Cotton On has more than 1400 stores across 19 countries and Perks will help inform its approach on a local level. Perks points of difference to other loyalty programs include having no ¬minimum spend and applying across multiple brands: Cotton On, Cotton On BODY, Cotton On KIDS, Supré, Rubi, Typo and Factorie.Cotton On is aiming for three million sign-ups to Perks in its first year, which is set to give the business valuable market insight.

THE Cotton On Group has already rewarded Australian customers with more than 500,000 shopping vouchers since launching a loyalty program incorporating online and in-store shopping across all its brands less than three weeks ago.The Perks program coincides with integrating all seven Cotton On brands on the one website with the initiatives set to provide a better understanding of customers and the ability to harness that knowledge to drive improved products and experiences.Early take up of Perks, which launched in Australia on March 27, is encouraging with customers incentivised to join with a $10 welcome voucher and $10 shopping vouchers every time they reach $100 in spend.

The group’s general manager of e-commerce, Brendan Sweeney, said the key to launching Perks was to offer genuine accessible value to customers and have staff do a great job of explaining the benefits. Mr Sweeney said that, “The count of active members as of this morning is 441K and over 530K in vouchers (welcome and reward) have been issued in Australia.”He said that, “Over 20 per cent have already shopped with us twice.”

Mr Sweeney said, “Currently we intuitively understand customers, but loyalty lets us truly get to know them at an individual level across our brands and understand how they interact across all our touchpoints and channels.” He also quoted that, “We see tremendous value in understanding our customers almost from cradle to grave."

He said having all the brands available under the one portal contributed to delivering a compelling proposition for customers and providing a positive brand experience. He added that,“Integrating across channels and leveraging the assets of a great supply chain and store network give us a real advantage in delivering the omni-channel experience,” he said.“Customers are thinking less about the channel they are interacting with and more about the brand and the experiences with that brand."

He said the broader understanding of needs and shopping habits would enable Cotton On to evolve its products and services.Also he added, “At the same time it allows us to be much more targeted in customising and enhancing the customer’s shopping experience because we’ll understand who they are and where they shop, at a brand and store level."

“While we’re a global business, we localise up to 20 per cent of our range by market to ensure we are delivering the right product mix for our customers,” Mr Sweeney said.He added that,“We also expect that we will uncover lots of new opportunities and wouldn’t be at all surprised if it gives us new opportunities to launch some new brands to meet needs that are unmet at the moment."