Things Remembered provides personalized gifts for special occasions. It has catalogs, physical stores, and an online store. It provides personalization through embroidery and engraving of initials, words, and designs specified by the customer. Although successful, the company noted the challenge of its position:
The strength of a business such as Things Remembered can also become
a challenge. Customers see the Things Remembered brand as being all about occasions. That is good, because the brand is about occasions. However, many customers begin to limit the occasions and think that it is just about anniversaries, graduations, Christmas and weddings.
Earlier in the decade, Things Remembered was struggling because its repeat purchase rate was lower than other retailers’ rate. Its goal was to create a marketing program that would get customers to buy at Things Remembered (a) for a wider set of occasions, and (b) more frequently. The solution was a loyalty program called “Rewards Club”. The key features of the Rewards Club were follows:
• One-time membership fee
• Earn $10 rebate for every $100 purchased
• Automatic tracking and distribution of reward certificates
• Certificates good for 90 days
• $50 limit in rebates earned in a given month
One transaction every 18 months to maintain membership
To help encourage internal buy-in to the program, Things Remembered gave store associates incentives to enroll customers as members. Initial results were positive, with enrollments at targeted levels. However, one concern is that they enrolled more low spenders (spend less than $50) than high spenders (spend more than $100).