. And last week, Booktopia launched a new customer loyalty program that rewards customers with discounts on exclusive titles – customers just need to shop. Though free to join, the Booktopia Book Club requires customers to have spent at least $30 on a single purchase in the last 90 days, making the offer less about setting and forgetting and more about using and abusing. As an introductory offer, club members will be able to purchase an exclusive paperback copy of Particia Cornwell’s Quantum. According to Booktopia’s head of publishing Franscois McHardy, this model was selected to benefit the wide range of tastes Booktopia customers have shown. “There are a number of niche book subscription offers that have been launched globally that pick a particular book and package it up with other products, sometimes printing a collectors’ edition,” McHardy told Inside Retail Weekly. “But books are so subjective and the range of titles to choose from is infinite, so it’s hard to pick one title that will appeal to everyone. One of Booktopia’s great strengths is that you can find pretty much anything you like.” This way, customers spending money on textbooks can still utilise the Book Club just like an avid fiction reader, and as a customer’s needs change, they can use different purchases to activate the membership. And while it’s still early days with the program, Booktopia has already committed to adding several new features in the coming months. According to the 7th annual For Love or Money report, published by The Point of Loyalty in 2019, 89 per cent of Australians over the age of 18 were enrolled in at least one loyalty program while the average number of memberships was 4.3 across each Australian. However, over half of report respondents were concerned about the privacy of their details after numerous high profile data breaches and fraud reported worldwide. To minimise this fear, chief executive of The Point of Loyalty Adam Posner said businesses should prioritise a proactive and transparent approach to highlight to members how their data is being used and protected. Additionally about 62 per cent of Australians take advantage of most rewards and benefits of the programs they are in, while a further 28 per cent have admitted to spending more in order to earn points or maintain a membership – meaning loyalty members are more likely to interact with and transact with a brand. “The incremental purchases that a well-structured loyalty program can stimulate is where businesses who invest in loyalty programs really succeed,” Posner said.