BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Ecommerce ‘clicks and mortar’ specialist Citrus-Lime entered the cycle market back in 2009. Now the firm has around 100 accounts in the cycle business, equating to 125 physical retail stores.
So big has the cycle world become for Citrus-Lime that the number of cycle retailers on their books has now overtaken the combined number of its other sectors – equestrian, outdoor, lifestyle and snow. It’s a success story the company is proud of.
“We owe a huge debt of gratitude for the support we have received from the cycle industry in helping us to become the largest provider of EPOS,” a spokesperson tells BikeBiz.
But there’s no time to celebrate when there are more developments on the way for its bike dealer customers. Citrus-Lime’s loyalty scheme is one of the more recent innovations.
“We currently have an exciting new release on offer to our customers called Customer Rewards. This feature allows customers to accrue points every time they purchase a product from a retailer, these points can then be spent on items in-store and online. This innovative new loyalty scheme will enable retailers to improve customer retention and increase profitability by incentivising customers to change their buying behaviour in order to maximise profit. One way it does this is to encourage new business; by offering reward points on purchases Customer Rewards persuades new customers to shop with you rather than going to a competitor.
“Customer Rewards also retains the loyalty of existing customers whilst protecting retailer’s profit margins; offering reward points on a purchase will enable retailers to move away from the prevalent discount culture in the cycle trade. Instead of giving away your ten per cent profit margin at the till you will be giving regular customers a reason to return that benefits both parties. In addition our new loyalty scheme will improve retailer’s customer data capture which is an invaluable asset; the better you know you customers the easier it will be to tailor the correct products to the most appropriate buyers, reducing newsletter un-subscription rates and increasing profit. We are also offering Customer Rewards cards that are designed to help increase brand awareness.”
Further in the future, Citrus-Lime has a few more developments up its EPOS-shaped sleeve, including a new ‘Better Search service’ which is set to dramatically improve search functionality on its ecommerce platform. “The new service will allow retailers to upload up to 250 images per page, define their own filters and comes with quick view capability which improves display functionality and speeds up page loading times.”
Dealers and retailers can get in touch by calling Citrus-Lime on 0845 603 9254 or emailing info@citruslime.com.
