Chico’s counts on loyalty perks to drive traffic to WhiteandBlack.com
Women’s apparel retailer Chico’s FAS Inc. is counting on a strong customer loyalty program to drive sales to WhiteandBlack.com, an e-commerce site the company launched in August. The site is the web store for White House | Black Market, a chain of upscale women’s apparel stores and a catalog, that Chico’s, No. 249 in the Internet Retailer Top 400 Guide to Retail Web Sites, acquired in 2003.
The new White House | Black Market web store carries upscale women’s apparel and accessories and will attract shoppers through Chico’s loyalty program, says chief financial officer Charlie Kleman. After loyalty club customers spend $300 across any channel, including the web, they are entitled to a permanent 5% discount on all future purposes.
The loyalty program, which Chico’s calls the Black Book, is popular. In the first nine months of 2005, White House | Black Market signed up 672,000 Black Book members, including 188,000 in the third quarter, the company says. Black Book members also receive birthday bonus points, free shipping, exclusive offers and other perks.
Chico’s uses customer loyalty programs to drive sales to its rapidly expanding store network. In 2006, the company plans to build as many as 150 stores, which will bring its brick-and-mortar locations to more than 700. Customer loyalty and more cross channel marketing will also help Chico’s begin to build up its e-commerce sales, Kleman says. The average loyalty club member transaction is about $116 compared to $63 for a non-loyalty club transaction, the company says.
In 2004, web sales totaled about $10 million or 1.5% of Chico’s total sales of about $1.1 billion.
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