Tesco is trialling an initiative that ties up its Clubcard loyalty scheme with social media.
The supermarket is offering Clubcard points as a reward to shoppers who act as advocates by promoting Tesco Direct products on Facebook. Online shoppers can earn double Clubcard points when they like, share or buy products on Tesco’s Facebook page in the four-week trial.
“More and more of our customers are using Facebook to chat about and recommend products they like from Tesco Direct,” said Matthew Entwistle, marketing director for general merchandise online at Tesco. “And we know our customers also like to collect extra Clubcard points, so we’re really pleased to offer them a fantastic way to do both things at the same time. It’s our way of saying thanks for supporting us online.”
To earn the extra points, customers register for the Share & Earn Facebook app through Tesco’s Facebook page. Customers can then post any products they ‘like’ to their Facebook wall. If their friends buy products by clicking through the Facebook post, the sharer and the purchaser will both earn Clubcard points for the purchase. Each customer can earn a maximum of 7,500 Clubcard points through the four-week trial.
Tesco currently has more than 800,000 followers on Facebook, and sells more than 120,000 products through Tesco Direct.
Our view: With the size of following that Tesco has on Facebook this looks set to be an interesting experiment in whether Tesco can leverage its followers’ Facebook pages as, effectively, mini-online shops. This is also relevant to the recent news that Tesco is using its data to promote to shoppers according to their previous spending patterns. Will Clubcard points be enough to persuade shoppers to promote Tesco’s products to their friends, while also sharing personal data? We’ll be interested to find out, since if if it works this could signal a real shift in the way that retailers use social media.
