For those who celebrate Christmas, it’s often the busiest time of the year. Whether you are a consumer or a retailer, it’s all about planning ahead and making sure that everyone and everything is ready and leading up to the grand finale: Christmas Day.
According to PwC’s Holiday Outlook 2024, shoppers in the U.S. plan to spend approximately $1,638 on gifts, travel, and entertainment this holiday season, marking a 7% increase from 2023. The research also shows that consumers are eager to embrace both digital innovations and traditional in-store experiences throughout the shopping journey.
This aligns with the broader trends in the retail industry, as the dynamics for both retailers and consumers shift towards a more digitalized experience. PwC’s Holiday Outlook 2024 concludes that, based on a survey of 4,000 consumers about their plans and priorities for the holiday season, 2024 will be defined by strategic spending, personalized experiences, and technological integration.
At Lobyco, this is exactly what we’re passionate about. Our goal is to help retailers stand out in the digital landscape, drive more traffic, and build stronger customer loyalty. During the retail peak of the year, it’s all about how you—as a retailer—can win Christmas.
So, welcome to our series ‘Winning Christmas’, where throughout December, we’ll spotlight some of our clients and show how they use our solutions and technology to stand out and succeed in this busy season. Each week, we’ll provide insights into the features our clients leverage to increase traffic and boost sales.
Foodstuffs
Foodstuffs were founded in 1922 and is New Zealand’s largest Grocery Retailer, owned by the retailers’ cooperatives Foodstuffs North Island Limited and Foodstuffs South Island Limited. Together, the two cooperatives control an estimated 53% of the New Zealand grocery market. The North Island has approximately 300+ stores with 24,000+ team members, while the South Island has more than 200 stores with 14,000 employees.
Plans for ‘Winning Christmas’
This Christmas season marks the first holiday collaboration between Lobyco and Foodstuffs, under the New World banner, building on their ongoing partnership this year. New World has already seen great success with its new proprietary loyalty program and, in December, launched tools designed to make the holiday season more interactive and rewarding.
Among Foodstuffs many initiatives during the Christmas period, these were the key objectives for how they utilised some of Lobyco’s tools to enhance their loyalty program and engage customers:
- Weekly Engagement: Exciting Christmas games were made available in the New World App, running across two weekly periods to keep customers engaged.
- Three-Day Christmas sale with enhanced rewards: A special sale offered shoppers the chance to earn double rewards, complementing the interactive games and driving further holiday excitement.
Winning Christmas with New World’s Festive Games
Building on the objectives outlined above, here’s an in-depth look at the Christmas games that ran during the two weekly periods.
As part of its efforts to delight customers during the festive season, Foodstuffs, under the New World banner, launched its first Christmas-themed games in December as part of the new Loyalty Proposition.
The games ran in two weekly periods: December 9–15 and December 16–22, exclusively for Clubcard members. Winners received 5 New World Dollars (the brand’s proprietary loyalty currency), which were added to their balance almost instantly.
Each week, a total of 150,000 New World Dollars was available to win. Fitting the festive spirit, the game featured a Christmas-themed scratch card where players matched three Christmas dishes to win.
Check out the visuals below:
Double New World Dollars During New World's Christmas Three-Day Sale!
Kicking off the festive season, New World treated its customers to an exciting Christmas Three-Day Sale from December 4–6. During this promotion, shoppers who spent $50 and scanned their Clubcard were rewarded with double New World Dollars.
The campaign featured a variety of special deals and was promoted across all digital channels, ensuring customers didn’t miss the opportunity to earn extra rewards while stocking up for the holidays.
By leveraging Lobyco’s tools, New World has been able to engage with their customers in an innovative and fun way during the busiest retail season. While much of the Christmas campaign had been planned well in advance, the introduction of gamification and new exciting promotions like the Christmas Sale allowed Foodstuffs to further enhance customer engagement and drive traffic to stores. This experience has provided valuable insights that will help New World create even more exciting campaigns for the next holiday season.
Foodstuffs have already seen an increase in key KPIs during the Christmas Sale and through the exciting games. Scan rates, redemptions, and app usage – all critical for boosting their digital presence – have shown positive results. By leveraging a variety of features and promotions, Foodstuffs has kept New World customers engaged throughout December, receiving valuable feedback for future campaigns.
Despite having planned their Christmas campaigns earlier in the year, New World successfully experimented with new campaigns this holiday season. The results from these efforts will ensure even more exciting initiatives in the future, based on the lessons learned. These positive outcomes mark a strong start for Foodstuffs and Lobyco’s partnership, providing valuable insights into how to engage customers with innovative and fun tools during the peak retail season.
This concludes our ‘Winning Christmas’ series. We’ve explored how Coop Denmark, Tokmanni, Samkaup, and Foodstuffs have leveraged Lobyco’s tools to succeed in the Christmas grocery retail market. By highlighting both similarities and differences, we’ve demonstrated the versatility of Lobyco’s tools, tailored to each retailer’s unique needs. Additionally, we’ve shown how engaging tools during the holidays can boost both digital presence and in-store traffic.
.webp)