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A leading group of the country’s top experts deliberated current issues affecting the industry at a high profile roundtable.
LONDON—Fourteen representatives from a collection of the UK and Europe’s leading banking, payments, loyalty agencies and consultancies have met to debate and discuss loyalty in retail financial services in the wake of the financial crisis. In what was VRL’s largest and most influential round table to date, attendees spent several hours talking about the place loyalty has in an age of operational cost cutting and greater efficiencies. Leading titles Cards International and Retail Banker International welcomed delegates to the prestigious Dome Room at 1 Cornhill where they openly examined the expanding range of loyalty schemes in retail financial services and payments.
Participants from leading high street names including HSBC, Tesco, Barclaycard, Visa, Nectar, PayPal, Egg, Deloitte as well as specialist companies Neovia, TenUK, Loylogic, Insight Consulting and The Mileage Company discussed what effect the credit crunch is having on the industry and what strategies will be in place in 2010. The roundtable was sponsored by Private Label Promotion and attendees talked over issues such as whether it is better to invest in customer service, competitive pricing and promotions rather than pouring money into a loyalty schemes which are expensive to run.
Attendees debated how it is far better from a financial perspective to retain customers than to try and win new loyalty hence why ‘stickiness’ was highlighted as a key issue. The roundtable heard an exclusive announcement where Barclays confirmed rumours that they are going to roll out what it describes as the country’s largest coalition loyalty scheme. This was confirmed officially for the first time at the round table.
Editor of Retail Banker International, Hugh Fasken, commented:
“The Loyalty in Retail Financial Services Roundtable caught the attention of a large number of industry influencers. The discussions were lively, engaging and informative which led to a number of enlightening revelations. Having this forum to generate content for Retail Banker International and Cards International has given us a surplus of newsworthy copy for both publications as well as lots of ideas for future features and interviews.”
A write-up can be found in a 12 page supplement within both Cards International and Retail Banker International, which is published by VRL. http://www.vrlknowledgebank.com