The Co-Operative Group is installing marketing software in the latest phase of a membership scheme which has so far gone live to over two million customers.

The barcode-based membership rewards scheme, underpinned by Oracle customer data hub, allows customers to accumulate points when they purchase goods and financial services across The Co-Operative Group.

Andrew Kemp, head of group marketing programmes and operations at Co-Op, says historically members would receive different communications from different parts of the business.

‘Now our members will receive consistent offers and communication through a single marketing brand,’ said Kemp

A data warehouse addition to the customer hub is currently being rolled out and then the marketing suite component will be integrated.

‘It will allow us to set up targeted marketing campaigns for different classes of customers based on our segmented customer database then execute the campaign based on their chosen customer channel,’ said Kemp.

Customers can indicate whether they want communications sent via email, in the post, specified web pages or by telephone.

According the Kemp the main benefit is improved customer service and efficiency of staff time.

‘Because we have a deeper customer understanding we can make marketing offers more pertinent and by using this technology we can also monitor and track the campaigns ,’ said Kemp.

The scheme went live in September 2006 followed by the first profit share pay out to 1.1 million members in December 2006 totalling dividends of approximately £13m.

Looking forward The Co-operative Group is examining additions to the customer hub using the campaign management software including online surveys to improve data quality and integrating a mobile channel channel.

Traditionally companies have different sets of customer data for each business division says Philip Howard director at Bloor research.

‘The trend now is very much towards consistent customer views to general efficiency,’ said Howard.

‘Benefits are improved accuracy and quality of data because changes and additions are synchronised and updated across the company leading to better customer service data,’ he said.

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Further reading:

Co-op to extend outsourcing deal to build business

Co-op unites accross IT brands