Lidl looks to engage with brand advocates in loyalty push. Lidl is planning to launch a website that will give fans of the discounter a new way to engage, as it looks create a community around the brand. Lidl’s advertising and marketing director Arnd Pickhardt told Marketing Week that the site will aim to offer loyal fans a better platform to get “even more engaged” with the brand. The site, which doesn’t yet have a launch date, would require users to sign up to receive access to exclusive information, products and events. In return, Lidl would be looking for feedback on the brand and where it can improve. “We want to offer customers that want to go a step further in terms of engaging with the brand another opportunity. It’s about giving access to information earlier than others, letting them try and test products, holding events, as well as heavily focusing on getting feedback from customers on products, what they think about us as a brand and what and where we can improve,” he added. While the sit would require users to provide some personal information, Pickhardt said the aim would not be to collect huge amounts of personal data for the sake of analysing shopping habits. “Of course if we have a community and people log-in then we know more about them. But we have managed quite successfully so far without this and there are no plans to deliberately focus on collecting data,” he said. Lidl has been using the views of its customers in its latest marketing campaign, entitled #LidlSurprises, showing enthusiastic tweets about the price and quality of its products both in print and in stores. Pickhardt claimed that campaign, which launched 5 weeks ago, has already been “brilliant” for the brand, aiming to use the goodwill a lot of customers have for the brand to attract new shoppers and help boost sales. He said on the “soft side” Lidl has seen a huge amount of positive feedback on social media from consumers. It has also helped boost sales growth above the 20 per cent increases it has seen on average over the past 12 months and helping attract new customers to the brand, as well as increase basket size, with growing numbers coming to Lidl to buy its fresh fruit and vegetables. The campaign will run through Christmas, with a festive push planned from the start of November. Pickhardt said that the Christmas activity will aim to surprise, while at the same time staying true to the creative of using real people and their reactions. Both Lidl and Aldi have moved their marketing on in the past year, shifting focus from door drops and only speaking to customers at certain times of the year, such as Chrismas or Easter, to integrated marketing campaigns that run through the year. They have found a winning combination by showcasing both their prices and quality and are seeing double-digit sales increases at a time when Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrison’s sales are declining.
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 12:42:04 +0000
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