05 February 2010 | Ritchies Supermarkets | Retail
Not all loyalty cards are rubbish
Not all loyalty cards are rubbish
CBC donates $4.7 million a year for community
Ritchies stores has wholeheartedly endorsed the findings of Choice Research that found Coles and Woolworths loyalty schemes provided a poor return for shoppers.
Ritchies CEO MR Fred Harrison said by focusing on personal gain the loyalty cards had missed a major part of the Australian ethos of “charity” and “community”.
In contrast, Ritchies operates a loyalty card – the Community Benefit Card - that collects no personal shopper data, has no way of identifying its shoppers and has a 60% take up rate with its customers. In addition Ritchies does not use any of the charities in its advertising and does not mandate that charities use plaques or letters for corporate recognition – although many chose to do this voluntarily.
The CBC donates 1% of all purchases by a card holder to a charity or community group of their choice. Over 15 years, starting from a single store, it has donated more than $33 million.
In 2009 it donated more than $4.7 million a year directly into the community and continues to win irreplaceable goodwill from shoppers.
Mr Harrison said the CBC generated enormous good will from shoppers who saw direct returns on their investment in the community in kindergartens, knitting groups, hospitals, the CFA and the Salvation Army.
Choice found most supermarket loyalty schemes are one-sided and that schemes used by Coles and Woolworths offered far less than Ritchies $1 return from every $100 spent.
“At Ritchies we charge no fees for the use of the card and the customer money raised goes directly to the community group of choice with a direct deposit every month,” Mr Harrison said. “Ritchies does not choose charities itself or influence how the money is directed and accepts all legitimate organisations nominated by the shopper”.
There are currently around 10,000 charities receiving from as little as $10 a year to more than $500,000 a year.
By contrast Choice found that by using a FlyBuys card at Coles shoppers would need to spend $15,700 before earning a $50 shopping voucher – and this is before interest and charges are taken into account.
For the same spend a Ritchies card would generate $157 for the community – and because it is not a credit card has not ongoing interest bills or usage costs for the user.
According to reports the Woolworths Everyday Rewards scheme consumers would need to spend almost $11,000 to get the $50 voucher while Ritchies would double that number – with no strings attached.
In 2009 Ritchies was awarded the Victoria Day Award for Public and Community Service by a Good Corporate Citizen and the BRW and the ANZ Private Business Awards 2009 Category 5: Excellence in Community Practices.
In special instances, such as the 2009 Victorian bushfires, Ritchies established a special account for people to channel money to the Red Cross relief fund and channeled more than $150,000 to the victims.
Ritchies recently donated 50,000 to the Haiti Appeal within days of the earthquake occurring and has sent money to the tsunami victims, NSW floods and many other national and international disasters.