The American retailer has launched a new logo for products from women-owned businesses.
Providing a consistently excellent service to your customers is a vital part of creating a loyal customer base but there are many other ways to increase loyalty, such as providing monetary incentives (think consumers switching bank accounts), loyalty schemes or creating a recognizable brand.
After all, we can all spot the iconic bright yellow curved arches that form the McDonald's logo from a distance in cities and along highways, and cosmetics retailer Lush has gained a similar recognisability by the fact that it can be smelled before the shop even comes into view.
It's much easier to stay loyal to a company if the customer doesn't have to go out of their way to find it, but can instead spy the product or store they are already familiar with from a distance.
It doesn’t have to be quite as grand as the McDonald’s and Lush examples, an iconic packaging – such as the previously trademarked purple used for Cadbury chocolate bars – can do the trick as well.
As can an eye-catching image or logo.
American department store Walmart (NYSE:WMT) has this month launched a unique logo on its packaging of products from women-owned business with the aim to not only help women-owned business grow and succeed – the launch takes place during Women’s History Month, after all – but also to "increase customer knowledge and loyalty".
Kathleen McLaughlin, president of the Walmart Foundation and senior vice president of Walmart Sustainability, said:
"By sourcing more products from women-owned businesses, and making it easier for customers to identify those products at the shelf and online, we are helping to empower women and their families."
Do you use brand recognition as part of a loyalty strategy? If so, how have you applied this within your business? We’d love to hear about your experiences and what has worked – or hasn’t.