Changing consumer shopping behavior is about as easy as motivating a salesperson: Just speak with money. This is how you can tell the difference between what retail executives really care about and what they need to say they care about.
Contactless payment, self-checkout and biometric payment are just some of the more obvious examples of payment processes that retailers have said they want to push, and yet they have never done the only thing that’s almost guaranteed to work: sharp discounts. If a grocery chain decided it wanted to push more consumers through its self-checkout lanes, all the chain needs to do is announce that product prices in self-checkout are sharply less than those rung up through staffed lanes. It can even dictate the percent of change by deciding the percent of discount.
Target, for example, has decided that its in-house payment cards are a priority, so it’s trialing a program in Kansas City that offers customers who use the card “5 percent off on every item, every transaction, everyday,” Target CFO Doug Scovanner told analysts in a Tuesday (Feb. 23) conference call discussing the chain’s earnings.
The card incentive is one of two payment trials Target is running, Scovanner said, adding that the tests “could shape the future of this business segment. In one test, we’re exploring the idea of returning to issuing cards solely for use in our stores. In another, we’re testing a totally different reward structure in two markets, offering guests who use our card in Kansas City, for example, 5 percent off on every item, every transaction, everyday.”
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