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Retaining loyal customers should be the aim of any business. “If a company has identified its best customers, then it should make every effort to maintain and increase their loyalty” (Lamb, Hair, and McDaniel, 2018, p.328). It makes business sense to do this as “when a company retains an additional 5% of its customers each year, profits will increase by as much as 125%… improving customer retention by a mere 2% can decrease costs by as much as 10%” (Lamb, Hair, and McDaniel, 2018, p.328).
When I read the brief, I immediately thought of Just Salad, a counter-served custom salad restaurant, just opened on the corner of a prime location on a busy commercial street in Midtown Manhattan. I was walking by and I could not help but notice the queue going up the block and around the corner.
While there are lots of lunch options for the many office workers in the area, you could argue that nothing terribly appetizing. However, the queue outside Just Salad was not because people were all that eager for a new salad. It was because if the hungry workers forked up a $1 for a take-away reusable salad bowl, they would get unlimited toppings. A superficially genius idea. Salads in the area have a base price of about $7.99, toppings from avocado to onion are extra. Very quickly, by adding just a few extra ingredients, lunch can cost $20.
Just Salad’s owners clearly saw that people like salads, but do not like paying a lot for them. They also realised that customers like the idea of being sustainable and using less plastic and packaging. The reusable bowl is a form of loyalty programme. Nielson, a research outfit, found that more than 80% of consumers are more likely to stick with a brand that offers a loyalty programme. It may well be true that customers are more likely to stick with a brand that offers a reusable bowl. If customers have the bowl sitting on their desk, already paid for, they are more likely to pop over to Just Salad for a lunch-time salad instead of the area’s other options. Plus, a $1 bowl feels less than a commitment that signing up for an actual loyalty programme so ironically may be more likely to get people to sign up for it. But those who do give their email will get 10% off their next order.
The bowl, with its noticeably blue colour and “Just Salad” written clearly, is a form of free walking advertising. New Yorkers tend not to be fazed by unusual sites but seeing a queue of people all holding blue bowls is attention getting. Indeed, seeing people walk with a blue bowl is also eye-catching.
The $1 sustainable bowl fits in with the restaurant’s healthy image, offering fresh produce served raw, roasted, baked or steamed. The restaurant boasts about hiring a chief sustainability officer and has invested in biodegradable disposables. The restaurant prides itself on top customer service and brags about its fast service. The unlimited toppings also complement its other offer of ten items under $10.
“Loyalty programs reward loyal customers for making multiple purchases… the objective is to build long-term, mutually beneficial relationships between a company and its key customers” (Lamb, Hair, and McDaniel, 2018, p.329). Just Salad is smartly utilizing brand loyalty and it will be interesting to see how they perform in the coming year. I suspect, this promotion will see sales continue to grow with repeat orders and customers retained.
Articles, I enjoyed reading more on this topic include:
https://www.justsalad.com/our-story
https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2013/how-loyal-are-your-customers.html
Reference List:
Lamb, C.W., Hair, J.F., and McDaniel C. (2018) MKTG 12 Principles of Marketing Boston: Cengage
Nielsen (2013) ‘How Loyal are your Customers’
[online]
Available at: https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2013/how-loyal-are-your-customers.html (Accessed: 2 March 2019)
Marketing Insight 
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