The Salling Group Story: What it takes to drive customer loyalty in retail

As a leading retailer, for Salling Group, it’s critical to have a loyalty program that’s easy to use and delivers intelligent, contextually relevant, highly personalised offers to customers — treating each and every customer as an individual. Cheetah Digital, the cross-channel customer engagement solution provider for the modern marketer, recently partnered with Salling Group, supporting the transformation of the Denmark-based retail operator’s loyalty solution to reward customers and engage with them in new and innovative ways as third-party cookies phase out entirely. After a number of discussions and with Cheetah Digital’s support, Salling Group decided to build a loyalty program that could be used anywhere as an owned, digital personalised communication channel; something that wasn’t reliant on Facebook and Google-walled gardens. Even more, the program would help the Group understand its customers beyond transactions. Together with Cheetah Digital, Salling Group implemented a company-wide, fully integrated digital marketing program. Not only was this loyalty program unique to each of its brands, but it also gave Salling Group’s customers more — more personalisation, more experiences and more benefits. Smashing loyalty goals Upon launching its loyalty app, Salling Group smashed its loyalty registration goals in just four weeks. It quickly rose to the #1 and #2 most downloaded app in Denmark. Even more, by weaving digital payments, coupons and gamification into individual brand apps, the Group achieved a 10x lift in daily active users, resulting in a significant increase in revenue and engagement. The innovative solution’s success has earned Cheetah Digital and Salling Group recognition by the International Loyalty Awards, with Salling Group a 2022 Finalist for the ‘Best Loyalty Industry Innovation’. Winners are due to be announced in June this year. Getting ready for the cookieless era Salling Group is revolutionising how brands unlock the value of their data to build meaningful, one-to-one relationships with customers, which will prove absolutely vital as third-party cookies phase out entirely. “With what’s happening nowadays with cookies and data privacy, being able to engage with your customer on their terms is key,” Kasper Troldtoft Henriksen, Senior Manager, Customer Program at Salling Group says. “When they sign up for your app, they’re essentially saying they give you permission to engage with them there. It’s the most ethical way.” “And supercritical to keeping app engagement high is to continuously present them with new information, games and services, which Cheetah Digital enables us to do, seamlessly. We’re absolutely delighted that our program has received global recognition by such a prestigious international loyalty award.” Watch the customer story here: https://www.cheetahdigital.com/signals/client-success-story-salling-group-loyalty-app/ Making loyalty programs easy To keep the loyalty program easy to use, it leverages single-touch activation and requires only three things: an app download, email address and payment card. Customers don’t need to carry around another card in their wallets, and Salling Group benefits by having every single transaction captured to use for greater personalisation. By embedding the Netto+ service into the loyalty app, customers can scan their items on their phones as they shop. When they’re finished shopping, they press the pay button and walk out without ever needing to queue. Even more, Salling Group’s digital refund feature, powered by Cheetah Digital, taps into emotional loyalty to create a hassle-free return experience based on trust. If customers are not happy with the quality of their item; they simply go into the app, take a picture, upload it and get their money back. This innovative feature also provides Salling Group with information to take back to suppliers when produce doesn’t meet its quality standards. Audience building and a vision for innovation Salling Group’s loyalty program, which also employs gamification, is a constant work in progress. The Group is always looking for new and innovative ways to easily reward its customers. That’s the beauty of audience building — it’s a never-ending journey of optimisation. Salling Group continues to push the envelope and get the recognition it deserves. As the largest retailer in Denmark, Salling Group serves more than 11 million customers per week. With grocery stores in three countries, web shops, department stores, coffee shops, restaurants and as a supplier of meal boxes, Salling Group touches the lives of millions every single day. Read more about the Salling Group journey here: https://www.cheetahdigital.com/blog/how-salling-group-increased-daily-active-loyalty-members-10x/