A scheme whereby the supermarkets and other large businesses are promoting possession of loyalty cards may end up costing consumers more than non-possessor of these cards. Consumers are denied their right to settle on their preferred commodity at a cheaper price. Having the loyalty credit card in the name of added benefit (points and trips) has been is a business scam to maintain customers in a given business (Nugent, 2004). The business ensures that the client conforms to their products despite the prices. The author illustrates several testimonies of people who have preferred not to have loyalty cards; thus, enjoy the freedom of selecting shopping sites based on favorable prices.
“Marketing: Discount or Die”, article by Benady, reignites the issue of loyalty cards and their influence on the returns gained by the investors promoting these cards. Several ventures have insisted on use of loyalty cards to edge out the competitor in the market. Despite the fact that the loyalty cards have lost allure associated with it in earlier days, Tesco, Nector, Airmiles Boots and Waterstone (Benady, 2009) still main that the loyalty cards are beneficial to their business strategies. However, the strategy of wooing customers using loyalty card usage points has proofed unsuccessful since customers no longer value these points. In addition, customers perceive these points to be a right rather than privileges from the organizations. Therefore, organizations are devising new approaches to strengthen the value of the loyalty cards.
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Use of loyalty card seemed to be a deadly step by supermarkets in suppressing the growth and development of the small business in society. A former British labor minister, John Denham revealed that the details in loyalty cards can be used by the supermarkets with the aim of surveying for a new branch in areas where the spot significant population of customers (Wilson, 2007). Opening new branches in such places would drive away or even inhibit the growth of the small business due to the obvious competition power of the supermarket. Supermarkets conceal these details from the clients, which is seen as a hypocritical business plot staged by the supermarket.
In conclusion, the three articles carry the main theme of influence of loyalty card in the current business situation. Loyalty cards are common among the supermarkets, and the association of these cards to customers’ benefits has been questioned by the authors of the three articles.