HOLZWEILER LINESTORE

June 3

"Loyalty programs are very effective for expensive brands"

Linestore is Holzweiler's multi-brand flagship store at Fornebu S outside Oslo. Snøhetta designed the exclusive, 450 m² store, which was previously the Holzweiler multi store. Linestore also has an online store , linestore.no. The Holzweiler group has stores in Oslo, Bærum, Stavanger, Bergen and Copenhagen. We interviewed Tobias in Linestore to hear about his experiences with customer loyalty.

Tobias Tjørstad, General Manager, Linestore

Why did you start a customer club?

The main reason is that we want to give something back to regular and loyal customers, while also better understanding purchasing habits. It is important for us to be able to tailor the communications we send out to members based on purchase history and preferences.

From my previous experience with NET-A-PORTER, we saw that as much as 90% of our sales came from regular, private customers. We saw that good relationships with regular, loyal customers were incredibly important. My goal is for us to achieve something similar with Linestore. We want to give our members a chance to be rewarded well when they shop a lot and often with us. We want to be top of mind!

« Loyalty programs are very effective for expensive brands, because then customers who shop a lot can earn a good bonus. We want to give members a chance to be rewarded well when they shop a lot and often with us. »

The customer club also becomes an incentive to take the trip out to Fornebu S, which is located a little outside Oslo. We see that we have many regular customers in the local area here in Bærum, but want to attract customers from larger parts of the Oslo area. Another reason for starting a customer club is that we do not want to have a sales-related focus outside of the big sales periods of June/July and January. The loyalty program gives back to those we want to give something back to – throughout the year.

How did you hear about Diller?

We were in talks with several loyalty program providers, including Voyado. However, they were far too comprehensive and had extremely high prices. It would have been difficult to calculate an ROI on such an investment. However, we were tipped off by our POS system supplier, Front Systems, that there would be an integrated solution that also works on Shopify. That's when we were introduced to Diller. We quickly saw that Diller was a very interesting solution, since we could easily segment by gender and age, which is an important feature for us. We also see that Diller is super easy to use, reasonably priced, and that the system works great in both the POS and the online store.

How did you get started with Diller?

Holzweiler has been using Front Systems since 2014, while the general manager and buyer have been using Front Systems since the very beginning in 2004. We have cash registers from them in all the stores. It is a very good cash register system, and the online portal with login and control is great. They also have RFID tags on products, so we can just scan the code at the cash register. The web portal provides reports, history and transactions. After we had decided on Diller, we set up a start-up meeting, and then we were up and running quickly. It was a very smooth and straightforward process.

What do you see as the most important advantages of a customer club?

It is undoubtedly to be able to reward regular customers who come here regularly, so that they come to the store instead of shopping at others. There is strong competition in the fashion industry, and we want the best customers to get good benefits back from us and be motivated to come back. With a customer club, we get to know the customers much better and can create good material and relevant content for them. This is very important. We avoid all mid-season sales and can instead reward those who choose us over time.

How do you recruit new members?

First of all, we have transferred our GDPR-approved customers from the database to Diller. Then we have sent an SMS to recruit them as members, and we already have over 200 who have consented, only shortly after we launched the program. The most important job now starts with recruiting new members. We recruit at the checkout, and when we ask customers if they want to become a member, no one says no. It is just important to remember to ask! We will also put up a poster at the checkout to remind customers that we have a customer club with great benefits.

« We give 15% off their first purchase to customers who become members of our loyalty program. What's funny is that we directly see that it leads to a larger shopping cart. We had a customer who ended up buying an item in two colors because she thought it was such a good deal at 15%. »

What do you think about the collaboration with Diller?

Very, very good! It has been very easy to set up, and the support from Diller is great. I have worked a lot with online stores before, and the team at Diller gives good input all the way. I find that they are not "order takers", but rather advisors who work with us. They are solution-oriented and give good recommendations all the way.

What do you think about the collaboration with Front Systems?

It's fantastic. We get great help from both Lars and Haakon and everyone on support! Holzweiler has used Front Systems since 2014, while the general manager and buyer have used Front Systems since the very beginning in 2004. We have cash registers from them in all the stores. It's a very good cash register system, and the online portal with login and control is great. They also have RFID tags on products, so we can just scan the code at the cash register. The web portal provides reports, history and transactions.

How important is it that Diller is integrated into the checkout?

It's simply the alpha and omega, because what happens at the checkout is very important. Everything happens automatically, and it's the same information whether you're at the checkout or online.

How important is it that Diller is integrated into the online store?

It's super important. The integration between Diller and Shopify is seamless and good. This is absolutely necessary for us. For example, if we have a customer who has bought gifts for the family, you can just look up the customer and all the purchases will come up. Sizes and everything is clear. This makes it possible for us to provide good customer service. It's also easy to give our customers recommendations based on previous purchases, and this definitely leads to additional sales.

What do you see for yourselves in the future?

We hope that in the future we will take big steps in terms of turnover, and that we will get many active members. It is important that we now spend enough time and resources to make this happen from the start. We are very excited. Now it is all about recruitment! We see that it is smart to use purchase data in a good way over time, and that good segmentation is absolutely necessary. We want to send SMS messages that are tailored to segments instead of campaigns on men's clothing to women and vice versa. An SMS from us should be relevant and interesting. People are members everywhere, but we have something that is unique in our segment. We want to offer an exciting customer club to be a member of, which gives loyal customers very good benefits. We plan to run in-store events to show new products and collections, and for example give members a 7-10 day "advance" on sales. Good members should get access to sought-after products earlier than others.

How have you set up the loyalty program?

We have built a bonus program with Gold/Silver/Bronze levels, so that we give back in the best possible way for different levels of purchases with us. We want to do things a little differently. For example, on Black Friday we do our own thing – no offers or price drops on everything, but maybe a good discount coupon for everyone who has become a member of the loyalty program since the start. We want to run competitions, such as member X or Y getting a free pair of shoes. For white goods, there are very few players, but in the fashion industry there are a lot of players. We want to be top of mind!

What do you think about the combination of a physical store and an online store?

We have the online store linestore.no, and it is of course very important to make our range easily available online. At the same time, we strongly believe in the personal experience in the store, with good communication at the moment of purchase. We have had the same part-time and full-time employees in our store for 6-7 years, and it means a lot to us that our customers experience continuity. Customers sometimes come just to say hello, and it does not always result in a sale. But over time, it results in good sales, high conversion and satisfied, regular customers. We will use the website actively to attract customers to the store. The online store is, in a sense, a virtual "look book". We are investing in marketing both the store, the online store and the customer club in the future, so that we ensure a good start with many new members.