Loyal Customers: the most important for tough times
by Joshua Tretakoff | EVP, Services
Been to the local GameCrazy lately? If you answered no, you probably are not a member of their PowerPlay program, but if you are, you received some surprisingly good news. Movie Gallery, the parent company of GameCrazy, Blockbuster Video, and more, has filed for Chapter 11. However, unlike other prominent retailers who have endured this, one of the first things Movie Gallery did was petition the Court to allow them to keep operating their loyalty programs, and even expand them (PDF link).
This should become standard practice for companies who’s fortunes need adjusting: the first order of business needs to be taking care of your best customers. In the past, retailers like Bombay Company, Circuit City, and more have done precisely the opposite by refusing to honor gift cards or stored value cards; they made an already uncertain customer immediately furious, ensuring that Chapter 11 would quickly become Chapter 7. Now, I don’t have a crystal ball on Movie Gallery’s future, but the very fact that they recognized that they have no hope of recovery without holding on to their best customers is a great sign.
Deep within the document is truly the most remarkable nugget:
We are also introducing new enhancements to our customer programs, including our “True $” discount program, which enables PowerPlay members to rent movies in our Core Collection for $1.
That’s right: they not only are continuing their loyalty program, but expanding it with new options that are designed to generate additional revenue at attractive savings for their best customers. When is the last time you heard about a bank in need of a bailout offering you, a longtime customer, an incentive to keep banking with them instead of raising your fees? Or a car manufacturer, desperate for a sales spurt, contacting customers who purchased in the last 4 years and offering them discounted service on their purchase for the next 4 years if they buy a new car? Kudos, Movie Gallery: your best customers thank you.
