Bill Hanifin
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Aeropostale, Inc. is a specialty retailer fighting for the attention of a client base exhibiting limited or no attention span. I’m not mean, just the father of three children, so let’s just say that I’m experienced.
No matter how you describe it, today’s consumers are distracted and its not easy to engage them for long. That’s been the dilemma of marketers trying to reach Consumer 2.0, the always-on, always-connected generation of shoppers who seem to give as much attention to their mobile handsets and touchpads as they do the person next to them in line.
If it’s a challenge to engage and maintain dialogue with Millennials and those of us in older generations who have adopted the electronic life, think of the orders-of-magnitude greater challenge that exists when targeting 14 to 17 year-old young women and men (Aeropostale®) and 7 to 12 year-olds (P.S. from Aeropostale®). By the way, marketers need to find another verb than “targeting”. It’s mildly offensive for most people and somehow really doesn’t fit when talking about elementary and middle school kids.
To break through the clutter of this noisy and competitive retail world, Aeropostale® announced the introduction of P.S. Rewards, a multi-channel rewards program designed to benefit customers whether they shop in-store or online. According to the press release dated July 19, Scott Birnbaum, Senior Vice President of Marketing and E-Commerce at Aeropostale, Inc. stated “P.S. Rewards formalizes this (strong following) relationship and allows us to recognize our best customers with special privileges and activities.”
P.S. Rewards is free to join and members can earn 1 point for every dollar they spend in-store or online. Once members accumulate 75 points, they receive a $5 certificate towards a future purchase, equating to just over a 6% funding rate. To balance reward with recognition, P.S. Rewards members receive “exclusive” benefits including access to VIP sales and events and birthday gifts.
The P.S. Rewards program is enabled by Smart Button, a technology savvy company that is making headway in the specialty retail segment. When asked about the new program, Trevor Edwards, Director of Business Development and Sales, told me “P.S. Rewards is an example of a new breed of loyalty execution that can help retailers enhance brand affinity, increase sales, and deliver a superior customer experience”.
I have no idea what’s planned next for P.S. Rewards, but given the fact that both the kids who love the brand and the parents who are paying the bills need to remain engaged, Aeropostale needs to invoke true creativity to deliver messaging for each group in the channel they most prefer to communicate. It will be interesting to see what comes next.
