Cheetah Digital, the cross-channel customer engagement solution provider for the modern marketer, announces it has partnered with Salling Group, supporting the transformation of the Denmark-based retail operator’s loyalty solution to reward customers and engage with them in new and innovative ways as third-party cookies phase out entirely. 

Upon launching its loyalty app, Salling Group smashed its loyalty registration goals in just four weeks. It quickly rose to the #1 and #2 most downloaded app in Denmark. Even more, by weaving digital payments, coupons, and gamification into individual brand apps, the Group achieved a 10x lift in daily active users, resulting in a significant increase in revenue and engagement.

The innovative solution’s success has earned Cheetah Digital and Salling Group recognition by the International Loyalty Awards, with Salling Group a 2022 Finalist for the ‘Best Loyalty Industry Innovation’. Winners are due to be announced in June this year.

For Salling Group, it was important to have a loyalty programme that was easy to use and that could deliver intelligent, contextually relevant, highly personalised offers to customers — treating each and every customer as an individual. 

“With what’s happening nowadays with cookies and data privacy, being able to engage with your customer on their terms is key. When they sign up for your app, they’re essentially saying they give you permission to engage with them there. It’s the most ethical way. And supercritical to keeping app engagement high is to continuously present them with new information, games, and services, which Cheetah Digital enables us to do, seamlessly,” Kasper Troldtoft Henriksen, senior manager, customer programme at Salling Group says. “We’re absolutely delighted that our programme has received global recognition by such a prestigious international loyalty award.”

Watch the customer story here.

Together with Cheetah Digital, Salling Group implemented a company-wide, fully integrated digital marketing programme. Not only was this loyalty programme unique to each of its brands, but it also gave Salling Group’s customers more — more personalisation, more experiences, and more benefits. 

After a number of discussions and with Cheetah Digital’s support, Salling Group decided to build a loyalty programme that could be used anywhere as an owned, digital personalised communication channel; something that wasn’t reliant on Facebook and Google-walled gardens. Even more, the programme would help the Group understand its customers beyond transactions.

To keep the loyalty programme easy to use, it leverages single-touch activation and requires only three things: an app download, email address, and payment card. Now customers don’t need to carry around another card in their wallets, and Salling Group benefits by having every single transaction captured to use for greater personalisation. 

More than simple to use, Salling Group’s app makes customers’ lives easier overall. By embedding the Netto+ service into the loyalty app, customers can scan their items on their phones as they shop. When they’re finished shopping, they press the pay button and walk out without ever needing to queue. 

Even more, Salling Group’s digital refund feature, powered by Cheetah Digital, taps into emotional loyalty to create a hassle-free return experience based on trust. If customers are not happy with the quality of their item; they simply go into the app, take a picture, upload it and get their money back. This innovative feature also provides Salling Group with information to take back to suppliers when produce doesn’t meet its quality standards.

Salling Group’s loyalty programme, which also employs gamification, is a constant work in progress. The Group is always looking for new and innovative ways to easily reward its customers. 

Nick Watson, VP customer success at Cheetah Digital, affirms that’s the beauty of audience building — it’s a never-ending journey of optimisation. “We’re delighted to see Salling Group continuing to push the envelope with our innovation and getting the recognition it deserves from the International Loyalty Awards,” he says.