With 39% of consumers using two retail mobile apps at most on a regular basis — and 21% using no retail app at all — retailers face an uphill battle selling the apps to consumers. But sports apparel retailer LIDS has stadium-sized goals for its recently unveiled mobile app and rebranded “Access Pass” loyalty program, according to Jeff Pearson, the company’s Senior VP of Marketing and E-Commerce.
“We would like to have between 10% and 15% of the customers download and regularly utilize the app,” said Pearson in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “Our goal is to have between 30% and 40% of our customers become a loyalty member.”
So far, the unveiling has been a hit for Lids: within three weeks of its soft launch on March 15, the app generated 15,000 downloads, with 50,000 customers signing up or converting to Access Pass Premium.
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LIDS created the Access Pass program to replace its former LIDS Club rewards, which the retailer said hadn’t communicated the program’s rules effectively. Some consumers initially had difficulty understanding how they earned points and where they could be redeemed, according to Pearson.
“There’s millions of mobile apps out there, and the most important part of an app is that you have some type of ongoing utilities to keep the user engaged,” said Pearson. “If somebody downloads an app, but never uses it, that just doesn’t help anyone. The strategy behind having unique content is that it gives consumers a good reason to come back time and time again. We can push out a notification to send out a different contest or a special offer for rewards members only found on the app.”
The loyalty program has two tiers: Access Pass is free, whereas Access Pass Premium costs $5 per year. Standard Access Pass members will receive five points for every dollar spent, while Premium members will receive 10 points per dollar spent. Once the member collects 1,000 points, they will receive a $10 reward toward their next purchase, which is redeemable at any of LIDS’ 1,300+ retail locations across North America and at lids.com or lids.ca.
“We wanted people to be able to do three things within the Access Pass program,” said Pearson. “The first thought was to easily understand how many points you would earn based on purchases made in-store and online. Second, we wanted to be able to deliver some unique content or contests to customers on the mobile app. Third, with as many things that are happening socially, from the main screen of the app, we wanted you to be able to see what we were doing on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube channels.”
Premium Members Gain Added Benefits
While all Access Pass rewards members receive sneak peeks on new exclusive products from LIDS and special offers on their birthdays, Premium rewards members gain more benefits and discounts, including:
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Early access to special sales in-store and online;
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20% off on all headwear and embroidery;
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10% off on apparel and novelties; and
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Buy one, get one half-price on select products in-store.
Members also can participate in exclusive sweepstakes for the chance to win rewards and experiences at live entertainment and sporting events.
“What’s most fun about what we do is that we’re all things sports,” Pearson said. “When you have the opportunity to work with partner brands such as New Era, ’47 or Nike and our league partners, we believe that when a consumer downloads the app and comes to lids.com, there’s an expectation that they ought to be able to have something special related to sports. We feel it’s the perfect fit for us, so these will definitely be things that we will do on an ongoing basis.”