Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0125 Walmart and Loyalty?

What is the best way to enact a loyalty program at a retail establishment?  Don't let the consumer ever know they are signing up for it.

Publix, the Florida-based grocer, knows this and uses phone numbers as a virtual loyalty program without ever enrolling people.  Walmart may have found an even better way to do this without any form of overt opt-in by the consumer.  They do one thing and see tangible benefits for it, and Walmart benefits by establishing a virtual loyalty program without the silly plastic card.

That is the take Advertising Age has taken on Walmart's latest digital offering.

http://adage.com/article/dataworks/walmart-rivals-discounts-fuel-loyalty-program/293596/

Here is a snippet from the article:

Walmart is using a new digital extension of its longstanding guarantee to match competitors' advertised prices to address a question that's dogged it for years: How can it launch a loyalty program without the promotional deals it's long shunned as part of its everyday-low-price philosophy?

The answer: Walmart is essentially using rivals' discounts to fuel its own loyalty program and get individual shopper data into its database.

Yet again I would have never found this article without the excellent 'Morning News Beat':

http://www.morningnewsbeat.com/

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant