Customer Loyalty Programmes and Consumers

Reports Other Publications 36 Ilkka Kiema, Matti Kari, Petri Kuoppamäki, Eero Lehto

Introduction

The benefits of concentrating retail trade, insurance and banking operations have increased in Finland and elsewhere in Europe, as customer tracking has become easier. Generally speaking, these customer loyalty programmes reward customers for concentrating their purchases to a company that offers benefits. The nature of the programmes differ in terms of whether the bonus is given in cash or as a discount on the company’s products. From the viewpoint of consumers and competition, even more important is whether a potential discount is given for the same type of products or other types of goods entirely. This study investigates Finnish customer loyalty programmes.