Retail rewards app *shopt talks the benefits of its offer for retailers across the Scottish convenience channel
REMAINING up to date on all the latest news and NPDs from brands across the UK can be a real challenge for convenience retailers.
That’s especially the case in the modern age, where TikTok trends keep consumers more aware than ever about the newest products on shelf, pushing them to come into stores on a hunt for them.
This means store owners can be up against it to ensure they can fit the demand.
So, finding every tool at their disposal to support them in doing just this should surely be at the top of the bill for plenty of c-store owners out there and retailer rewards app *shopt believes it has an offer that can match this demand.
*shopt reckons its 24/7 service can assist those c-store operators across Scotland through its consistent and constant updates to the app. This means retailers who may be running a store late into the night or who are in more remote areas of the country where sales reps don’t visit as often have easy access to brand new information in the convenience channel.
Alexa Hester, head of marketing & engagement at *shopt, said: “With all the information available to them on *shopt, they can stay up to date on news with easy access to the app and at a time that suits them best.
“So even if it’s 7 o’clock at night on a Sunday, when they might have a little more time on their hands, they can really digest this information and learn more about these products coming down the pipeline.
“And all this information is readily available at their fingertips through the app as well.”
Highlighting a range of new products and working directly with the brands that launch them, *shopt says it can offer retailers some of the most up-to-date NPD information from some of the UK’s biggest FMCG brands at any time of the day and even help retailers make some extra cash along the way.
The software offers retailers an innovative cashback incentive through a rewards-based system based on the products stocked in store, as Hester explains:
“Retailers can go on to the app and see the rewards that are available to them straight away and our Stocking Offers section would be our most dominant type of offer.
“So, for example, if a retailer stocks a particular flavour of Lucozade in their store, they could earn £3 just by having it on the shelf.
“All the retailer needs to do is click on the offer on the app and it will open up the camera on your phone. After this, all you need to do is take a photo of the product in your store and we will geo-match this to your store to confirm it and then that money will drop into a *shopt wallet.”
The offers rank with some of the biggest brands and strongest sellers across the UK, with deals from massive FMCG firms such as Coca-Cola, Mars Wrigley, PepsiCo, Suntory Beverage & Food UK&I, General Mills as well as others all available through the app.
And this extra cash can go a long way to support store owners. *shopt allows its users to cash out this amount whenever they meet a threshold of £10, with the money going straight into their bank account.
Hester noted this came about after receiving feedback from c-store retailers. Initially, the cash-out point sat at £30 but, after taking on board some advice from local independent store owners, they made the decision to lower the price down to a much more achievable £10.
Hester said: “After we looked more into this and spoke to retailers, we found that store owners were taking a while sometimes to get to the £30 threshold and we didn’t want people to have to wait for this reward.
“We really wanted to incentivise more stores to take on the app, so we decided to drop it to £10 as that feels much more accessible and means you only have three of four offers to do on the app now before cashing out.
“And it did work: a couple weeks on from the drop we saw that the amount of people cashing out went from maybe 800-900 a week, to jumping up to as many as 2,000 or 2,200 every week.
“And at the end of it, it means more people will be benefitting from *shopt and more people are experiencing the service.”
This is also just one of the many examples as to how *shopt works directly with store owners across the country.
Hester mentioned the lengths in which the app goes to ensure that it is fit for the demand of modern-day convenience retailers by working side-by-side with a panel of independent store owners who bring their own experiences and thoughts to the table to ensure the app is fit for purpose.
This also went on to help support *shopt’s new loyalty scheme, *shopt Stars, which sees retailers win some extra cash on top of their scans on the app.
Launched earlier this year, the *shopt Stars scheme encourages repeat uses of the app by entering retailers who use it into a weekly prize draw that could see them win an extra £25, £50 or sometimes £75.
Hester said: “We wanted to do something extra to give back to *shopt users because we know how these people are really busy and we didn’t want to take their time for granted.
“So, to help give back here, *shopt Stars basically rewards our users for coming back to the app and, every week, retailers who get their approved claims on the app will also automatically be entered into a prize draw for the chance to win some extra cash.
“And this is a great example of how our panel of retailers can really support *shopt. They gave us some brilliant direction on how this should work and suggested the weekly frequency for the rewards, which we took on board.
“They had a big hand in helping to shape what the loyalty scheme ended up looking like and we’ve seen a massive amount of success with it so far. We’ve seen as many as 10,000 retailers eligible for those prize draws so far.”
Innovative thinking remains at the forefront of the *shopt app, too, as the firm is gearing up for the future to ensure that it can offer an accessible solution to retailers all from the one app.
The retailer rewards app is currently looking into introducing further brand rewards for store owners to benefit from and recently announced its new partnership with off-trade giant AB InBev, which could see promotions come to the app from its brands such as Budweiser, Stella Artois and Corona.
But the tech firm isn’t slowing down there, as Hester mentioned wider ambitions to work directly with other retailers and ensure *shopt’s service remains easy to use.
Hester said: “We have two new projects coming out this September that we’re massively excited to debut.
“First of all, we’ll be looking to make it a lot easier for shop staff to be able to manage the *shopt account as well, not just the owners or managers, so that everyone in the store can take part and help make sure promos aren’t missed.
“And the other thing we will be bringing in soon is our ‘refer a friend’ system. This has been in the pipeline for a long time now and I’m really excited to finally see it in action soon.
“We’ve had so many store owners come on the app already. In May this year, this was up as high as 11,000 in the app and all of these people know other retailers who don’t use *shopt right now.
“With this, we’ll be able to set up a process where, again, a retailer can be rewarded for recommending another store owner via the app, and the new user will also get an extra reward for coming on to the app.
“We will be working with our retail panel to help bring this forward and, once again, let independent retailers be a part of this development process so we know it will be fit for purpose for stores across the whole of the UK.”
