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Frequent Shopper Programs
Card Programs, or Frequent Shoppers Programs (FSP) are increasing in supermarkets around
the country. FSPs are bringing more consumers into the grocery stores more often and
studies show that these cardholders are more likely to spend than non card members. One
study shows that over 80% of customers shop less than once a week in the same store. Most
consumers have low customer loyalty, so retailers are looking for a way to reward them in
order to get them to continually shop in their stores.
Retailers are looking for a way to increase their profits by having repeat customers.
Studies show that cardholders account for 75% of the stores sales. Main goals of using a
FSP are to retain customers, have them visit frequently and spend more money. 
Targeted demographics for card programs consist of larger, upscale, educated families of
three or more. Studies show that the top five reasons for a consumer to choose a retail
store are due to:
1). Convenient Location
2.) Store Deals
3.) Frequent Shopper Programs
4.) Assortment of Merchadise
5.) Store Cleanliness 
Consumers who have cards spend 4xs more each transaction than a non card member. The
average non card holding consumer in the store spends $7 versus a card holder who spends
$28 per transaction. By using frequent shopper programs, retailers can keep a database to
segment their customers by their buying habits in order to better market themselves to
the needs of their customers. Databases can help with marketing efforts geared at
differentiating themselves from competitors by segmenting customers by how often they
shop, how much they spend, and what their shopping patterns are. 
Grocery retailers are seeing benefits from these programs but there are some glitches to
joining one. FSPs are expansive programs to initiate. The program costs anywhere from
$15,000 to $20,000 a year. Retailers must consider whether their ready to initiate a
program and monitor the database in order to create a variety of marketing schemes to
follow through on. The program does not capture every transaction of the store knowing
who each consumer is so a retailer must consider whether or not they think such a program
would be beneficial.
Currently FSPs are growing with 25% of retailers having them. Over 30% of all
supermarkets in the U.S have some type of FSP. With mergers and acquisitions, we wont
know what the fate of the program will be, but they are paying off for many retailers and
for the time being, growing.