Customer Loyalty

With the current state of the economy, consumers are re-evaluating how to spend their hard earned dollars. A study done by Scarborough Research shows that internet coupon use is up 83% from 2005. However, the Sunday newspaper remains the number one place for acquiring household coupons. Fifty-three percent of households get their coupons from the Sunday newspaper.

Many retailers issue customer loyalty or frequent shopper cards to their customers. These cards offer the customer lower prices on certain advertised items and/or point accumulation programs to allow shoppers to redeem points toward discounted or free items. These programs work well to attract new customers as well as retain current ones. Many grocers are utilizing the data collected from their customer loyalty/frequent shopper programs to make personalized coupon offers to their customers. The nation's largest traditional grocers say as many as half the coupons they send to their loyal customers do get used. One way they achieved this is to give customers coupons mainly for products they buy on a regular basis.

With the IBM POS systems that STCR offers, the consumers information is kept in your system when they sign up to receive their loyalty or frequent shopper cards. By utilizing reporting or data-mining tools, grocers can track their shopper’s buying habits. By offering targeted coupons to shoppers for items they purchase regularly, grocers increases the chance that the shoppers will use these coupons and thus create loyalty to the store.

Another way customer loyalty program helps is to connect retailers to its customer base. For example, the recent peanut butter scare had manufacturers recalling many products. Retailers with customer loyalty program would be able to report on which customers purchased recalled products and send mail to notify of the recall.

If you are running a customer loyalty or frequent shopper program there is no limit what you can do to create customer loyalty and to increase your bottom-line. For more information please contact your STCR representative at (607) 757-0181.

STCR in the Community

STCR Business Systems is pleased to join the American Cancer Society Relay For Life® in an ongoing effort to make a positive difference in our community and beyond. Fighting cancer is a team effort. The impact we can make together is much greater than what any of us could do alone. By supporting STCR’s “Register Hope” team, you will be a part of a life-changing event that celebrates the lives of those who have battled cancer, remembers loved ones lost, and empowers all of us to fight back against a disease that takes too much.
You can help STCR in the fight against Cancer by making your donations to the American Cancer Society through our team, “Register Hope”. You can also join us at the walk to show your support to the many people affected by cancer! The “Relay For Life” event will take place on Friday, June 19, 2009 and will wrap up on June 20th at noon. This event will be taking place at McArthur School in Binghamton, NY.

We are selling balloons for $1 for the “Rope of Hope.” Our goal is to sell enough balloons to make the “Rope of Hope” extend all the way around the track. We will also be selling luminary bags.

STCR Business Systems has also been working closely with CHOW, Community Hunger Outreach Warehouse. CHOW has many great programs that help our community feed the hungry. One such program is the “Back Pack Program.” Once a month volunteers go to the CHOW office to fill bags with nutritious food for school aged children. On Fridays CHOW volunteers go to the local schools to give these bags to children of low income families. This program ensures these children will have nutritious snacks for the weekend. STCR enjoys volunteering with CHOW to help with this program.

STCR Celebrates 23 Years with IBM

In 1986 IBM created their Business Partner Program. IBM was looking for companies that knew their specific industry and could represent IBM in the marketplace. IBM recruited STCR.
In 1999, IBM created three levels of business partnership: Member, Advanced and Premier.

Entry into the 'Premier' level is by invitation only. Premier members must earn their membership each year by:
  • Passing customer satisfaction audits overseen by IBM

  • Demonstrating competency in deploying IBM solutions

  • Having their quality assurance programs and structures certified by IBM
    continuing
    to educate their personnel

Of the hundreds of business partners selling and supporting IBM retail store systems, STCR Business Systems is one of only a handful of companies in the world to earn the 'Premier' designation.
This year STCR celebrates its 10th consecutive year as a Premier IBM Business Partner and its 23rd year as an IBM Business Partner. We appreciate the opportunity in serving our customers and look forward to many more years.