A case for SA retailers to go digital with customer rewards

In the lead-up to the 2019 Cricket World Cup, Pick n Pay introduced SuperCards. This was South Africa’s first customer rewards program to combine augmented reality, gaming, and collector cards, all aimed at boosting consumer engagement all in the name of consumer engagement.
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Tech-driven Engagement

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Most shoppers own at least one piece of connected technology, like a smartphone, creating an easy opportunity for brands to engage directly with existing and potential customers. The launch and rollout of SuperCards saw Pick n Pay collaborate with local game design studio Sea Monster, which developed the innovative customer rewards program. This initiative delivered a branded experience that stimulated, educated, and excited consumers by offering free cards with every R150 spent. Each card shows the face of a Cricket World Cup 2019 SA team member, and are scanned into an easy-to-download app (available on both Android and iOS).Using the app, cricket fans of all ages can play games, learn about their favourite cricketers and see their heroes come to life in 3D augmented reality.

For a South African cricket fan this isn’t something that anyone else offers, and Pick n Pay is giving the experience to them for free. With its extensive SmartShopper rewards program, and previous roll out of Super Animals, which came with an optional smartphone app, enabling customers to learn about our fauna,  Pick n Pay has become one of the few retailers in the country choosing to blend digitally-based rewards programs with great customer experience.

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How do these experiences drive brand engagement?

Technology like augmented reality, virtual reality, animation and gaming can bring concepts, ideas, even sports teams, to life in the consumer’s hands, creating an immersive experience that gives brands an advantage in winning customer hearts and minds. It also allows brands to use pertinent real-world events - like sports - to drive home their brand values, ethos and messages in a way that is seamless to consumers.  And of course sports binds us as a nation like little else, something that even hard core retailers know is important as our country rebuilds its identity.There is a place for advertising and promotions, but all too often clients and their agencies don’t think beyond the traditional. As economic growth in South Africa remains low, retail brands should focus on brand loyalty and engagement in a way that takes advantage of how social media, technological trends and digital solutions offer a more direct route to grabbing customer attention. In addition to higher and more direct engagement, technology also has the advantage of lowering distribution costs, as well as, typically, delivering a lower carbon footprint. For companies looking to scale distribution and reach audiences outside of the main urban centres, a digital environment offers many advantages. For the production and placement cost of one 30-second ad, retailers can potentially deliver hours of engaging, educational content that really drives brand value. Critically this engagement is voluntary, so customers are choosing to engage with your brand which research shows creates a much higher value relationship. At a time when parents are struggling for good quality digital experiences, brands should realise how these can be used to drive their own business goals, while at the same time delivering real value to society.


Banks, for example, could use games to drive financial education and reward good financial behaviour, like saving for youth bank accounts, thereby empowering customers to make better decisions, while at the same time growing their market share. South African food retailers have not received the same response to their online sales offerings when compared to clothing, gadgets and furniture online sales. This only strengthens the case for retailers to employ innovative ways to blend the offline and online experience to gain brand loyalty and increase customer retention at their bricks and mortar stores. Retailers who work hard to place customer needs first, and see the value in creating digital experiences for consumers, be they in the form of customer rewards or loyalty programmes, will reap the benefits over those opting not to experiment. This thinking should not only apply in a tough economic climate, but even more especially when it comes to retaining and growing their market share. With first quarter retail sales data reflecting a growth of just 0.2 percent year-on-year, South African retailers would do well to get creative with customer engagement strategies and tools.