“The goal is for the loyalty program to be the “icing on the cake” for our customers”

Why did you start with a loyalty program?

Our main goal was to create a better customer experience. We wanted it to be easier than it was before, when we had paper coupon cards, and we wanted to get closer to our customers. We also wished to make it easier for our employees to have good customer dialogue in the store. With Diller, the customer just enters their phone number at checkout, and employees easily register new members or see purchase history and interests of existing members. It works great and provides a good customer experience.

What made you decide to switch to the Diller platform?

We have known for a long time that it is necessary to have a good loyalty program. We had a program before as well, but Diller has a much better recruitment system, and is very intuitive and easy to use. The old system had no integration to our cash register, so we decided to switch to Diller which is fully integrated with the checkout.

When we investigated whether Diller was right for us, I recognized the same features from loyalty programs I personally am a member of and that I believe are good. Diller has all the features that make me stay loyal to a company or store.

How did you hear about Diller?

We learned about Diller both through our own web searches and via Pål Bakken in ExtendaRetail. They deliver the ExtendaGO POS system that we use. We got a demonstration of Diller and decided to switch to a new loyalty platform and transfer the membership base, so that all existing members had the opportunity to join our new loyalty program.

What kind of results have you seen so far?

Already after only 1 month of running the new platform, we see that average sales are significantly higher for members compared to non-members. We also see that recruitment of new members in the store is going very well – above all expectations!

We started on September 21^st 2021, and during the nine days of September we recruited 2080 new members. And to this day, on October 18^th, we have recruited 5050 new members in October alone. We estimate that we get more new members in October with Diller than we recruited in total from October 2019 to September 2021. This is possible because it is so easy for employees to handle registration of new members at checkout. Everyone who shops with us gets asked if they want to join the loyalty program, and the employees tells them that they get a 10% welcome coupon, digital coupon cards, and other great benefits as a member.

We experience that sales and margins are higher despite providing an initial 10% discount. The customers tend to put a little extra in the shopping cart to make the most of the discount.

What are your goals for the loyalty program?

We aim to reach 100,000 new members within 1 year – and we believe that is a rather careful estimate. We open new stores in Vestby and Skien over the next few months, so there is potential for a good increase in the membership base.

The goal is for the loyalty program to be the “icing on the cake” for our customers, so that they wish to continue shopping with us.

What will you do going forward to keep the high recruitment rate?

We have several measures in progress. Today we have all employees ask customers at checkout if they want to become a member. Employees inform about the welcome gift of 10%, about digital coupon cards, and that members get offers before others in weekly newsletters. In addition to this, we are going to put up posters with QR codes in the stores, so that customers can register themselves before they get to the cash register. We’re also going to set up displays with member benefits in all of our warehouses, and seeing that some stores and employees are “super recruiters,” we’re also going to share more information between warehouses.

What do you think about the opportunities in segmenting the member base?

We see great potential to use segmentation to benefit our customers. Our customers belong to very different groups, and communicating to for example dog owners is completely different from reptile owners. Member segmentation help us navigate better to make sure we communicate in a good way to all our customers.

Today we divide members into different segments. First of all, we categorize members to their preferred store and what kind of pets they have. Next, we segment on interests, such as hunting, breeding, family with pets, hiking & outdoors, pet shows, agility, or feeding. Diller offers “multi choice” opportunity, which is great, because many multiple pets and interests.

Because of the segmentation, we can add many more tailormade member benefits into our program, such as invitation to free dog training for loyal members who have accumulated a certain bonus level.

What vision do you have for PetXL as a company?

We want to be the ultimate destination for pet owners. With us, you get everything you need for your pet, whether it’s products in the store, veterinary services, dog grooming or rehabilitation. All these services and products are to be made available to the pet owners in a simple and intuitive way, so that they get a great overall experience when shopping. With the loyalty program as the “icing on the cake”, it really pays off to shop with us. Loyal customers get great customized benefits and offers. We also want to build communities for like-minded pet owners with common interests.

How important is it that Diller is integrated with the cash register?

That was a decisive factor. It was essential with good integration between the POS and loyalty program. The alternative would be far too cumbersome, and we only want seamless, fully integrated solutions.

What do you think of your collaboration with Diller?

Very good! Knut Ole Hauge in Diller has been extremely good at following us up along the way, and we are very pleased with that.

How did you get started, and what do you envis imagine going forward?

It was important that the loyalty program had good benefits from the start, with a welcome coupon and digital coupon cards for different pet owners. We plan to have bonus points systems and different membership levels coming up, because this will create an even better loyalty program for our members.

Diller is really a marketing platform more than just a loyalty program, and we are very much looking forward to giving our customers great experiences in our stores. Even better segmentation and custom advantages should benefit our members going forward!