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BASHAS' EXEC DETAILS '04 LOYALTY PLANS

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Bashas' Supermarkets expects to be plenty busy on the loyalty-card marketing front in 2004.The loyalty marketing plans of the privately held company, based in Chandler, Ariz., were delineated in great detail by Christie Frazier-Coleman, its vice president, sales promotions and customer loyalty, at a presentation at the recent GEMCON (Global Electronic Marketing Conference)

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Bashas' Supermarkets expects to be plenty busy on the loyalty-card marketing front in 2004.

The loyalty marketing plans of the privately held company, based in Chandler, Ariz., were delineated in great detail by Christie Frazier-Coleman, its vice president, sales promotions and customer loyalty, at a presentation at the recent GEMCON (Global Electronic Marketing Conference) 2003 here at Disney's Contemporary Resort. GEMCON, sponsored by Retail Systems Consulting, Naples, Fla., ran from Nov. 9 to 11.

Bashas' launched its Thank You loyalty card program in 1998 for its 78 conventional Bashas' stores, and all of its loyalty marketing efforts have been focused on those stores. Frazier-Coleman said the Arizona retailer is considering developing card-based loyalty programs at its 55-store Food City chain catering to Hispanics and its nine-store AJ's chain targeting upscale shoppers.

Among the moves Frazier-Coleman said Bashas' would make next year:

Leverage information gained for the first time this year about shoppers who drop their children off at a "Cub House," or in-store child-care area. The chain needs to decide how to respond to data indicating that those shoppers purchase many items not on the "highly promoted items" list, said Frazier-Coleman.

"Heavily pursue" customers who have just started shopping at the chain. This year, Bashas' began identifying new shoppers and offering them deals such as $5 off their next $25-or-more trip as well as discounts off the chain's "signature items." In one store, the shoppers were found to shop more often and spend more than other new shoppers. "Unless we react to those shoppers, it's a lost opportunity," she said.

Make a "full-court press" on gaining greater manufacturer participation in target marketing efforts.

Use analytical tools to determine household size and loyalty of shoppers. For loyalty, Bashas' will be using two applications from Catalina Marketing, St. Petersburg, Fla.

One, Category Loyalty Rating, identifies categories the chain is losing to alternative formats and calculates the cost of a coupon program aimed at regaining those sales and expected results. "It's an opportunity for us to get back paper and diaper sales we've lost to mass merchants," she said. The offer is generally geared to a product category rather than to a specific brand.

Frazier-Coleman said Bashas' has seven initiatives planned for 2004 involving the Category Loyalty Rating tool. "We are in discussions with many manufacturers to get them to participate," she said.

Catalina's Loyalty Quotient tool, which Bashas' began using in June, analyzes households and determines what they would be expected to spend at Bashas' and what they are spending, and thus gives a measure of loyalty to the store. By determining household size, the application also gives the retailer a better measure of the spending category into which each household should belong.

Frazier-Coleman said Bashas' will run more tests of Loyalty Quotient in 2004, and is "excited about the potential."

Increase the number of top-tier shoppers by basing manager bonuses on score-card results. The score cards, sent to stores every quarter, outline for each shopper segment (top, potential top, middle, bottom) the number of customers, sales and trips.

Use Corema, a customer-relationship management tool from Fujitsu Transaction Solutions, Frisco, Texas. Corema, which is "about to go live" at Bashas', employs a central repository of customer data to do such things as receipt-tape messaging and customer recognition.

Next year's GEMCON will take place Oct. 18 to 20 at a location in Florida.