Pets at Home will launch its first loyalty card next week to increase sales and gain customer insight.

The pets specialist will unveil its Very Important Pets card on Tuesday, initially offering registered customers 10% off in store. Further benefits will be added online once the retailer has gauged customer reaction to the card.

Head of customer relationship management Gavin Hawthorn said: “We have a very strong, loyal customer base and we want to build relationships with them further.”

Hawthorn said Pets at Home did not want to offer a points-based loyalty card. He maintained: “We wanted to continue to give meaningful special deals. We felt 10% off was very generous to begin with.”

The 330-store retailer hopes to increase awareness of products and services such as in-store grooming and veterinary practices, where it sees opportunities to grow.

A new digital infrastructure has been introduced to support the card.