There are two key reasons why Australian womenswear brand Sheike designed and launched its own loyalty program this year.
The first, according to Mel Grafton, head of digital and CRM, is because Sheike’s customers are already acting loyal. On top of that, customers have been asking for a loyalty program for quite some time.
Speaking with Ragtrader, Grafton says that from a frequency point of view, Sheike’s biggest opportunity is getting a first time buyer to become a second time buyer.
The second reason is pooling richer first party data to better drive the way Sheike targets its customers. Grafton says that shoppers online can either log in or check out as a guest, and more people tend to log in online because all their details are saved. But in-store sales, not so much.
Being able to introduce a loyalty program would then allow customers to attach that transaction to their customer profile, matching sales to customers and generating better insights on customer behaviour.
And so, following this lightbulb moment, Grafton was tasked to deliver an internally built loyalty program in late 2024, launching to market ten months later. For a project this size, she says this is an incredibly fast turnaround.
This included stakeholder interviews to unpack the key goals, undertaking competitor research both locally and internationally, and whittling through different tech stacks before picking up the building tools.
“After that, we did the dev and the tech build. But alongside that, we were working on creative concepts, testing and creating training manuals among other tasks.”
Once established, the go-to-market plan for ‘Sheike Society’ was driven through social media and online teasers.
“Our concept is ‘Rewards Unlocked’, and so we had a real oversized, giant key created, and we did all these little teaser campaigns with our model, going through various places in the city, trying to unlock things with this big key. It was really fun!
“And then we had the big launch party with some of our VIP customers.”
There were quite a few different teams involved in the launch phase, including finance, brand marketing, IT and Grafton’s team in digital and CRM. Grafton says all up, it was likely around 15 people involved at various points in the nine months to launch.
Sheike Society launched with four distinct membership levels, with each offering progressively elevated rewards. These rewards include earn with every purchase and unlocking exclusive rewards such as early access to shop collections, priority entry for seasonal sales, VIP event invitations and more personalised benefits such as personalised style tips.
The program comes with a digital membership card, and has a “Status Hold” feature that lets members maintain their tier benefits – even during life’s pauses – by freezing their status for up to 12 months.
Another thing Sheike customers were keen on was access to alterations. So the womenswear brand set up a partnership with LookSmart, an alterations chain that has over 120 stores across Australia, where membership holders can access 30 per cent of alterations at any LookSmart location.
Levels 2 and up in the program also gain access to free shipping, and the program can also be used at Sheike’s outlet stores.
But even Grafton knows that loyalty programs can easily cause challenges with margins. She says the key here is focusing more on non-discount rewards like Status Hold and early access and free shipping.
“Those ways that we could have value and emotional loyalty without relying on price was really a key thing,” Grafton says. “The other piece is around creating moments. Our program has a calendar of loyalty-only offers – so key milestones like ‘Welcome to Teir…’ or birthday offers.”
Looking ahead, Grafton says the key goal is to get as many existing customers to join the program as possible. Two weeks into launch, she says the response has been overwhelming.
“It’s much better than I anticipated a week and two weeks in,” she says. “Over time, the things that we'll be looking at is incremental revenue from members and a lift in frequency. And how the retention rate looks between members and non members.
“The ultimate measure of evolution for Sheike Society is that it isn't just a program; that it actually becomes core to our brand experience. The intention there is to just optimise as we go. Initially that might look like more personalised communications – so giving her what she wants when she wants it. Over time, that could be working on adding new rewards. Maybe we're looking at member-only products or events, and even partnerships with other like-minded brands.
“Maybe something in the lifestyle or beauty brand, offering exclusive items and events through that.”