Kesko's year 2007

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