“A loyalty program is the absolute best way to increase sales numbers”

Tengesdal Sport in Norway  was established as Egersund Maskinforretning already in 1918, and today the store is run by Tone Tengesdal Stavnheim, who is 4th generation. The company has over the years had great development and is now a modern and customer-friendly store, with a large selection of products and great customer service. Tengesdal Sport is part of the Stadion sport retail chain. The Diller team has interviewed Tone to learn about her experience since the starting up with a loyalty program in 2020.

Why did you decide to have a loyalty program?

We started up with Diller during covid, just before the summer of 2020. We just had to be more innovative in the new circumstances. In addition to setting up an online store, I thought that a loyaltyprogram would be a great way to reach customers, since they couldn’t get to the store.

I am really happy that we created a loyalty program at that time. It has resulted in us reaching our customers in a much better way than before. We meet them directly by SMS, which means that they drop by the store when we have promotions.

During covid, customers would never have noticed our campaigns if they hadn’t seen them on their mobile. When the store was open again, the would come and shop, or they would could shop in our online store.

What is the main benefit of a loyalty program?

A loyalty program is by far the more economic way to reach out to customers, compared to other types of advertising ormarketing.

You can use Diller as much as you need without worrying about the costs. Every store can afford to use this solution!

How do you use SMS to communicate with members?

We have chosen to use SMS messages for campaigns only, such as extra offers to members, so that we don’t “bother” them too much. We make sure to tell customers that they will only receive 1.2 SMS’es per month, and that these will contain promotions and member benefits.

We don’t want to be like the major nationwide chains that “flood” their customers with information. There’s going to be a real benefit coming from us, and our customers have understood this – and like it.

We get very good feedback from customers saying that our loyalty program is the best there is. This makes us both proud and happy!

How did you hear about Diller?

It was via the Stadion retain chain system, and I think it was mentioned at a trade show, or perhaps it came from a newsletter. We received many recommendations to start up with a webstore and loyalty program. We are indeed pleased that we decided to begin using Diller.

How did you get started with Diller?

I primarily had an information meeting with Charlotte at Diller. The onboarding went very well, and only stated that I said that I had one prerequisite; namely that I would get help with messaging and promotions in Diller. Charlotte said “sure, we’ll take care of it!” and she’s helped me send out every time. The assistance and support from Diller has been fantastic.

If the store isn’t quite busy enough or the weather makes it suitable to send out a particular promotion to members, I can easily request help to create a new promotion – and it happens right away!

Advertising must be planned 2 weeks in advance, but at that time the campaign may be completely irrelevant. With Diller we can turn around and act in no time! We can put out a campaign overnight. This is absolutely invaluable to us.

Do you see results on sales and revenue?

I think it’s perfectly fine to give discounts to our members, because we get many more, loyal customers who come by the store more often. If the customer looks at full-priced products, they earn a bonus, so it pays off anyway for the members. It also, however, provides us with good sales figures and margins at the end of the day.

We give new members a welcome coupon of 15%. We see that we often sell expensive products this way, and our customers are very satisfied and return to the store, because they feel that they have received great service and benefits.

How important is it that Diller is integrated into the POS and in the webstore?

This is absolutely essential.

How do you recruit new members?

We recruit new members in our web store and have posters around the store, but 90% of our new members come from employees recruiting in the cash register. We explain about the bonus program and promotions, as well as assure them that they won’t receive too much information from us.

Customers realize that there are many good benefits to be had, and it’s easy for us to get new members.

What would you recommend to the other Stadium stores?

Especially for small stores, and the stores located away from city centres, a loyalty program will be a fantastic way to reach customers.

We all need to carefully consider every dollar we spend these days, and Diller is the absolute best method to get more in-store sales.

Customers see our loyalty program purely as providing them with benefits and advantages. They are truly happy with it!

What do you think of the collaboration with Diller?

I think it works perfectly! Support is always quick to help out, and that’s important. I am really pleased with you!