Blog

 

Customer-centricity is the Key to Post-COVID Success for Airlines

Bond

Content Writer

The impact of COVID-19 has arguably hit the aviation industry harder than any other. According to The International Civil Aviation Organization, by the end of 2020, we could see reductions of up to 1.5 billion passengers globally, leaving airlines and airports facing a potential loss of revenue of up to USD 314 billion and USD 100 billion, respectively.

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Has Grocery Shopping Changed Forever?

Bond

Content Writer

 

As consumers, our grocery shopping behaviors and experiences have been drastically altered as a result of COVID-19. Grocers have had to make unprecedented changes to the shopping experience in order to safeguard their employees and customers. Unsurprisingly, it is expected that many of these changes will continue to persist and that new ones will form in a post COVID-19 era. Many believe that the grocery experience that we know and have come to take for granted, will be forever changed, as a result of the pandemic.

In order to understand which behaviors and experiences will stick and what else we can expect to change in a post COVID-19 world, it is important to first examine how consumers have been impacted during the pandemic, and what new realities have dramatically changed the current grocery shopping journey.

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The Evolution of Loyalty: Loblaw PC Optimum and its Implications

Bond

Content Writer

Back in 1997 when I began to lead a loyalty project for Shoppers Drug Mart with the code name “ASA” (an acronym for Acetylsalicylic acid), little did I know that 20 years later we would be witnessing the evolution of Canada’s favorite and most successful loyalty program. This past week’s announcement of the merger of these two iconic loyalty programs makes great business sense for the brands and their customers. The Shoppers Optimum program was originally tested in Kingston, Halifax and Calgary over a 16-month period. Towards the end of the pilot in 1999, approval was granted to launch the Shoppers Optimum Program nationally.

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Points Liability Management—Lowering The Tension Between Your CFO & CMO

Bond

Content Writer

Almost all currency-based consumer loyalty Program designs inherently house a financial liability, which in many cases has a material impact on a brand’s balance sheet. Generally speaking, a brand incurs liability for a future loyalty Program reward as soon as it issues the Program’s currency (e.g., points, miles, credits, stars, etc.) to a Program Member. From an income statement perspective, there is a reduction in revenue as soon as the currency is issued to a Program Member. As such, the brand cannot account for the full sale, since a percentage will need to be remunerated in the form of a reward (or dividend) back to the Program Member upon redemption. The accounting principles which govern financial liability management are not for the faint of heart, and they more than often create an ongoing level of tension between a brand’s CFO and CMO. CFOs wish to minimize their currency liability and resulting financial exposure, while CMOs wish to issue currency to incent incremental transactional behaviors with the aspiration of maximizing Member redemptions. 

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