Swarovski is an Austrian jewellery company which originated in 1895 and has since offered glamourous signature crystal jewellery across the world. Swarovski has two membership programs:
- Free: Swarovski Club Membership Program (relaunched January 2020 – previously known as Be Swarovski program)
- Paid: Swarovski Crystal Society originally launched in 1987
To know more about the free membership program, recommend reading this article.
Recently, I decided to take out my gorgeous marine inspired Swarovski collection out of their boxes and fill my new glass cabinet. You can imagine my shock to find two of my more expensive pieces in literal pieces! They had become unglued but were still whole. I was only a member of the Swarovski Club Membership Program.
When I was next in my local shopping centre I popped into my Swarovski store to ask about what to do!
I was then informed I had two options with them:
- I could pay min $50 a piece to have repaired (I had 3 to fix), or
- If I joined the paid Swarovski Crystal Society, I would get them for free (as long as I had the original boxes).
What is the Swarovski Crystal Society?
The Swarovski Crystal Society (SCS) is a VIP loyalty program for those true lovers of Crystal. There is an annual membership fee and in return SCS members enjoy exclusive benefits and unique experiences. Historically, over 500,000 Crystal enthusiasts have been members of this program across the world.
Exclusive Benefits
There are a range of benefits for SCS members:
- Ability to purchase exclusive products
- Magazine sent twice a year
- Annual gift (not available to purchase)
- Free standard shipping
- Exclusive events
- Access to Kristallwelten Australia once a year
- Membership and purchases go towards supporting Swarovski Waterschool
- Free repair service
When developing this loyalty program, Swarovski has thought ahead about what members would need post purchase. I was very surprised with the free repairs. Not only is this a great benefit to include in the paid membership, it is an essential component of an effective loyalty program design as stated by Nunes and Dreze.
Swarovski Crystal Society Fees
You have a choice between 1 year at $70 or 3 years at $165. However, if you do only purchase 1 year, you can renew and will be given a discount $60/$145 respectively).
Memberships can also be gifted.
My dilemma: to become a paid member or not?
Armed with this information I went home – do I need to be a VIP of Swarovski? My husband already would say I was one with the amount of Crystal fish I have collected. The value to join in my position was overwhelming: min $150 cost to repair OR $70 to become a yearly member, get a free Crystal gift and all my repairs for a year for free. Yes – I joined!
When I went back with my two large pieces for repairs, the sales representatives were amazing. Fabulous customer service and spoke to all the benefits applicable. However, I was very surprised with the manual process to join the program (plus the team have to then type it will into the system).
The store itself has an exclusive area dedicated to all the SCS items available for purchase. Themed for a season, to be honest, there wasn’t anything that was appealing for my collection.
Overall
I would recommend Swarovski to look into how to make the process of joining and having repairs inputted into the system to be digital. This will save a significant amount of time. Luckily I had time when I dropped my items off. Otherwise, perhaps offer a beverage while you wait?
By having specific products exclusive to members, Swarovski may be:
- Missing out on additional sales: it might be worth a pricing strategy approach where paid members have a significant discount but the items are still generally available.
- Limiting SCS members to exclusive product purchases: it might be beneficial to review and provide an overall discount for any purchase to not alienate paying SCS customers who are not interested in that season’s topic.
Swarovski – I never thought I would join the paid program, but the benefits were there for me and likely for many others. My last recommendation: add more fish to the SCS menu.
