Group 3 Marketing has worked with a wide range of specialty retailers from independent retailers to chains listed in the Top 100 Specialty Retailers. What we have learned in the past sixteen years is that no one program fits all retailers. We utilize a Discovery Process that begins with your available technology as our starting point and then moves through a methodology that examines your current marketing situation, the competitive environment, your financial willingness to implement a relationship marketing program, and finally, management’s emotional willingness to support a customer centric initiative.

We involve all of your management team – marketing, finance, merchants, and operations.

We work in three stages:
  • The Development Stage: when we walk through the Discovery Process, develop a written action plan and generate a financial Proforma.
  • The Implementation Stage: After management approves the program, we assist the client in the creative and technical start-up; this includes programming, web integration, copy writing, creative design, etc.
  • The Operational Stage: From a pilot to chain roll-out, we execute all the technical and marketing elements of the program.

Shoe Carnival - Savings Club
Shoe Carnival is a 250 store discount footwear retailer that wanted to create a marketing program to identify, track and reward their customers. They knew very little about their customers. Their major competitors already had rewards/loyalty programs in place.

We recommended implementing the SAVINGS CLUB. However, we believed that competitive programs took too long for customers to earn a reward and the rewards were too rich, negatively impacting the bottom line.

Today, using the Group 3 Marketing model, members earn Savings Club “Points” and also get Bonus Points for shopping on Tuesdays, keeping their e-mail current, plus monthly special shopping incentives.

Members are sent postal communications if they have earned a reward. Members with e-mail are communicated to monthly. Members may also view their current point status, change their personal contact information, and even record a missed transaction electronically via the Shoe Carnival web site.
[www.shoecarnival.com]

PUREBEAUTY Stores: Club PUREBEAUTY

PUREBEAUTY is a retail beauty store chain of over 55 stores. In 2000, as a new retail venture, management asked Group 3 Marketing to create a rewards based customer incentive program because they did not have the resources to do mass marketing advertising. Club PUREBEAUTY was created following the basic premise of rewarding customers for their continuing business. Members enroll, pay a $10 lifetime fee and get a $5 reward back every time they spend $100. Bonus Points are added every month.

The driving force of this program has been the sustained communications, both postal and electronic that have kept members informed about new products and promotions. As a result, over 50% of total sales come from members.

Members may also view their current point status, change their personal contact information, and even record a missed transaction electronically via the PUREBEAUTY website.

The Musicland Group: REPLAY

Dating back to 1995, Group 3 Marketing worked with The Musicland Group to develop one of the first specialty retailer relationship marketing programs with a long-term vision to make one program for all the Musicland retail concepts. The initial program was The Producer’s Club for the Suncoast Motion Picture Company that exceeded all benchmark goals. In 1998, Group 3 Marketing was assigned the management for the Sam Goody REPLAY program and converted it into the strategy originally developed for The Producer’s Club and turned an under performing program into a positive initiative that became a profit center for Musicland.

One of the keys to successfully sustain the REPLAY program was to continually deliver more benefits and rewards to members through special weekends and newsletters that evolved into the REPLAY magazine and later was incorporated into Request Magazine. In addition, Group 3 Marketing helped management model the program so it encompassed all three concepts – Sam Goody, Suncoast, and Media Play, becoming the first and possibly only specialty retailer program to be used by members regardless of where they shopped in the chain.

The Provident Bank: MERITVALU

Group 3 Marketing provided strategic and tactical support to Provident Bank’s management team in developing and executing a multi-merchant, market-wide relationship marketing program in the Cincinnati market. Over 400 merchants were enrolled in this program. Customers could enroll at any participating merchant or at any Provident Bank location and over 100,000 people enrolled in the program. MERTIVALU Cardholders earned MERITVALU dollars for all their purchases at participating merchants and could redeem their MERITVALU Dollars at any participating merchant. Data was processed in real-time and, even though this program was launched before the Internet was a reality, cardholders could get their dollar balance instantly at any merchant’s location.

Working with the supermarket merchant in the MERITVALU program, we developed the first ever Thanksgiving promotion for a supermarket program. Cardholders were told if they spent $450 between October 10th and November 10th, they would get a FREE Thanksgiving turkey and if they spent $500 in that period, they got “the trimmings”, too. This was their most successful Thanksgiving promotion ever.

Before working with the Provident Bank, Group 3 Marketing also provided and managed the database for a new program sponsored by The Omaha World Herald newspaper call the PRESS CARD which was a multi-merchant market wide program in the Omaha area for subscribers of the OWH.

The General Store of Minnetonka

Yes, even a local retailer can make use of retention marketing to impact sales. The General Store had purchased some software and was doing their own loyalty/rewards program but management was not happy with the performance of the software and was getting overwhelmed with the administration to keep it up to date and do their own mailings.

Their marketing director saw TheClub@ MASK Salon Spa and inquired who did their program and contacted us. We were able to extract all their demographic and sales history data from their previous software and today manage the GOOD CUSTOMER CLUB for the General Store with monthly rewards and birthday mailings.