Christian Bookstore Coin gives New York store's shoppers 'instant gratification with perceived value'

A longtime independent Christian retailer in Cortland, N.Y., has come up with a change for her customer loyalty program—which she credits for boosting sales and increasing traffic.

Kitty Jones, owner of Spirit & Life, has taken over distribution of the Christian Bookstore Coin (CBC) from New Creation Gifts. 

The size of a quarter, the shiny gold coin has Heb. 13:8—which says "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever"—on one side and "$1 off in trade" on the other.

Jones was "captivated" by the promotional piece when she learned of it earlier this year and offered to take it on and promote it to other stores when New Creation Gifts owner Mike Plunkett decided not to continue the product. 

"I had a loyalty program of one sort or other since I started Spirit & Life 28 years ago, but it wasn't a consistent one until I bought a P.O.S. (point of sale) system in 1999," Jones said. "As a retailer you need to listen to your customers. I kept hearing: 'I left my coupon home. I lost it. I was cleaning my purse and threw it away.' The comment that bothered me most was: 'I never get to use it before it expires.' The coin piqued my interest because of its uniqueness."

After drawing interest from customers with her first order of 500 coins, Jones tried to order more, but Plunkett decided to drop the CBC to focus on producing a new product. After contacting former CBA Training and Consulting Manager Mike Hockett—who started Strata Consulting last year—Jones decided to take on distribution of the coin.

"My old program gave a $5 discount after the customer accumulated $100 in sales," said Jones, who has worked with Hockett since 2004. "However, they had to spend $25 or more to use it, and they had to redeem it within three months. Now the customer is given a coin worth $1 with every $20 accumulated and no restrictions. It's instant gratification with perceived value. The coin is very classy looking. It feels and looks like real money."

Hockett said Jones' loyalty program is "having an effect" since she began offering it in April at her 1,800-square-foot store. 

"There are a lot of reasons her loyalty program is successful," he said. "First, she measures her results. … She tracks the conversion rate of her store and the average transaction. Second, she has chosen a loyalty program that is simple to manage. All the customer has to do is collect the coins and redeem them. 

"And third, Kitty e-mails her best customers, keeping in contact and reminding them of her loyalty program and special promotions tying to her loyalty program," he added. "She keeps top of mind with her customers and loyalty program."

Hockett estimated that 80% of all Christian stores have some type of a customer reward program since most retailers have P.O.S.  systems with a loyalty program built in. 

"Most of the loyalty programs center on a receipt gift coupon given back to the customer after purchasing a certain amount in sales," Hockett said. "There are more sophisticated programs out there as well. Some of the stores have been pretty creative. A lot of chains are tying their loyalty programs to their Web presence and social networking programs."

For example, Family Christian Stores' frequent shopping program is called Family Perks. Family officials declined comment.

Jones, who has received orders for the coin from stores in Texas and Nebraska, has seen the highest conversion rate with the CBC since she began charting her loyalty program in 2004.

"I wouldn't dare claim it is all due to the coin, but some of it is," said Jones, noting that the CBC can be customized for individual stores. "I'm not a big store, but I went through almost 500 in six weeks. I've now given out my 1,000th coin—several had been given out more than once. I suspect that the Christmas season will bring many coins back."

Jones said she would love to see the coin in more stores, not only for a loyalty program, but also for a witnessing tool.

"I plan to donate them to a church harvest party this fall to give to the kids," she said. "A $1 off coin will burn a hole in a kid's pocket. The parent has to bring them, so maybe we'll get a sale out of them, too. There is no end to the ideas you can come up with to stimulate sales with the coin."

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