Student Price Card, North America’s student loyalty program, is bringing its unique instant discount reward model to the U.S. for August 2010, with a projected first-year membership of 6.5 million students, and more than 35 national retail chain partners.
“Based on almost 20 years of success in Canada, several of our largest U.S. retail clients have expressed great interest in seeing our youth loyalty model move south of the border,” says SPC president Dean Mazzariol. “We believe the time is now right. We have already signed on half-a-dozen national retailers for the U.S. program.”
The recent downturn and slow recovery of the economy has posed challenges to both student shoppers and retailers alike. The retail market has seen a fundamental, long-term shift in consumer psychology and purchasing behavior.
Cash-strapped students are looking for greater value from the stores where they shop, while retailers are in search of new and innovative ways to attract new, young shoppers. Retailers are also looking for new and innovative ways of having their established customers come back more often.
“The Student Price Card is one of the best ideas that I have found that gives the student a reason to not only shop, but to shop where they feel appreciated and are given an instant reward for their business,” says retail industry expert and consultant James Dion of Dionco Inc. “Many stores have loyalty and reward programs, but only Student Price Card is able to work across all the needs of a student shopper. They can replace numerous cards and schemes with one simple, low-cost card that gets them what they need when they need it. All in all, a win for the student and a big win for the stores who capture their business.”
Bryon Milburn, managing director of Foot Locker Canada says that they “have been a proud partner of the SPC program for the past 10 years. Our sales associates are able to use the SPC program as an excellent selling tool. More importantly, the program assists us in attracting and retaining our loyal, core consumer.”
Conventional rewards or points programs have always had a hard time attracting youth customers, as many younger shoppers do not have the patience to collect – or have a high enough spending rate – to make these programs worthwhile.
“Our loyalty philosophy is quite simple: Give young shoppers what they want, and they will reward retailers with their loyalty,” says Nicholas Bianchi, SPC director of loyalty marketing. “Student Price Cards’ members purchasing behavior has repeatedly demonstrated to our participating retail partners that they are the big winners in our partnership. Our retail partners are continually being rewarded with higher average spends, loyal customers, and more active youth shoppers.”
Student Price Card’s retail partners include such top North American brands as: Aéropostale, American Eagle Outfitters, Aldo Shoes, Armani Exchange, Burger King, Champs Sports, Claire’s, FCUK French Connection, Foot Locker, Guess, Levi’s Stores, Lucky Brand Jeans, Orange Julius, Payless ShoeSource, Pizza Hut, and many more. The company believes that these types of established relationships will be the springboard for its successful entry into the U.S. market.
