Levi’s is an American clothing brand that has been around since the 19th Century. The creator of blue jeans, Levi’s has become part of the vocabulary for the famous pants around the world. A truly global brand that operates in over 100 countries – you’d think they have a loyalty program? Well as I found out, they’ve got several, and they differ across borders.
USA – Levi’s Red Tab
Free to join the program and sign up can be online or in a Levi’s store.
Benefits of Red Tab include:
- 24/7 free shipping
- Early access to product drops
- Birthday rewards and invitations to exclusive VIP and promotion events
- Two free alterations a year at the tailor shop and discounts on custom embroidery
- Free Happy Returns – facilitated through local drop off locations
Over time, for members that remain in the program, Levi’s will customise the member’s benefits based on purchase history, event attendance, and offers used at checkout. There are some great benefits here, especially for a free program. Free shipping is a major bonus and there’s a lot for jeans and fashion lovers. I see a lot of value here.
UK – Levi’s 247
Signing up to the program is free and can be done online, in-store or in the 247 app.
The program rewards members with ‘coins’ per pound spent at Levi’s.
- 9 coins for every pound spent in-store
- 10 coins for every pound spent online
- 11 coins for every pound spent in the app
In addition to the points, the below benefits complete the offering:
- A welcome gift – 501 coins
- A birthday gift – 1,000 coins
- Early access to sales and promotions
Downloading the app also provides users with more ways to earn. Members are rewarded for registering, completing the profile page, shopping in the app, and more. Extra coins are used as an incentive to drive customers to the app. This only continues to be effective if there are opportunities to earn coins beyond setting up an account and purchasing in-app.
The coins can be exchanged for vouchers, which expire in 7 days once redeemed. 1,000 coins equals 5 pounds – a reward that is 5% of member spend. Coins are valid for one year, so there is a push to increase member purchase frequency.
Japan – Club Levi’s
Club Levi’s is a membership program that can be accessed online or in-store. It’s free to join and the team have also developed a Club Levi’s app to facilitate membership recognition in-store through a barcode, and access to the online store.
Benefits:
- 5% off products
- Birthday discounts
- Invitations to exclusive events
- Newsletters with member-only campaigns
This program is quite basic compared to some of the others Levi’s programs. It would be good to consider some of the app elements of Levi’s 247.
Australia – Levi’s Loop
Individuals can join only by making a purchase at Levi’s store (not online, not an outlet) and it’s free to join. Sign-up can only occur at the time of purchase. This is an uncommon approach, and it ensures Levi’s communications database are willing to spend, but there may be a missed opportunity to entice individuals who haven’t visited, to visit.
New members receive a welcome email to activate their membership and apply a password. Once activated it can take up to 24 hours for access to the Levi’s loop website and program.
1 Levi’s Loop point is earned for every $1 spent in-store. Members must mention their loop membership in-store to receive the loop benefits. When 250 points is reached, a $25 reward is unlocked – a reward that is 10% of the total member spend.
Points cannot be rewarded after a transaction is processed. This may rub some customers the wrong way and causes a point of friction at checkout. The cashier has to look up the members email address and apply the discount.
Malaysia – Levi’s VIP Club
Sign-up in-store or online to earn earn ‘VIP rivets’ for purchases.
There are two memberships, Original (free) and Indigo (paid). See below for details.
This is quite different to other Levi’s loyalty programs. The tiers provide some great value for members in the form of e-vouchers and other discounts. The frequency of purchase is the issue here. Nobody needs good quality jeans too often. Therefore, a family is likely to extract the most value from this program.
One for all?
Consumers and business regions are different. Therefore, it makes sense that a loyalty solution is also different. The examples shown above all have a different take on how best to approach loyalty in their own domain.
Some models provide greater value to members, but the frequency of purchase for members is the biggest challenge facing Levi’s. Of course, there are other products that Levi’s sell, but the reality is that people generally don’t need to buy jeans too often. When they do, they generally don’t want to receive marketing immediately afterwards.
What’s your favourite Levi’s program? Are there elements of each that could be combined to create a superior loyalty program? Is it possible to create one Levi’s loyalty program for all countries? Wouldn’t it be nice if you were able to purchase different styles of Levi’s overseas and be rewarded for it all the same? There are major considerations such as laws, currency, product value, earn, redemption which are often too much of a challenge to overcome. It is nice to dream.
