The second meeting of the Scottish Newstrade Steering Group (SNSG) took place last month (October 2017) as retailers from across Scotland gathered at News Scotland’s offices in Glasgow to plan the next phase of activity to push news higher up the agenda and drive larger sales and profits from what remains a massive category in Scottish local retailing.
A key focus for the Group was in getting fully to grips with the Sun Savers initiative, the richest loyalty programme in the UK. At the meeting the Group were taken through the sign up process for customers via the easy-to-use smartphone app and learned that all independent retailers in Scotland will earn £5 for every customer that sign up to the app who then goes on to start collecting barcode scans every time they buy a copy of The Scottish Sun.
The win-win programme gives customers £5 every time they reach 28 scans, regardless of how long it takes to collect them. Equally good news for local retailers is the fact that that they too will receive a £5 incentive for every customer sign-up achieved in their stores – with no cap. Chris Gallacher, Managing Director of Scotfresh and a member of the SNSG, commented: “I couldn’t believe how easy the app was to use and it’s brilliant news for us as retailers that we collect £5 every time we sign someone up. We will definitely be working hard with our staff to get the message across to our customers. Who wouldn’t want free cash?”
- Customers – simply join online or download the Sun Savers app and collect £5 for every 28 copies of The Scottish Sun they buy.
- Independent retailers – collect £5 for every customer they sign-up who then starts using the app or website.
To help retailers sign customers up, News Scotland has produced a range of POS to drive awareness in-store.
“The POS is great and will be very useful but I think the real success will come from getting our staff involved in signing customers up,” said Joanna Casonato of Giacopazzi’s in Milnathort and Kinross. “It’s our staff who know our customers best and who will be able to engage with them and encourage them to download the app.”
Since the meeting of the Group the News Scotland team has been busy implementing the Sun Savers POS in stores across Scotland and retailers and customers are already cashing in.
If you would like to get involved, email: growsales@news.co.uk.
