Marks & Spencer has overhauled its Sparks loyalty scheme, offering members “pounds, not points”, in the latest phase of the retail giant’s transformation, Retail Week can reveal.
The retailer said the new programme delivers more rewarding, personalised experiences to its customers and allows them to spend their rewards how they want.
At the centre of the retailer’s transformation is a digital wallet where Sparks members can earn cash rewards when they shop across categories such as womenswear, menswear, bedding, beauty, and food.
For example, customers can earn £5 when they spend £35 in the food hall during the month, or receive £10 when they spend £50 on fashion, home and beauty.
M&S marketing director Sharry Cramond told Retail Week: “We’ve really listened to our customers. When you ask them: what would you really like from a loyalty programme? What they actually want is cash.
“So, we came up with the new digital wallet, where we put cash as rewards.”
The new Sparks will be powered by the use of AI and data to deliver “even more personalised offers and rewards”.
This will see customers get rewarded for things such as buying a bundle of items or discovering a new part of M&S where they do not usually shop.
New offers and rewards will drop into the app every Tuesday, and the cash rewards can be spent or saved up for occasions such as the big Christmas shop.
M&S is also keeping its previous Sparks initiatives, such as free birthday treats, coffee stamps, Parent Hood baby club, charity donations and preferential rates on travel money.
On top of this, the retailer has announced its first-ever Sparks partner, teaming up with Virgin Red to offer customers more ways of boosting their Sparks wallet and get rewarded for booking a Virgin Atlantic holiday, Virgin Voyages or an Experience Day.
The revamped loyalty scheme has been in the works for two years, and all M&S colleagues have taken part in a beta test for several weeks ahead of the launch.
M&S said today’s launch is “just the first stage of new Sparks with much more to come for customers in the future”.
Cramond said that in one month’s time, she and M&S head of loyalty Jade Sharpe will discuss “what the next three years looks like” with the retailer’s senior leadership.
“If you think this is exciting, when you see what is coming with Sparks; it truly is fantastic. We’ve got lots of learnings on things that we want to introduce that we think are going to make it better and better,” she added.
M&S chief executive Stuart Machin added: “Customers told us they want Sparks to be simple, rewarding and personalised, and we listened.
“New Sparks is built around a much more personalised experience, no tricksy pricing, and real money rewards to thank our customers for shopping with us.
“A stronger Sparks is another step forward on our journey as we invest in future growth. Powered by new and transformed data and AI capabilities, a new Sparks helps us get even closer to customers and deliver an even better M&S experience.”
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