shoppers.

"We will focus on CRM and CEM activities with our loyal customers. The programmes will create a positive shopping experience," said Chamnarn.

He added that The Mall Group had 700,000 members for its Prestige and Platinum cards.

Chamnarn said the fourth C was Connection - focusing on developing strategic alliances with stakeholders, including suppliers and sponsors. It will launch any marketing or promotional campaigns at less cost.

The fifth C is Cost Efficiency. The local retail industry has been facing tougher competition over past years and many retail companies are looking to focus on cost efficiency.

Chamnarn said the sixth and final C was Corporate Social Responsibility, a part of all marketing campaigns launched by the group in its plan for the whole

year.

He said that during a period of economic difficulty and with high living costs, consumers would be more rational and selective in purchasing goods. They will have less brand loyalty.

"What The Mall Group has done is promote shoppers' engagement with us through our proactive CRM, CEM and loyalty programmes. We are trying to turn to regular customers to increase their shopping frequency and purchases at our store," said Chamnarn.

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn

The Nation