Nectar pilots cross-shopping push

Nectar is to test a local marketing initiative that aims to encourage cross-shopping of loyalty card-holders among sponsors’ retail outlets and businesses, and to achieve greater media efficiency.

Richard Campbell, marketing director for Nectar operator Loyalty Management UK, says: “We are looking at how we can make our money work more efficiently. We are also looking to see whether the test will increase the cross-shopping rate for the local sponsors.”

The mailings will be sent to card-holders in certain conurbations in Nottingham and Cardiff. The mailings are in the shape of a postcard bearing four views of different stores owned by Nectar sponsors in the area. They carry the phrase “Greetings from” and the name of their city on the front, and fold out to reveal a map of the area marked with sponsors’ outlets and their contact details.

The campaign, which is a pastiche on postcard messages, has been created by WCRS and Dynamo and will also appear on billboards, in local press and on local radio.

If the scheme is successful in building up cross-shopping rates, it will be rolled out later this year. It builds on an initiative targeted at home movers who are also sent a mailing that informs them of members’ outlets in their area.

Nectar has decided to run its Nectar Great Giveaway promotion, under which up to twice a year card-holders become eligible for winning prizes depending on how much they spend.

Nectar has recently added Brewers Fayre and Brewsters to its sponsors, which also feature founders Barclaycard, BP, Debenhams and Sainsbury’s.