Ridley's Advantage Wins Loyalty

LIZ PARKS

JEROME, Idaho — “If you build it, they will come.” That well-known line from the 1989 movie “Field of Dreams” has its counterpart in retail: “If you make your customers happy, they will come back.”

While many retailers talk about making customers happy, few really know how to do so, say loyalty consultants.

The 13-unit Ridley's Family Markets, based here, is one exception, and the retailer's ability to, as retail consultant Jon Robertson puts it, “put the customer in the middle of their card program and make the card program valuable to their customers” is the primary reason Ridley's was recently awarded a Global Electronic Marketing award, the Al Lees Jr. Award for Excellence Over Time.

Al Lees Jr., the late founder of Westport, Mass.-based Lees Supermarkets, was a strong supporter of GEMCON, the electronic marketing conference produced by Morristown, N.J.-based Ogden Associates, a retail consulting company specializing in customer-centric marketing.

“Smaller retailers are always more nimble to do a lot of innovative things without having to go through a lot of committees,” said Robertson, one of the judges of the award program and a managing director at Ogden Associates.

Ridley's Family Markets was a natural recipient, Robertson said. “A lot of retailers have customer loyalty programs, but Ridley's has one that is exceptional. They won the award for the functionality of their customer loyalty card program and for their flexibility in being able to develop not one but several loyalty membership programs that meet the different needs of their customers.”

Many retailers, Robertson noted, “just have a card that activates a discount and that's it. A smaller list of retailers has reward programs where you can accumulate discounts or other rewards. And even a smaller list has customized programs based on a customer's past purchases. But Ridley's has all of these. They offer variety, so however a customer wants to use their card, they can.”

The functionality of Ridley's customized reward programs is “unique,” Robertson said. “It's a tremendous accomplishment in using their data, and it's something they did over time, building and expanding on the program to make it more and more customer-friendly.”

Ridley's is a family-owned and -operated business. Connie and Jerry Ridley opened the first Ridley's Family Markets in 1984 in Payson, Utah. They moved to Idaho a few years later, and slowly grew their company into a chain of 13 stores, with two locations still in Utah.

Ridley's prides itself on being a hometown food-and-drug store that, together with its employees, focuses on providing “superior customer service in conjunction with an unyielding demand for the highest-quality foods.” It's this combination, Connie and Jerry say, that keeps customers coming back.

The heart of Ridley's electronic marketing initiative is their Advantage Card program, which, by offering customers a wide variety of benefits, allows customers to customize their memberships so they can receive the rewards that have the most meaning to them.

This means that in addition to being eligible to receive “extra” savings on hundreds of items every day, Ridley's customers can elect to become members of Ridley's Medallion Customer program. As Medallion members, if customers spend at least $25 every week, they will receive even lower prices on advertised items and on Advantage Reward items displayed throughout the store.

Medallion members are also eligible for:

Advantage members earn points for every dollar they spend at Ridley's. These points are used to collect awards meaningful to the customers.

For example, with a Home Town Advantage Membership, members can use points to donate a percentage of every purchase to a charity of their choice.

With a Ridley's Travel Rewards membership, customers can accumulate one Delta Sky Mile for every dollar spent at Ridley's.

With a Ridley's Family Scholarship Promise Program, customers can contribute to a scholarship program for their children.

Advantage members can also elect to save their points and use them to buy gifts or gift certificates for themselves and/or family members and friends.

And if customers don't like carrying a card around, they don't have to. Once signed up for the Advantage card, customers can simply give their phone numbers to a Ridley's cashier, and without having to carry a card, they become eligible for all Advantage Card member benefits.

Customers can also use their Advantage membership card when they shop online at www.shopridleys.com.

Once online, they can create an electronic shopping list, redeem their Advantage Card Points and get rewards and discounts.