Liquid Barcodes

Resources

Flourishing in Finland

Paula Thomas, Chief Content Officer, Liquid Barcodes

09/13/2020

Finland is a small Nordic country, famed for its beauty, its architecture, an exceptional education system, and more impressively, for achieving first place on the global list of the world’s happiest countries in recent years. It’s clearly an extraordinary country that deserves to be increasingly recognised for its global contributions. In our view, Finland is punching well above its weight and we are excited to be doing some great work with our friends in R-kioski in Finland, another market leading brand within the Reitan Group, and with around 500 stores, it boasts brand awareness of 98% throughout the country.

Having just passed the impressive milestone of 150,000 members joining its loyalty programme, here we discuss the background to the digital strategy, and some of the great results being achieved by this “entrepreneur-driven convenience chain”.

R kioski coffeeCoffee is a key category and R-kioski focuses on more generous offers than its competitors

Background and Business Idea

R-kioski has operated cardboard stamp cards for many years, and the team was excited to notice how well digital stamp cards were performing in other countries within the Reitan Convenience group.

It gave them confidence that the same system could be used for their business risk-free, to help build their loyal customer base, that they could gain some synergy effects and apply the same idea that is loved by convenience retailers around the world, to simply “copy-with-pride”.

R kioskiScratch and Win is a key part of the gamification strategy for R-kioski

Consumer Concepts

The IT and marketing teams have designed their app called R-kantis to include all of the global best-practice ideas and concepts that their colleagues throughout the Nordics use so successfully. These include:

  • Use of instant gratification – everyone who downloads R-kantis gets an instant free coffee.
  • With R-kantis stamp cards, every sixth coffee, bun and hodari (hot dog) is free.
  • Loyal customers benefit even more, earning rewards even faster, for example after every 5th or 4th purchase.
  • As coffee is the category they are focused on, they directly incentivise coffee reviews with a free bun.
  • The programme includes exciting coupons and games with constantly changing prizes.
  • Members can also collect free coffees by recommending R-kantis to a friend.
  • Of course, on their birthday, members are celebrated with a free coffee.
  • The app even includes the option to pre-pay coffee, with a generous 25% discount. R-kantis members pay just €15 compared to the usual cost of €20.

R kantis offerR-kantis is leveraging the power of prepaid for its coffee

Powerful Performance

A key insight driving the success of this programme is their focus and determination to differentiate R-kioski in the market. They noticed that Finnish retailers usually award points that members save long-term in order to earn rewards.

The R-kioski team instead believes in the importance of rewarding their members quickly and easily – delighting them from the very start to keep them engaged. And the strategy is working.

Marketing Director Ann-Charlotte Schalin said:

“Just over 1,5 years in to our digital loyalty programme, we are delighted to see engagement rates in excess of 20%. We know how important it is to focus on our key customers and R-kantis is proving to be the direct powerful channel we needed to stay connected to our customers, even when they are not in our stores. Reitan Convenience prides itself on being the market leader in each of its countries of operation so this innovative platform is helping to continue our mission to deliver the best ideas in the world of convenience retail globally and connect with our loyal customers to remain the powerful profitable retailer that we are famous for.”

R-kantis

About Us:

Liquid Barcodes is a leading global loyalty and digital marketing technology company specialising in the convenience store and foodservice industries. Our proprietary cloud-based technology platform allow retailers to create and manage their digital marketing campaigns with a proprietary process we call the “customer connection cycle’ to engage, promote and reward customers activities in real-time across digital and media channels.

How we do it:

We have developed the most advanced loyalty and digital marketing technology platform specifically for convenience store and foodservice retailers globally.

Retailers use our self-service dashboard to create and manage loyalty driven marketing campaigns that increase purchases with their existing customers, as well as effectively target and acquire new customers through partners or paid media channels.

One core component of live loyalty is gamification. We have gamified branding, loyalty and promotions. We believe this approach is essential in order to get customers’ attention and ultimately truly engage them with repeatable actions thereby winning their loyalty.

Check out some of our exciting/proven results here:

www.LiquidBarcodes.com

About Me:

Paula Thomas

Chief Content Officer, Liquid Barcodes and Independent Loyalty Consultant

With over twenty-five years marketing experience, I specialise in loyalty marketing consulting, managing consumer loyalty propositions, strategy and operations. In addition to working with Liquid Barcodes, my clients have included Telefonica O2 Priority, Three Mobile, Electric Ireland, Allied Irish Bank and The Entertainer Group (UAE), as well as Avios – the global points currency for some of the world’s top airlines. I am also a former judge for the Loyalty Magazine Awards and host of the “Let’s Talk Loyalty” podcast.

—————————————————————————————–


Blog post

Circle K Norway Wins NACS Convenience Retail Technology Award 

Circle K Norway wins the prestigious NACS award for its innovative car wash subscription program powered by Liquid Barcodes. NACS awarded Circle K Norway’s leaders with the NACS Convenience Retail Technology Award at this week’s NACS Convenience Summit Europe recognizing the industry’s first global car wash subscription program. Circle K’s pioneering car wash subscription program, […]

Blog post

Maxol Wins Customers and Awards With Loyalty App

Irish retailer Maxol celebrates a year of success with their award-winning loyalty app. Maxol’s loyalty app has been rewarded for excellence with the prestigious “2023 Loyalty Launch of the Year ” award at this year’s Irish Loyalty & CX Awards. The Irish Loyalty & CX Awards 2023 recognise excellence, innovation, and achievement in loyalty and […]

Blog post

Record-High Sales Coupled With Record-High Credit Card Swipe Fees Perplex Convenience Industry

NACS releases 2022 data for the convenience industry and retailers report record-high sales, fuel prices, and credit card swipe fees. In a year of record-high gas prices, retailers recorded record-high sales and credit card swipe fees, according to the 2022 NACS State of the Industry data that was recently released. The $906.1 billion dollar U.S. […]

Blog post

Sunshine Gasoline Leads Industry in Technology Adoption

Florida retailer Sunshine Gasoline leads the U.S. convenience industry with app solutions for customer convenience and loyalty.   Sunshine Gasoline Distributors, based in southern Florida and established in 1987, supplies fuel to 536 gas stations and operates nearly 400 of those sites, earning the twentieth place on CSP’s Top 202 Convenience Store Chains in 2022. […]

Blog post

Everyone Wins With App Games

Games reward customers for visiting an app and encourage them to visit the store. Customers love to feel appreciated, they love a good deal and they especially love winning.  Customers are excited when they get a good discount or coupon. And, they truly feel like winners after playing and winning a game. It is easy […]

Blog post

Liquid Barcodes Connects With Convenience Industry Leaders in Texas

The Liquid Barcodes team networks and learns at 2023 NAG Conference in Austin, Texas. Last week, Liquid Barcodes attended and exhibited at the US convenience industry conference held by the National Advisory Group (NAG). Among those present from the Liquid Barcodes team were Saurabh Swarup, General Manager of North America and Jose Santiago, Head of […]

Blog post

5 Cs of Summer: Cold Coffee, Clean Cars & Convenience

Subscription programs are a great way to secure long-term customer loyalty and revenue. Whether you are providing a subscription for beverages or car washes, securing recurring monthly revenue is imperative to stay competitive.   Summer is around the corner and retail marketers are crafting sunny campaigns to increase customer traffic to the store. Help those […]

Blog post

Circle K Makes a Splash With Car Wash Subscription Program in Europe

Circle K has extended its highly successful car wash subscription program to Norway after successful implementations in the United States, Canada, Denmark, Sweden and Estonia. Circle K’s vast global network of car washes has digitally transformed operations with its revolutionary car wash subscription program. First launched in Denmark and the U.S. in 2020, the program […]

Blog post

Newly Redesigned Brezelkönig App Accepts Payments and Rewards Loyalty

Swiss foodservice chain Brezelkönig releases app update which offers customers the convenience of earning rewards and paying for products with the app in stores.  The recently-updated Brezelkönig app allows pretzel-loving customers to enjoy recognition and rewards for their loyalty. Additionally, the Brezelkönig app accepts payments to make the customer experience even more convenient.  Brezelkönig is […]

Blog post

What Is C-StorePay?

Liquid Barcodes’ proprietary C-StorePay makes paying for fuel, in-store merchandise, and subscription programs convenient for customers, reduces credit card fees for retailers, and integrates easily into existing loyalty programs Announced in October 2022, the revolutionary Liquid Barcodes C-StorePay product rose to the top of retailers’ 2022 wish lists at the NACS Show, even achieving a […]

Blog post

Polish Retail Leader Żabka Launches Coffee Subscription Program

Polish retail giant, Żabka introduces a monthly coffee subscription program across its vast store network. With its new coffee subscription program, Żabka Polska will certainly dominate the beverage category in Poland’s unique convenience market. In July 2022, Dr. Adam Manikowski, Managing Director of Żabka Polska, was featured on the popular Global Convenience Store Focus video […]

Blog post

Loyalty Apps Engage Customers

98% of loyalty app users love using a loyalty app and want more features from it. In September 2022, NACS published a report examining customer engagement with convenience loyalty programs. Unsurprisingly, customers feel most engaged, appreciated and valued by the stores to which they belong in a loyalty or membership program – nearly ¾ of […]

Blog post

Save Thousands in Credit Card Fees With ACH

Visa and Mastercard announced an increase in interchange fees earlier in the year and retailers are taking action and sending a message by migrating their customers to new solutions, including mobile app-based ACH payments, and in the process increasing profits by not only reducing credit card fees but also boosting loyalty via innovative app-based incentive […]

Blog post

Maxol Launches First-of-Its-Kind Loyalty App

Maxol, Ireland’s largest family-owned forecourt and convenience retailer, announced it has launched a new customer loyalty app with never-before-seen features in the Irish market. After more than a century serving Irish customers, Maxol’s 240+ stores and service stations are located throughout Ireland and have enjoyed global recognition for their best-in-class operations, store design and offers. […]

Blog post

Delivering Personalized Content With Machine Learning and Image Recognition

Build personalized customer connections, improve efficiency, and make intelligent, data-driven decisions using machine learning and image recognition.   It’s 7:15 in the morning and a customer – Amy – is on her way to work. She is on the hunt for coffee and breakfast and stops at a convenience store. She opens her store app […]

Blog post

Circle K’s Use of Beacon Technology to Activate Car Wash Subscription Program

Beacon Technology and Car Wash Subscription Programs Beacon technology used in tandem with a customer-facing car wash subscription program revolutionizes the customer experience by providing a quick, convenient experience. Innovation is the key to continued growth and ensuring a frictionless customer experience should be top of mind for any retailer. Circle K’s vast global network […]

Liquid Barcodes

Put a rocket under your loyalty program

With our loyalty platform, we help design and operate world-class, tailor-made subscription and reward programs that make sure your customers always come back.

Book a Demo →

We are trusted by global brands.

Convenience retailers all over the world have engaged and rewarded consumers with our tailor-made loyalty programs.

To our case studies →

Liquid Barcodes
Liquid Barcodes
Liquid Barcodes
Liquid Barcodes

Convenience retailers all over the world have engaged and rewarded consumers with our tailor-made loyalty programs.

To our case studies →

Liquid Barcodes
Liquid Barcodes
Liquid Barcodes
Liquid Barcodes