Points Expands Partnership with Frontier Miles
Points, a vendor dealing in loyalty commerce, has announced that it has expanded its partnership with Frontier Miles, the relaunched frequent flyer program of Frontier Airlines. The partnership offers Points Travel services, a white-label hotel platform, to Frontier Airlines customers for access to over 300,000 hotels.
“With the introduction of our recently reimagined Frontier Miles program, we’re excited to expand our relationship with Points, growing our redemption capabilities to more than 300,000 hotels, and ensuring the redemption of miles is made even easier and more rewarding for our customers,” says Tommy Langhauser, Senior Manager of Loyalty and Partnerships, Frontier Airlines. “The addition of mileage redemption for hotels through Points allows us to give our passengers added flexibility in redeeming their Frontier Miles for any part of their next vacation and beyond.”
The Little-Known Target Loyalty Program Enters New Markets
National retailer Target has been testing a new loyalty program (it’s not the one with the card) in Dallas since March. On February 19, it will be launched also in Charlotte, Denver, Indianapolis, Kansas City, and Phoenix. The program is a departure for big department store retailers and imitates programs more typical at restaurants. It offers one percent back on all purchases and gives rewards on customers’ birthdays. Shoppers can also select local non-profits to which Target will send donations. Increasingly, brands are moving away from points-based loyalty programs, and Target will be one of the biggest brands to do so to date.
Rethinking Rewards Expense?
Some have argued that we’re about to see programs downsized so that brands can increase profitability. Bank-issued credit card programs, which ramped up rewards throughout the 2010s in response to increasing competition, have scaled back in the last year. Some of the cost of loyalty programs may consequently be shifted from banks to retailers.
Inside Netflix
The Wall Street Journal has published an article dealing with internal affairs at the most popular OTT platform. The “Netflix Way” is discussed, “a culture where radical candor and transparency are among the highest virtues, and where openly discussing whether people should be fired, and explaining why they were, are common rituals.”
Employee engagement is a major driver of customer loyalty, even in a business like Netflix’s, where employees do not interact with the general public. Public perception that the brand is out of touch with its workers can decrease loyalty. In a changing business landscape, we’re seeing many experimental workplace cultures, and they should be monitored to see what is and isn’t sustainable.