Survey: Reward incentives will be important this year

With all that has been said about consumers cutting back and money being short this holiday season, retailers are preparing for a bear year; but the season isn't dead and merchants could still save the day. According to a recent survey by Kelton Research on behalf of Vesdia Corporation, rewards and incentive programs are a good start for online and offline merchants this season.

by Kristina Knight

According to the survey, about half of those polled reported that they plan on using credit or debit cards offering bonus points, miles, discounts or cash back this holiday season. Why? Because, as was mentioned above, money is tight. Anything consumers can do to cut down on costs or bring a bit more money into their wallets is a big deal.

Vesdia, a supplier of reward networks, has seen a sharp uptick in the use of reward-based credit cards so far this year; according to the company they have found a 37% increase in spending year over year. They are predicting that this trend will continue when the full holiday shopping season hits next week.

Because of this, it could be a good idea for merchants to quickly launch a rewards or points system to draw in more consumers who are shopping for the holidays. Although it is late to being a reward-based credit card, merchants can put a rewards program in place for consumers spending a certain amount or shopping at the online kiosk X-number of times between Thanksgiving and Christmas.