Postcards from Perkistan

Big debate going in Australia at the moment (excellently described by ARA Chief Richard Evans). The Federal Government is about to send a range of stimulus bonus payments to a large number of people.

Debate - stimulus implies the money will be spent (in fact Treasury forecasts about whether or not Australia enters recession relies on this notion). Tension lies in the fact that people are talking about just saving the bonus and not spending.

So people in Australia who have spent a decade being told to SAVE (and haven’t), are now being told to SPEND (and maybe are going to save instead)!

I’ll leave the arguments up to the fans of Keynes and Smith - I’m taking a laissez-faire approach to the economic debate (oh my god, I just made an joke based on economics…). What I am keen to concentrate on though, is the way consumers can take advantage of spending and saving at the same time.

You guessed it - perks…

Imagine using that bonus payment in conjunction with an airline or credit card program to get an even bigger TV than the one you planned on. Or ensuring your family still got some good old fashioned entertainment by paying for movie tickets but at a greatly reduced price. With perks an individual could stretch the value of their $950 bonus to well over $1200 or even more.

Since the late 80’s and for most retailers the late 90’s loyalty programs have been introduced and financed. We’ve written enough on this blog about the quality of programs or reasons why consumers haven’t connected with them fully in the past.

Surely the time has come to promote and improve people’s access to programs so that they use them as a legitimate part of the purchasing decision. In the US Dan and I were blown away that brands advertised their programs on national TV. Seems logical. If you are a retailer and you want to get some ROI on that program you’ve invested in - advertise it…

So, at Perkler we’ve created the platform for consumers to understand their perks better - now it’s time for retailers to step up and engage with consumers who need the perks to make decisions about where they are going to spend that money. And they can do that as part of their overall marketing efforts, but they can also take advantage of sites like ours to engage with consumers and be seen as a differentiator - a retailer who actually places loyalty and perks at the top of the tree!