Affinity introduces a merchant-friendly daily deals program

Affinity introduces a merchant-friendly daily deals program

Merchants who are fed up with daily deals programs that deliver few repeat customers will soon be able to take advantage of a new type of daily deals program that allows participating merchants to track consumer spending trends. 

Affinity Solutions, which manages retailer-funded rewards programs, will launch its new group discount platform "Spot ON Deals" on Oct. 18, 2011. The program is designed to enable merchants to verify the effectiveness of their offers and target customers who are more likely to return.

"Today's daily deals programs more often than not attract bargain hunters," said Jonathan Silver, President and CEO of Affinity Solutions, in a press release. "They don't encourage repeat business, and they don't allow merchants to meaningfully track results."

Affinity's program leverages proprietary analytics applied to a range of customer data to deliver the offers judged most likely to drive desirable customer behavior.

Merchants can also use Affinity's proprietary "dashboard" analytics to target key consumer spending trends, track the effectiveness of their offers and optimize repeat business.

In addition, merchants can analyze transaction data for consumers' spending habits and brand preferences and build loyalty by making rewards more relevant.

Spot ON Deals -- also known as "Daily Deals Done Right" -- will first be launched by Sovereign Bank and will build on the bank's existing Sovereign Cash Rewards program.

Spot ON Deals is similar to successful daily deals programs launched by Groupon and LivingSocial, but is unique in that it is a merchant-funded rewards program where customers are rewarded with significant discounts for using a bank's credit or debit card. Merchants fund the loyalty program in exchange for access to the bank's customer base. 

Leveraging analytics can yield powerful results, says Affinity
Affinity's success with targeted loyalty programs can be illustrated by a recent deal with the home-improvement company Home Depot, which used Affinity's transaction data to target its campaign.

Using information gleaned from Affinity, Home Depot developed and executed a program that identified customers who shopped at competitors' stores for most or all of their home-improvement needs. These customers were targeted with a campaign that offered the most attractive discounts to customers who shopped most often at competitors' stores.

The results showed a sharp increase in Home Depot's income, as well as new customers and an increase in the average size of transactions. All this happened during a difficult period for the home improvement industry.

Affinity is currently working on a variety of loyalty technologies based on both mobile and social media, according to the company. In a January 2011 interview with Incentive Magazine, Affinity CEO Jonathan Silver said that social media and mobile technology revolutions have reinvented how marketers reach their audiences. 

Published: October 11,2023