With the rise of fast-fashion brands, which offer styles similar to more expensive brands, at far more affordable prices, deep transformations have occurred in the industry. We now have no less than 52 micro-seasons of fashion! Not only that, but constant markdowns have led customers to expect coupons, rendering this type of incentive less effective. Now, one thing is as clear as the summer sky: offering high-quality products and discounts is no longer enough to retain customers. Brands need to offer benefits that engage, such as fashion loyalty programs, and build a brand story that resonates with customers.
Looking for the most up-to-date trends about the current and future loyalty program landscape? Check out our insightful report!
“The best way to retain buyers in the fashion industry is to focus on the most valuable customers rather than chasing new ones. You’ll need a data-driven focus with personalization of service, channel, fashion, and reward. Avoid all price wars. The loyalty program provides the framework for the retention effort. It must be multi-channel, multi-tender – something that many fashion retailers have been unwilling to do in the past. Segment the loyalty database and differentiate the reward offering and all soft benefits according to a segment.”
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What Is a Fashion Loyalty Program?
Fashion loyalty programs are customer retention tools that are built from the ground up based on a fashion brand or retailer’s needs and unique characteristics. First of all, such loyalty solutions are easily recognizable, thanks to a variety of program structures and features you rarely see in other verticals. These include, but are not limited to: perk systems, early access to product releases, enhanced return options, in-store stylist sessions for high-tier members, and so on.
“Only a sophisticated customer loyalty programme can create loyal customers and this requires a clear strategy, a strong CVP and CEX processes and a best in class CRM/Loyalty platform. Members should receive relevant and attainable offers in their preferred media and be encouraged to interact with the business. Loyalty is a journey, not a destination, and should be the most important tool in the marketing strategy.”
Fashion loyalty programs are also innovative in the sense that they often reward non-transactional engagement. For example, brands can reward their members for bringing back old clothes, wearing clothing with smart tags, or participating in Instagram contests,
It’s also worth highlighting that fashion reward programs focus heavily on omnichannel engagement. From supporting app-based experiences to store-specific campaigns and technologies, they aim to create a unified customer profile, which fuels personalization.
“A best-practice loyalty program will give brands the ability to capture, analyse and access customer data. This provides the brand’s marketing team with a structured program framework to work with, allowing them to strategically communicate with customers throughout their lifecycle, maximising sales opportunities by segment and delivering value. More importantly, a good program will be able to recognise signs of churn or disengagement and move to rectify – this will ultimately assist in retention.”
The Biggest Customer Retention Challenges for Fashion Brands and Retailers
With the global online fashion market expected to reach $672.71 billion by the year 2023. The number-one priority for fashion companies — especially those in the fast fashion segment — is to encourage people to spend their fashion budget exclusively at their stores. But increasing customer lifetime value (CLV) with a VIP program is just the first step.
“Keeping customer engagement during a very uncertain time has its challenges but I think the fashion industry has adapted well and we have certainly learnt a lot more about customers. Getting the right loyalty program in place for your brand will definitely encourage repeat customers. Our brand is at an early stage looking at how we want to ensure we get this right for our customers and ensure we get the best omnichannel experience for them.”
Some other KPIs that a customer loyalty program can boost include:
- Reduce customer churn: Avoid high churn with a reward system that allows customers to gradually progress through the program. Gamification features, tiers, badges, and loyalty communities help to foster a habit for members to continually interact with the program on a daily or weekly basis.
- Increase footfall: Utilizing store-specific campaigns, receipt-scanning, POS systems, digital loyalty cards and other technology ensures that the time customers spend in the store will be pleasant, fun, and above all, convenient.
- Show eco-consciousness: Modern customers prefer to align themselves with companies that care about nature. Fashion companies can demonstrate their green side by rewarding those who give to charity or donate used clothes for a good cause.
“The challenge for fashion brands is to remain relevant when more fundamental issues like health and safety are no longer a given. A loyalty programme is the most powerful way that a brand can demonstrate its loyalty to its customers. The permission to communicate with customers creates the opportunity for direct conversations, to showcase stories that inspire the customer to continue to love the brand and ensure they return when their spending power permits.”
The Best Loyalty Program Features to Help Your Fashion Company Stand Out
Here’s a list of fashion loyalty program features you should consider implementing if you’re planning to create one of the best loyalty programs in the world.
1. Next-Gen Program Structure
Earn & burn logic
This is the most common program structure, where members earn points by making purchases, signing up for the newsletter, writing user reviews, etc. It’s the easiest to design, but not very memorable on its own. That’s why we recommend combining a point system with other reward structures to create a hybrid program.
Tiers
Highly popular among fashion loyalty programs, tiers (or ranks) are the ideal approach to long-term engagement. Earning points or making purchases help members climb the ladder, with each new tier unlocking more attractive benefits. Being a Diamond or Premium tier member, for example, counts as a status symbol for many and inspires other members to follow their example by becoming a more actively engaged customer.
Perks
A rather unique loyalty solution, the perks system, grants the same benefits for each and every member. Instead of creating a haves and have-nots economy, this approach increases CLV by cherishing the customer. In this case, rewards usually consist of a welcome gift, free shipping, and early access.
2. Sophisticated Reward Experience
Experiential rewards
Being a loyalty program member should be memorable. From time-to-time, surprise customers with an unexpected birthday reward, or put high-end gifts up for grabs, such as merchandise signed by a popular designer or influencer.
To learn more about loyalty rewards that work, we have a dedicated ebook that will help you get inspired and start planning.
Gamification
Another way to entice people to return to the loyalty program is to add in some gamification elements. The term “gamification” can cover multiple features, such as gamified profiling, prize wheels, reward calendars for the holidays, or even arcade-like games where customers can try to win a prize.
Social media contests
Organizing a comment contest on Twitter or an Instagram contest can help you boost virality for a relatively low cost. The recipe is simple: to become eligible to win a prize, members simply need to post a comment with a specific hashtag, or upload a photo of themselves wearing a specific item of clothing.
“The new reality has meant that more customers than ever are choosing to shop online. However, the way to retain customers has not changed. It should always be about offering great service and products and engaging customers with your brand. A loyalty program rewards and engages customers building a sense of community and provides additional incentives to choose to keep purchasing from the brand.”
VIP clubs
Special interest groups and early access to upcoming product releases is the go-to way to spice up a fashion loyalty program. People just love the idea of being an insider, or having the ability to buy something before it officially becomes available. And the best thing is: this type of benefit costs you nothing! Don’t forget to build up a fashion email marketing strategy around it.
3. Seamless In-store Engagement
Mobile Passes as digital loyalty cards
Physical cards are often left forgotten at home. Instead, switch to digital loyalty cards that are always available on the smartphone. There is no need for customers to install anything, and cashiers can scan the digital cards with a POS device during checkout to identify customers making a purchase. Doing so enables you to gather more accurate information about your loyalty members.
Learn more about digital loyalty cards and Antavo’s Mobile Wallet solution in this video.
Send push notifications
Another benefit of digital loyalty cards is that you can use them to send push notifications to customers about relevant deals. And to take your push messages to the next level, use offer management and geolocation to give customers with special offers whenever they’re near their favorite store.
Design a loyalty app
With a smartphone app, you can reach customers on-the-go. Moreover, you’ll always be in arm’s reach. Though people are very conscious about what kinds of apps they download, a small loyalty program incentive can help sweeten the deal.
Receipt scanning
For brands selling through retailers, receipt scanning is the ideal solution to deliver the loyalty program to customers, wherever they shop. All they have to do is take a picture of their receipt, and upload it in a designated section of the website or on the loyalty app. Then, after a short delay, the point balance will be updated through the loyalty provider.
7 Inspiring Loyalty Programs for Fashion Brands & Retailers
To better understand how each of these features work, let’s look at some of the largest fashion loyalty programs in the US, Europe, and Asia.
1. H&M Membership Program
Widely known in the world of fashion, H&M launched a reward system that ticks all the boxes for a next-gen fashion loyalty program.
- Customers earn one point for every $1 spent, and after earning 200 points they receive a $5 coupon.
- Newly registered members receive a $10 discount as a welcome gift, and more exclusive discounts are available later on.
- Members receive access to free online returns, birthday offers and insider shopping events.
Why it works:
- H&M’s customer loyalty program is a perfect blend of transactional benefits (coupons) and community-driven experiences.
- It also makes shopping more convenient with the ‘Shop now and pay for items later’ feature.
2. Simply Be – Perks
Part of N Brown and headquartered in Manchester, Simply Be is the go-to digital destination for size 12-32 women who adore fashion.
- The loyalty concept is avant-garde: instead of having customers collect points or scan loyalty cards, they offer personalized rewards based on each customer’s history of interactions with the brand.
- Rewards are all about customer well-being, and were carefully selected after surveying active customers.
- Some of the privileges are made possible through Simply Be’s partnerships with brands in beauty, fitness, travel, entertainment and fine dining.
Why it works:
- Simply Be Perks encourages customer participation with user-generated content, which is fully in line with today’s trends in decision-making for fashionistas.
- It is a highly personalized concept that lets Simply Be offer experiential rewards that cater to millennials’ preferences and are awarded based on customer value, individual preferences, and past rewards claimed.
3. Nicce – N Coin
A streetwear brand started in 2013, Nicce focuses on the young, urban demographic. The company has a mostly online presence, with only one brick-and-mortar store. However, Nicce ships worldwide.
- In the loyalty program, spending £1 earns 10 N coins.
- Each point is equal to a £0.01p discount.
- Creating an account, referring a friend and performing special promotional tasks are worth a large amount of N coins.
Why it works:
- N Coins is a loyalty program that treats loyalty points as a real currency.
- Since it’s easy to collect and redeem, there are plenty of engagement opportunities for customers.
4. Urban Outfitters – UO Rewards
Multinational lifestyle retailer Urban Outfitters targets young adults with a merchandise mix in women’s and men’s fashion apparel, footwear, beauty, and wellness products.
- The UO Rewards loyalty program has three tiers.
- Loyalty points are given for purchases, registration, writing product reviews and visiting the UO site or app.
- Member benefits include early access to products, anniversary discounts and a chance to win a prize in hashtag contests.
Why it works:
- As a brick-and-mortar chain, Urban Outfitters allows customers to use a dedicated app to track their progress and identify themselves by having the app scanned — a great way to boost in-store loyalty.
5. Love, Bonito – LBCommunity+
One of the largest vertically integrated, omnichannel women’s fashion brands in Asia, Love, Bonito targets the modern Asian women both online and in stores. Its loyalty program, LBCommunity+ goes all out in terms of exclusivity:
- All LBCommunity+ tiers enjoy nenefits and are entitled to earn points for every purchase.
- There are birthday rewards, early access to products and private sales, as well as exclusive partner perks — and all of them scale in value depending on the member’s tier.
- Gold-tier members receive early access to special launches and surpirse experiences as well.
Why it works:
- Love, Bonito’s program is a great example of how special treatment forges a bond with customers. If you can make them feel special and valued, they’ll keep coming back, just to be part of the experience. And they’ll tell their friends about it, too.
6. Anthropologie – Anthroperks
Anthropologie is an American clothing retailer operating in over 200 stores. Their loyalty program, Anthroperks, is similar to Simply Be’s concept, with a few key differences.
- There are no tiers or points, only members-only perks that apply to every registered member.
- Participants enjoy paperless returns and free shipping over $150+ orders.
- Other benefits include early access to new collections and birthday rewards.
Why it works:
- Anthropologie demonstrates that fashion loyalty programs are equally capable of building communities and making the shopping experience more pleasant.
- Rewards such as free shipping could have been tiered benefits, but turning them into a perk generates loyalty by building customer gratitude instead.
7. TK Maxx – Treasure
TK Maxx is a store chain selling fashion clothes and accessories, homewares as well as gifts. TK Maxx demonstrates that even if fashion isn’t the only product you sell, your brand can still benefit from a fashion loyalty program.
- TK Maxx Treasure offers purchase-based surprise-and-delight rewards.
- Customers can redeem their rewards on a monthly basis using their membership card.
- The program offers in-store VIP experiences and access to flash events.
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Why it works:
- TK Maxx’s fashion loyalty program taps into the desire for exclusive experiences and easy-to-redeem rewards that keep customers coming back for more.
- It also features a creative combination of online and offline experiences, ensuring that engagement happens across all channels
Dress for Success
High CLV, a plethora of customer data, in-store tech, gamification: retailers and brands with a loyalty program can have all of these with a well-planned reward system. If you’re interested in the capabilities that Antavo offers as a pure-play loyalty provider, feel free to include us in your loyalty program RFP.
Download the Global Customer Loyalty Report to get an in-depth look at how companies are investing in loyalty marketing now.
Zsuzsa is the Chief Strategy Officer and Co-founder of Antavo. She has experienced Antavo grow from a startup into a market-leading, global scaleup for loyalty program technology, serving global brands and retailers. She was named Personality of the Year at the 2024 International Loyalty Awards, and listed by Forbes as one of Europe’s top 100 female founders in tech, Zsuzsa is a former journalist recognized by the European Commission.
