GfK, the two biggest concerns for Australians now are a potential economic crisis (84 per cent) and unemployment (80 per cent). “Understanding how consumer needs and attitudes evolve in the short and medium terms will be fundamental to driving business growth and unlocking potential innovation opportunities,” said GfK general manager of consumer research, innovation and partnerships Rob Highett-Smith. The firm said that in the last few months, one in four customers have been unable to buy a brand they trust due to supply chain issues, and over a fifth purchased a new brand instead. “This shift will have changed the marketing and selling challenge for a number of brands from one of gaining trial to one of building loyalty,” according to GfK. Building loyalty is easier said than done, however. As with many aspects of the retail industry, the traditional ways of rewarding customers may not suffice in a post-COVID world. Help me, help you “I think right now, and for the foreseeable future, there’s a shift in what I call ‘selfish to selfless [rewards]’,” Adam Posner, chief executive of The Point of Loyalty, told Inside Retail. “Business has got to find that balance between helping and supporting customers versus encouraging purchases.” This falls in line with recent changes in shopper demographics, with more people aligning their buying behaviours with the ethics of the brand they are buying from. “[Additionally], loyalty programs need to start thinking about problems to solve. I really think we need to start trying as hard as possible to [solve customer’s problems],” said Posner. An example of this is Coles and Flybuys, which last week launched a new online payment channel called Flypay. The platform will allow customers to attach a payment method to a Flybuys account, then use Flypay when checking out online purchases where the service is available. This will mean faster checkouts for customers, who will no longer need to fill in payment details, as well as widening the locations where customers can earn flybuys points – and therefore rewards. “The big benefit for consumers is convenience. It takes the fiddly steps out of the checkout process [and] helps retailers compete against the likes of Amazon, which sets the bar high with single-click ordering,” Eagle Eye general manager Jonathan Reeve told Inside Retail. And while that all helps the customer, Coles and Flybuys benefit from driving loyalty as well as gathering more data on users’ spending behaviour. “With Australians increasingly shopping online and on the go, enabling convenient and secure ways to pay is more important than ever,” said Flybuys chief executive John Merakovsky. “We’re committed to improving our members’ shopping experience and making it easier to be rewarded.” The strength of loyalty programs is that they are singular to the brand and facilitate repeat interactions and purchases, but they also have the opportunity to surprise and delight customers, said Posner. “It’s a base from which you can communicate, you can connect, and you can build a community,” he said.