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44<br />
<strong>Kesko's</strong> <strong>year</strong> <strong>2007</strong><br />
Individual<br />
customer<br />
approach<br />
– K-Plussa<br />
The <strong>year</strong> <strong>2007</strong> was a time of reform for<br />
K-Plussa. Kesko and the K-retailers<br />
started a programme to thoroughly<br />
develop the K-Plussa customer loyalty<br />
system – the K-Plussa Supercard. The<br />
reform concerns a total of 3.5 million<br />
K-Plussa customers.<br />
The reform will increase and diversify the<br />
customers’ choice of cards and benefits, and<br />
many customers will need just one card for<br />
payments both at home and abroad. The first<br />
stage of the development programme started<br />
in May, which also marked the beginning of<br />
significant cooperation with the OP Bank<br />
Group.<br />
More interaction between<br />
the K-store and the customer<br />
Information is gathered from K-Group stores<br />
to further improve selections and services<br />
and to increase interaction between the<br />
K-store and the customer. The more the customer<br />
uses the services of the Plussa network,<br />
the more he or she gets benefits. There<br />
are nearly 3,000 shopping outlets, and we<br />
want to continue to actively increase the<br />
number of our best cooperation partners. The<br />
reform also increases the centralisation and<br />
loyalty benefits the K-Plussa customer<br />
gets from his or her regular<br />
K-store and other Plussa<br />
partners.<br />
Customer programmes<br />
for all chains<br />
With this reform, the chains<br />
of the K-Group, such as<br />
K-market, K-supermarket,<br />
K-citymarket, K-rauta, Anttila,<br />
Kodin Ykkönen, Intersport,<br />
Asko and Sotka will<br />
considerably increase the<br />
benefits they offer to K-Plussa customers<br />
in their own and joint customer loyalty<br />
programmes.<br />
Besides special offers, customers in the<br />
Ykkösasiakas programme of Kodin Ykkönen<br />
are offered a free van for their use when they<br />
buy furniture at Kodin Ykkönen, a discount<br />
for the assembly service, moving boxes<br />
against a returnable deposit, and several<br />
other services and benefits.<br />
K-Plussa’s joint benefits increased<br />
The diversified partnership with OP Bank<br />
Group, including cooperation concerning<br />
Pohjola Insurance Company, started at the<br />
beginning of May. Thanks to the partnership,<br />
OP-Visa and OP-Visa Electron cards with the<br />
K-Plussa feature, which can be used in a normal<br />
way as debit or charge cards, and the new<br />
Plussa MasterCard with no annual fee have<br />
become available to customers. Cooperation<br />
in the card sector expanded in November with<br />
the launch of the new Nordea Visa Electron<br />
with the Plussa feature.<br />
The reforms implemented made collecting<br />
Plussa benefits increasingly easy. K-Plussa’s<br />
loyal customers can also choose to deposit<br />
their K-Plussa points in their bank accounts.<br />
The reward level (up to 5%) remained<br />
unchanged.<br />
The Pirkka magazine that is distributed<br />
as a K-Plussa loyal customer benefit also<br />
underwent a reform in <strong>2007</strong>. The modernisation<br />
was well received, and according to the<br />
National Media Research KMT, Pirkka reinforced<br />
its position as the most widely read<br />
magazine in Finland in <strong>2007</strong>. The NiksiPirkka<br />
column, which has published Finnish<br />
tips and hints in the Pirkka magazine for<br />
33 <strong>year</strong>s, received significant recognition in<br />
April <strong>2007</strong>, when it was awarded the Media-<br />
KONSTA prize as a major promoter of invention<br />
and innovation.<br />
healthy living with the Plussa card<br />
At the beginning of <strong>2007</strong> Kesko started a<br />
campaign to promote physical exercise and<br />
healthy eating habits among children with<br />
the Young Finland Association, its cooperation<br />
partner of many <strong>year</strong>s. Every time a customer<br />
used a K-Plussa card in a K-Group<br />
store, 0.25 cents were donated to promote<br />
children’s healthy living. The total sum collected<br />
was €500,000, of which €250,000 was<br />
spent immediately to buy exercise equipment<br />
for schoolchildren to increase their physical<br />
activity during breaks.