A.S. Watson Group eyes top spenders with invitation-only membership tier

A.S. Watson Group has rolled out an exclusive VIP loyalty programme for its top loyal customers. The new programme is an additional, and invitation-only tier of membership which aims to reward and retain its top customers.The VIP programme came about due to the data insights and analysis of the group's CRM programmes, which showed that approximately two thirds of customers who qualify as "VIP members" in a year, continue as such the following year. These VIP members are recorded to have spent more than eight times than average members each year. This year, the newly qualified VIP members' spending saw a year-on-year double-digit increase.The personalised rewards under the programme include exclusive invitations to product previews, members-only Zumba dance events, family movie days, early access to sales and promotions as well as additional bonus points. The programme also aims to enhance customer connectivity and plans to extend the programme to its 24 markets by early 2019.Moreover, some of these additional benefits are tailored to the lifestyle of the customer. This can be seen in the forms of free health and well-being classes offered to some VIP customers. Meanwhile, invitations such as fitness training classes and invitations to yoga in the sky and cooking classes will be for Watsons China and Watsons Malaysia VIP members, respectively. Other additional benefits include free movie tickets with Watsons Thailand, free exclusive gifts with purchases and sample boxes with The Perfume Shop in the UK. There are also opportunities to be brand ambassadors and invitation to exclusive beauty workshops and shopping nights with ICI PARIS XL.Malina Ngai, group chief operating officer of A.S. Watson Group, said that its existing loyalty programmes reward all customers but its new VIP programme is catered to thank its most loyal customers with additional rewards.This year, the group launched DataLab which unites over 100 CRM experts around the world to share insights and best practices. A.S. Watson Group collects on average 4,300 terabytes of customer data every three years and uses DataLab to convert this data to build closer relationships with its customers.“We’re continuously investing into data technology and in doing so have launched DataLab, which does not only help us generate customer insights that are useful in enhancing retention and increase customer spending, but also enables the group to make smarter decisions, blending science, experience and intuition. With data technology, we are turning transactions to interaction and that is how we are staying connected with our customers," Ngai added.