Miller Oil Launches Loyalty Program
Miller Oil Co., operator 58 Neighborhood Market convenience stores in Virginia, partnered with Visible Results USA Inc. to develop Miller's Rewards, a GraphiCard loyalty card and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.
The Norfolk, VA-based convenience store chain is scheduled to kick off a four-week pilot test and fine-tuning of the system by mid-September, with a rollout to all company-owned stores later this year. Miller Oil will utilize the program for convenience store and gasoline purchases.
As part of the program, users' cards are inserted into a smart point-of-sale terminal during each sales transaction. A magnetic stripe incorporated into the back of the card stores specific data about transactions as they occur. It also allows the back of the card to be re-written every time it is presented, turning it into a self-contained database that eliminates extensive, costly systems integration while encouraging repeated use and fostering customer loyalty.
Support for GraphicCard technology is provided via Visible Results' CRM infrastructure. Point-of-sale information collected during transactions involving program members is downloaded to a Visible Results Data Center, which maintains customer databases and issues customized reports specifically for each client.
Gus Miller, CEO of Miller Oil, believes the system's uniqueness will prove instrumental to the success of Miller's Rewards. "We had previously sought to develop a loyalty program in-house, but were not able to find an effective system simple enough to work in a convenience store," he said. "However, Visible Results' program will allow us to set our loyalty offering apart from the pack and to build a strong brand image that give us great speed-to-market."
The Norfolk, VA-based convenience store chain is scheduled to kick off a four-week pilot test and fine-tuning of the system by mid-September, with a rollout to all company-owned stores later this year. Miller Oil will utilize the program for convenience store and gasoline purchases.
As part of the program, users' cards are inserted into a smart point-of-sale terminal during each sales transaction. A magnetic stripe incorporated into the back of the card stores specific data about transactions as they occur. It also allows the back of the card to be re-written every time it is presented, turning it into a self-contained database that eliminates extensive, costly systems integration while encouraging repeated use and fostering customer loyalty.
Support for GraphicCard technology is provided via Visible Results' CRM infrastructure. Point-of-sale information collected during transactions involving program members is downloaded to a Visible Results Data Center, which maintains customer databases and issues customized reports specifically for each client.
Gus Miller, CEO of Miller Oil, believes the system's uniqueness will prove instrumental to the success of Miller's Rewards. "We had previously sought to develop a loyalty program in-house, but were not able to find an effective system simple enough to work in a convenience store," he said. "However, Visible Results' program will allow us to set our loyalty offering apart from the pack and to build a strong brand image that give us great speed-to-market."