Home › Forum › Workplace Issues › Borders Books

Borders Reward Card

Mon, 05/16/2005 - 08:14 — cole

Has anyone worked in a test market area where they are rolling out the free Borders Reward card yet? Just curious...

‹ Contract Negotiations in Ann Arbor CSR Position ›
Mon, 05/16/2005 - 21:25 — NoCoHo

Nope, but I can see some level of interest in the program. "Free" always has appeal, although this program seems to offer about what you'd expect for the price, i.e. not that much. I mean, really, a single day of 10% off most stuff per calendar quarter? Big whoopee! Anybody who's a serious book or music buyer will lay out the money for B&N's card which gives you 10% on practically everything each time you shop.

The biggest appeal of the Preferred Reader card when I was at Waldenbooks seemed to be for people on fixed incomes. I can't see them getting very excited about a program that makes you spend so much and get basically not that much in "rewards" even though there's no annual fee.

Tue, 05/17/2005 - 10:41 — cole

I have done a little research and we employees can benefit from the rewards card. The 10% discount days that you "earn" and get simply for signing up can be used on merchandise already discounted so we can use it on best sellers such as the new Harry Potter (50% off instead of 40% off). We can always use the holiday gift certificates that you can earn if you spend more than $50 a month. I hate the chaos that rolling out this card has caused but at least we can benefit and we no longer have to ask for e-mail or worry about frequent drink cards or kids punch cards.

Wed, 05/18/2005 - 21:25 — NoCoHo

cole wrote:
I hate the chaos that rolling out this card has caused but at least we can benefit and we no longer have to ask for e-mail or worry about frequent drink cards or kids punch cards.

Really? I've heard nothing that suggests asking for emails or punching cards will go away. I sure hope the punchcards don't as my store will have some pissed customers if they do. But then, my store's not in one of the test areas.

Well, yes, the holiday account could benefit employees but only if you spend $50 or more per month outside of your employee discount purchases as you can't use the card on those. So, you'd have to buy quite a lot of sale-priced items. If you do, it could really add up, but otherwise it doesn't seem like a terrific help for employees.

Wed, 05/18/2005 - 22:22 — duckswangoose
duckswangoose's picture

Frequent drink cards and kids club cards go away with Borders Reward cards. I hadn't heard that email collection goes away, but it makes sense.

Wed, 05/18/2005 - 22:26 — rinkydink

I'm kind of curious about customer reactions too. With the Preferred reader it was pretty simple; 10% off today & for a year, and $5 certificates. From the little I've read about the test program it seems that explaining the benefits to customers (at least in a manner that makes it appealing) could be quite a task.

The free part enhances the program, but the structure of benefits strikes me as needlessly complex, at least to explain in a way that makes it appear worth it to the customer. Along with all of the other prattle we're supposed to do at the cashwrap.

I'm curious too what reactions other booksellers have gotten to the presentation. Anyone in the test market(s)?

Thu, 05/19/2005 - 00:44 — langsyne

I do work at a test market store...yes, the kids' punch card has gone away...don't know about drink cards, but we were told e-mails will go
away eventually, but the register still prompts us for that information. Explaining it can take 15 seconds to 15 minutes...I hope
all of you get to read the fine print on the back of the Rewards pamphlet...a quick tally reveals over 1200 words in a 4x8" space! I
just scan the card before I total their purchases, let them know that I've applied their purchases to a Borders Rewards card and refer them to a couple of easy-to-understand paragraphs on the front side of the pamphlet. Finally, I let them know they have to go online to register. Most reactions run from apathy to excitement...Redeeming these things may be challenging...I haven't had to do that yet. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in order to get 10% off on your "personal shopping day" the customer must spend $50 in a calendar month...if he spends $50 in a calendar month and comes in on his personal shopping day and spends another $10, he gets $1 off his purchase (at this point,he has spent $60 to get $1 off....if he spends $100 on his personal shopping day, he gets $10 off his purchase (at this point he has spent $150 to get $10 off). For the holiday savings account, he must spend $50 in any or all calendar between now and the end of October....say I'm that guy who spent $50 in one month and then spent another $100 on my personal shopping day....I've spent $150 and am eligible for 5% of that total or $7.50 off my holiday purchases between 11/15/05 and 1/15/06. The bad news for that customer is that Holiday Savings are awarded in $10 increments only, so he gets nothing....to me, it looks like he has to
spend about $200 between now and the end of November to get a free
$10 book (or 25 Linderballs, whichever he choses).

Thu, 05/19/2005 - 22:09 — office monkey
office monkey's picture

We aren't doing the cards but there are stores in the area that are.
Hone up on how the cards work because there are BINCheads calling the stores to test you.
The GM's will be getting reports on how well you 'present' the card.

Fri, 05/20/2005 - 03:00 — langsyne

Thanks for the warning...that explains why we are queried at every
morning meeting about how we explain the Borders Rewards program to
customers.....well, it's just retail, isn't it?

Fri, 05/20/2005 - 09:20 — NoCoHo

Yeah, Langsyne, I think you nailed it on how "appealing" this program is gonna be when customers understand how much they're going to have to spend to get basically diddly.

Essentially another exercise in creative prevarication for us sellers. But then, what else is new?

Fri, 05/27/2005 - 05:06 — Nocturne
Nocturne's picture

I work in a test market, and this is more or less what we've been told: "Don't try to explain every part of the program, you might confuse the customers. Just give them the basics of how it works."

I've gotten about the same range of responses as we did with PR-- from obliviousness ("what was that again?") to interest to annoyance ("It's not fair we have to register on the Internet! Not everybody has a computer, you know!") But a pretty good number of customers say yes when they hear "free"-- maybe 30-40%, in my estimation.

Will it help many customers? Probably not. I'm a book addict, and I don't think it would do me much good. But as I understand it, it's to encourage store loyalty from those who spend high-to-medium amounts in Borgers/WaldenBorgs (individuality is futile, you will be assimilated.) And as far as I know, e-mail collection won't be eliminated, though it's not being emphasized in test districts.

1234next ›last »