The Petroleum Convenience Alliance for Technology Standards (PCATS) has teamed with loyalty industry association Loyalty 360 to improve its customer engagement and rewards practices.
PCATS, which comprises retailers and suppliers in the convenience, grocery, and petroleum marketing industries, will collaborate with Loyalty 360 for insights on voice of the customer, loyalty, incentive, reward and engagement marketing. Loyalty 360 will provide widespread data and general loyalty expertise, while PCATS members will offer expertise on technology requirements in their particular vertical.
“Basically, this partnership is an open information exchange,” explained Susan Hilaski, director of implementation for PCATS. “Loyalty 360 has a group that works specifically on obtaining real and accurate statistical information on loyalty, but they don’t have the tech expertise of PCATS.
“We just want to meet the needs of convenience store operators and make the loyalty process much smoother,” she added.
Members of the PCATS Retail Financial Transactions Committee’s Loyalty Working Group will draw on information from Loyalty 360 to develop standards for loyalty transactions across the industry. The committee’s work should help convenience stores and other retailers in the group participate in various loyalty programs and seamlessly exchange data.
“The economy is a big factor for anyone, and as the economy is suffering, people are being more conscious of what they’re doing, who their customers are and how they are keeping customers happy,” said Laura Rusche, director of marketing operations, Loyalty 360. “Loyalty marketing is a great way to focus on the customers you have and reward them.”
