Shred the Punchcards: Belly Updates Customer Loyalty Programs

Jake Dickson, owner of Dickson’s Farmstand Meats wanted to create a loyalty plan for customers who come to his New York City butcher shops for everything from housemade hot dogs to locally-sourced artisanal meat. “For my business, it didn’t make sense to have a classic punchcard,” says Dickson, who runs two stores, one in the Chelsea Market and one in Tribeca. So when a representative from customer loyalty program Belly came into the store about six months ago, Dickson was all ears. “I usually kick out sales people when they walk in,” he says. “This time I jumped on it.” Launched in August 2011, Belly is a rewards program that lets small merchants customize their frequent-shopper perks and, perhaps more importantly, get better insight into when and what their customers are buying. After a free 30-day trial, merchants pay $50 to $100 for the program, which includes ...