Airline loyalty programs driving up retail purchases

Loyalty programs as a subset of affiliate marketing programs are gaining ground among retailers, with those that have an off-line as well as online component driving biggest volume, according to online marketing company Performics Inc. vice president of partner services Stuart Larkins. “We have seen almost every single one of our retail affiliate programs jump into these loyalty programs,” Larkins tells Internet Retailer.

Some of those most successful at attracting both consumers and participating retailers are airline programs that allow members to accumulate air miles for purchases at participating merchants. Performics supports such a program for United Airlines, for example. “These are business travelers out to collect miles, and another way to collect them is a good thing,” says Larkins.

The program is supported primarily by business travelers who tend to have higher incomes, Larkins adds. “So they are looking for products from bigger, well-branded manufacturers – an Eddie Bauer or a Boze, for example,” says Larkins. That can deliver an added benefit to participating retailers in the form of an access point to that type of target audience, according to Larkins.

Loyalty programs are particularly effective at the beginning of the program in attracting new to file customers; the effective program as it matures more typically focuses on getting repeat business out of existing consumer participants, Larkins says. “We don’t track that through our program. But the adoption of these programs that we see among our clients indicates that there is something there they like,” Larkins says.