Why Aldi is also testing a loyalty programme now
In Belgium, Aldi Nord is testing a savings programme in its app for the first time. Shoppers can save points to redeem them for free products. Of course, this is more than just a means of customer loyalty.
The pilot project is being tested in some 70 Aldi shops in West Flanders and northern Hainaut, a representative region with both urban, rural and bilingual shops. The test is co-driven and followed up from Germany by Aldi Nord with a view to a possible international roll-out.
Aldi must be just about the last retailer to launch a loyalty programme – rival Lidl has been offering discounts in its Plus app for some time. It appears a remarkable strategic change of direction for the discounter, which avoids complexity as much as possible. However, the initiative does not seem illogical: with more than 440 shops and a market penetration of over 80%, Aldi can hardly grow in Belgium by opening additional branches or attracting new customers. A savings programme could encourage occasional customers to come more often and buy more.
“With the new functions in our app, we want to reward our loyal customers more on top of our low prices and weekly promotions. So a customer who frequently shops at Aldi will save extra in a smart and easy way,” says spokesman Jason Sevestre.
But that may not be the full explanation. An app does more than redeem points and give discounts, it collects valuable data for Aldi: personalised data on customers’ buying behaviour. Such data has become crucial in competition: it allows to better tailor assortment and promotions to customers’ needs and to send customers targeted offers over time.
Retailers can also market data by selling them to suppliers – an aspect that is less of an issue for Aldi with its limited range of branded products, but still: the discounter reaches a broad audience that can be of interest to a lot of advertisers. So let’s wait and see what Aldi intends to do with the data collected.
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