Melrose Jewelers, Los Angeles, an online retailer of Rolex watches, other luxury timepieces and diamond jewelry, has launched a loyalty program that will build on an aggressive social media marketing effort.
The customer loyalty program starts functioning immediately after customer purchase any Rolex Watch from the website of Melrose Jewelers. As soon as the transaction is complete, customer automatically receives 3 percent cash back in “MJ Dollars.” Customer can then use this towards during any further Melrose Jeweler purchases.
“We didn’t want to discount our goods,” said Krishan Agarwal, president of Melrose Jewelers. “We want to be exclusive; we want to lock our customers in with rewards. We create accounts and allow them to generate earnings they can use on a future purchase. We didn’t want to denigrate our brand. This also enabled us more flexibility in marketing.”
The purchase rewards program is only one way in which the customers can build MJ dollars, Agarwal explained. The online company, founded in 2008, entered the Facebook market because it was a free way of entering a new market and attracting new customers, according to Agarwal.
Facebook was also where Melrose launched the idea of MJ Dollars. Customers are rewarded with $75 MJ Dollars to “like” the Melrose Facebook page. Customers can earn additional MJ Dollars by referring other customers. Melrose gives $150 MJ Dollars to customers who post a testimonial and picture of their watches.
“We created a buzz by incentivizing our existing customers to talk about our products,” Agarwal said.
Melrose initiated the program by harvesting Facebook likes from its 8000 daily Web site visitors, helping to convert younger, aspiring “window shoppers” to become Melrose account holders, Agarwal said. The MJ Dollars provided “real money they can spend anytime and on anything, with no restrictions on our Web site.”
Melrose also created content to drive users to its Web site, with a blog with articles of public interest, like a comparison of Barack Obama’s Tag Heuer vs. John McCain’s Rolex and a post on Tim Tebow’s Rolex he won as part of college football’s Davey O’Brien award. Melrose integrates daily blog posts Facebook.
Using this approach, Melrose generated more than 100,000 Facebook Likes & Melrose account, according to Agarwal. “We penetrated a different market segment of young, aspirational customers and generated significant revenue – the company generated more than 10 million in sales last year.
“We built this program like the original American Airlines frequent flier program,” Agarwal said. “There are no restrictions on what kind of goods you can buy [through Melrose]; the dollars never expire. We wanted people to be able to build real, hard-earned rewards, not just have a discount program. Too many other loyalty programs have too many restrictions or are seen as just discounts. Then the customer doesn’t perceive any value. We didn’t want that.”
The purchase rewards builds on that idea, Agarwal explained. “We want people to be lifetime customers. We want to encourage recurring customer purchases.”