International Women’s Day 2023 – Time to Celebrate

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“Pausing to applaud

all the women who work here…”

As the UK’s leading gift voucher, corporate rewards and Christmas Savings business, we want to turn our attention to recognising the incredible women in our company to celebrate International Women’s Day 2023.

This year – and beyond – International Women’s Day has said its focus lies with embracing equity. As a company, we also believe that equity is not just a nice-to-have – it is a must-have.

In line with that belief, we also recognise how important it is to understand the difference between ‘equity’ and ‘equality’. So allow us to explain: we support the pursuit of a gender equal world, free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination; a world that is diverse, equitable and inclusive.

To celebrate a world where difference is valued and celebrated, we have invited five especially inspiring women from our company to talk about their experiences of work during their careers.

Our colleagues offer a fascinating ‘now and then’ snapshot of how the world of work has evolved in their own lives. Many will draw inspiration from their stories, others may identify with their experiences and enjoy having that resonation and knowing a bit more about a colleague. Connection with others is key to a rewarding life after all.

“Amplifying the visibility and achievements of women … is more important than ever”

Claire Jones, People and Integration Director, (left) explains: “We may celebrate International Women’s Day 2023 once a year but it’s about so much more than just ‘one day’.

“Elevating, celebrating and amplifying the visibility and achievements of women in the workplace is more important than ever. IWD23 carries a strong message about the need to embed a culture of equity within our businesses so that – one day – that is the norm every day of the year.

“The day provides our company with a perfect opportunity to pause and applaud all the women who work here – not just as hard-working, loyal employees but as women who often have other responsibilities in life, too. Women who know all about managing the work-life balance.

“Employees of Love2shop are an incredible bunch for all sorts of reasons, and we thank them for their energy, their team-playing and intelligence, the volunteering they do in the local community, their collective drive, sense of humour and amazing commitment and loyalty.

“We have selected a handful of women we are particularly proud of in 2023 to represent all our women. And we decided to celebrate International Women’s DFay over five days, offering one insightful interview every day launching on March 8th.”

In the top photo from L-R: Hayley Bromley (Finance), Alex Speed (New Business) and Suzanne Haycock (Technology). The women of Love2shop we will be highlighting this week, are:

  • Alex Speed, Head of New Business Development. Alex revealed how change in corporate culture saw some people leave the business: “Change can make things a little more exciting and different… now we are a much more open and inclusive environment.”
  • Brenda Mills, Head of Services and Experience Operations. She recalls regular meetings where she was the “the only woman in a room of 10 men”. Brenda started her career as a professional ballet dancer before becoming an entrepreneur and eventually a senior Love2shop executive. She says: “There are more women in senior positions than before – which is how it should be.”
  • Hayley Bromley, Treasury Manager. Hayley began her adult life on the high seas – working as an operator mechanic on the radar and guns of an aircraft carrier in the Royal Navy. Since then, she’s discovered her main talents are in finance, and is now taking accountancy qualifications. “I now feel like I am in a very open and inclusive atmosphere.”
  • Janine Murphy, Fulfilment Manager. Janine was just 18 when she first walked into Love2shop’s fulfilment centre as a temporary worker. 27 years later she is running the operation. She described her early days in the business as “working in a man’s world”.
  • Suzanne Haycock, Head of Service Management (technology). Suzanne joined Love2shop just five months ago but is already impressed by the company’s progressive culture: “I think the culture here is very collaborative … People are very supportive of each other.”

Claire added: “We are encouraging our women to book into any of the online events available to celebrate International Women’s Day and to join our own internal events: one organised by parent company, PayPoint and one at our Liverpool headquarters.

“As a company, we are also committed to continue to strengthen equity in women’s working lives, and actively encourage women to be involved in technology, innovation and digital education – the brilliant themes for women everywhere in 2023.”

Internally, the company is inviting colleagues to attend an online event organised by parent company, PayPoint Group, when three more incredible speakers will share their inspiring stories.

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Press Release

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NEW RELEASE: IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Now doubled: the number of HR professionals predicting business performance will plummet this year

Three in every four HR decision-makers say they are now having to make tough decisions on people, pay and rewards in light of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis

The number of HR decision-makers (HRDMs) expecting business conditions to get worse this year has now DOUBLED, new insights today reveal.

The ongoing cost-of-living crisis, soaring inflation, rising energy bills and challenging business conditions have forced thousands of UK HRDMs to make tough choices on employees’ futures, and to be more creative around staff pay and rewards.

The new insights, commissioned by Love2shop, the UK’s leading provider of rewards and recognition solutions for businesses, in collaboration with Republic of Media and Panelbase*, show the number of HRDMs anticipating a decline in business performance doubled to 6% in November 2022, from just 3% in May 2022.

The research also revealed that three in four HRDMs are now having to find ways to navigate a series of challenges in their organisations, to help manage costs and find new methods of recognising and retain staff.

More than one in five HRDMs say they are having to let go of employees (21%) and many more are looking for ways to ramp up support for existing employees amid shrinking budgets. They are trying to retain talent through higher salaries, bonus payments, enhanced rewards and recognition, and access to new discount platforms and schemes.

Top ways HRDMs are providing support for employees during the cost-of-living crisis**:

  • Salary increases (45%)
  • Increased staff rewards (39%)
  • Improved benefits (39%)
  • One-off payments (35%)
  • Access to discount platforms/schemes (23%)

“These new insights show the cost-of-living crisis is hitting many businesses hard – for some it’s as bad as it was following the Covid pandemic. However, HRDMs are facing this challenge head-on and finding new and innovative ways to support their employees,” said Frank Creighton, Director of Business Development at Love2shop.

“It’s a challenging market for HRDMs prompting many to think more innovatively and creatively by exploring alternatives to inflation-linked pay rises, through better rewards and recognition platforms, discount schemes for staff to offset squeezed household budgets, and enhanced benefit packages.”

Love2shop, the UK’s leading employee and customer engagement company and the home of Love2shop, is currently working with hundreds of UK HRDMs and Sales and Marketing leaders to explore new and innovative solutions to reward and recognise employees.

It works with HRDMs in a range of sectors, including professional services; financial, insurance and pension companies; wholesale, retail and logistics; health and social care; education; and the automotive sector.

Its wide range of Love2shop products offers a choice of multi-retailer gifting rewards, helping businesses attract and retain employees.

It is also helping many HRDMs to integrate a new Employee Discount Card Scheme into their organisations, with the new Everyday Benefits Card helping staff save 7.5% on their day-to-day spending at more than 90+ leading retailers, including supermarkets to help with everyday essentials.

And through its intelligent, award-winning Love2shop Engagement Platform, Love2shop is enabling HRDMs to plan and launch incentives, engagement and employee recognition and reward programs with minimal effort.

Laura Maguire, Head of Research and Insight at Republic of Media, said: “These insights prove that in many ways, HRDMs are on the front line of the cost-of-living crisis, tasked with finding ways to attract and retain talent in a challenging economic environment.

“Building on these statistics and this piece of work, we’re looking forward to seeing the impact of the Employee Discount Card Scheme and Love2shop Engagement Platform when we re-run this research with Love2shop later in the year.”

ENDS

Editor’s Notes:

*The Love2shop B2B Insight study was commissioned by Love2shop and carried out by independent media agency, Republic of Media and Panelbase, a UK online research community. It set out to shed light on the dynamics of the gift card market in the B2B setting.
** Multiple choice answer-options, results exceed 100%

About Love2shop

Love2shop is a leading UK employee and customer engagement company. Its Love2shop products offer a fantastic choice of multi-retailer gifting rewards, helping businesses attract and retain employees and customers.

With its award-winning digital platform, Love2shop enables clients to plan, launch, communicate and maintain incentive or reward programs with minimal effort while delivering performance improvement.

Love2shop is  home to many of the country’s most-loved gifting, pre-payment and engagement solutions including Park Christmas Savings, highstreetvouchers.com and Love2shop, driving digital innovation in gifting.  Read more here: appreciate.co.uk

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Ultimate Guide to Customer Loyalty offers free insights to help businesses survive cost of living crisis

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Businesses of all sizes need to prioritise investment in their existing customers if they want to survive the cost of living crisis. Love2shop’ Free Ultimate Guide to Customer Loyalty is filled with advice from the world’s leading experts on customer behaviour to help you create a successful customer retention strategy.

The Ultimate Guide to Customer Loyalty 2023 brings together insight from Love2shop, McKinsey, Mastercard and more to update you on the state of customer loyalty in 2023.

The value of loyalty

The cost of living crisis means businesses are looking more closely at how to improve customer value. Traditionally that means prospecting for new customers, but the latest research highlights how loyalty and retention make a more significant impact on revenue.

Far from just being a measure to protect earnings, our guide advises that investing in customers can bring a huge business boost. Research shows that retaining just 5% of a customer base can increase profits by up to 95%.

With the cost of acquiring a new customer five times higher than the cost of retaining existing ones, making customer loyalty cost-effective creates a real opportunity for businesses.

Download the guide now to discover how to build a strategy for customer loyalty, the true value of loyal customers and brand advocates and how to make data work to strengthen those relationships.

With rising energy and food bills causing shoppers to reduce spending and businesses reviewing budgets amid a cost of living crisis, everyone’s pockets are being squeezed to their limits. If your customers are not happy, they will be quicker than ever to explore other avenues.

Helping you get started

Our guide includes lots of research and insight to help businesses get started or improve their customer loyalty strategy.

This includes considering customer engagement technologies, such as flexible modular solutions like the Love2shop Engagement Platform. This allows your business to create campaigns driven by customer data and automate the core engagement functions you need. Being modular makes it a cost-effective way to implement a leading engagement tech solution while retaining the capacity for growth.

Share our customer expertise

“At Love2shop, we understand that customer loyalty is the cornerstone of any successful business, but it’s an evolving challenge,” said Frank Creighton, Director of Business Development for Love2shop.

“In today’s fast-paced world, it’s more important than ever to not only retain customers, but to turn them into brand advocates.

“That’s why we’re delighted to offer our Ultimate Guide to Customer Loyalty as a free download. It aims to empower businesses with the knowledge they need to understand the true value of loyal customers, how to build lasting relationships, and how to harness data to drive customer engagement.

“It’s been proven customers may increase their spending by between 15% and 25% with businesses that have earned their loyalty.

“This guide is a testament to our commitment to innovation and our belief that by empowering business leaders with the latest insights, we can help them achieve long-term success.”

The full, comprehensive Ultimate Guide to Customer Loyalty 2023 can be downloaded by following this link.

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3 ways to maintain productivity if budgets get cut in 2023

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With many HR professionals fearing budget cuts in 2023, how to keep stressed and struggling staff motivated so that your business comes through the recession strong is a real concern.

Across the UK economy, we are seeing workers take action because they are unhappy with their proposed pay awards – and a recent study shows that more discontent could be coming.

Budget cuts

According to a study by HR software company Personio, 55% of HR managers are expecting budget cuts in the coming months and 50% say their senior leadership team doesn’t prioritise employees.

These are worrying stats, as restricted budgets mean low or no pay rises or rewards – which has a direct impact on productivity.

Love2shop’ own research this year revealed that 52% of employees feel their output increases when they feel valued by their employer – so how can you maintain or increase productivity when faced with lower budgets?

Here are three tips to help maintain productivity during times of change and uncertainty.

Stockpile rewards

Rewards don’t have to be expensive to have a big impact – and some can be secured now to carry a company through until the next budget review.

Gift cards like Love2shop can be given as tax-free rewards up to the value of £50 per employee, and are a great way to show appreciation on an ad-hoc basis.

As the end of the financial year approaches, you can buy in gift cards in bulk now  so  if your business tightens the purse strings after April, you have enough  rewards to keep employees feeling motivated and valued well into 2023.

Don’t sacrifice the ‘Great Place to Work’ mentality

Everyone knows how the world of work changed through the pandemic, and hybrid models of working are more popular than ever. Keeping employees motivated and happy is not all about money, but ensuring they are happy.

When it comes to work culture, shifting again – either to a full work from home model to save office costs or a full office-based model to utilise your commercial space – is likely to have a negative impact on output.

In research conducted by employee review site Glassdoor, 58% of hybrid workers said their productivity was increased as a result of the working arrangements, while the same proportion said it had also helped them manage the cost of living crisis.

Give benefits that make a difference

From ‘office dog days’ to dress-down Fridays – some rewards and benefits just don’t cut it, especially in this current climate. Instead, look at other ways you can meaningfully benefit your workforce. For example, fresh fruit deliveries or ‘pizza Fridays’ have a real benefit by helping people save on food spend. Take that one step further and offer them an Everyday Benefits Card – a pre-payment card which offers a 7.5% discount on card loads and can be spent wherever Love2shop gift cards are accepted.

What’s more, employees can keep loading them up – always with the discount – to enjoy savings on everyday essentials all year round.

Want to make sure your business offers cost effective, meaningful employee benefits into 2023? Visit www.highstreetvouchers.com to find out more.

 Everyday Benefits Cards and Love2shop are flexecash products. Flexecash is the prepaid card platform that issues flexecash Love2shop Cards. This facility is provided by Park Card Services who are Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority to issue electronic money. FRN: 900016.

Love2shop Cards are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and as such we may need to complete an electronic identity check.

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The Love2shop Employee Value Report Press Release

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ONE-THIRD OF ALL EMPLOYEES IN THE UK – A STAGGERING 10 MILLION PEOPLE – FEEL UNDERVALUED AT WORK

• Eight in ten undervalued employees are looking for a new job elsewhere

• Over half of employees say productivity increases when they feel appreciated

• Rewards including gift cards would help workers feel more valued

• National study by leading multi-retail redemption provider Love2shop

One-third of all employees in the UK – almost 10 million people – feel undervalued at work, according to new national research revealed today.  

The ‘Love2shop Report’ commissioned by Love2shop, was designed to lay bare the scale of workplace happiness in 2022.  

It reveals the true value of employee rewards, with three-quarters of people (75%) saying companies who gift staff regularly are likely to attract a better calibre of employee, and 52% saying productivity increases when they feel valued by their employer. 

The report also found 41% of those who feel undervalued believe regular rewards by their employer would give them a greater sense of value, with the same number saying gift vouchers from their employer throughout the year would make them feel more appreciated. 

Nearly four-fifths (79%) of undervalued employees are looking for a job elsewhere, with that figure increasing to nine out of ten (90%) among the youngest demographic aged 18-24. 

The Love2shop Report found UK companies spontaneously gift employees an average of just 1.3 times a year, despite respondents reporting this number should rise to 2.3 times a year for employers to make staff feel valued.  

There is also a gender divide when it comes to workplace gift giving, with men receiving an average of 1.5 gifts a year compared to women receiving 1.2, the research found. 

Elsewhere, nearly half the report’s respondents (46%) have never received a spontaneous gift from their employer, while more than a third (36%) say their employer never, or hardly ever, acknowledges their work or actions. 

Shockingly, just 12% of employees strongly agree that their employers are generous. 

When it comes to a professional breakdown of happiness in the workplace, employees in publishing and journalism reported feeling the least valued at work, followed by those in the performing arts, then the environment and agriculture sectors.  

At the other end of the scale, property and construction, insurance and pensions, and law were the top three professions when asked about feeling valued at work. 

People in law enforcement and community reported receiving the fewest spontaneous gifts from their employer per year, at just 0.3, while those in business, consulting and management came top, with 2.4 per year. 

In terms of a geographical breakdown, workers in London and Northern Ireland feel the least appreciated, with an average value rating of five  out of 10 closely followed by those the East Midlands (5.5). Employees in the South West feel most valued (6.5), ahead of people in the West Midlands (6.1) and the North West (5.9). 

Elsewhere, a whopping 92% of workers who feel undervalued in the capital are currently looking for a new job, compared to only 42% of the same people in Yorkshire and the Humber. 

When it comes to rewards, six out of 10 employees say that days off, flexible working and gifting multi-retailer gift cards are the best ways of showing appreciation.  

If they were to receive a multi-retailer gift card, a staggering 89% would spend it on food, drink, or clothing – a survey result that experts attribute to the ongoing cost of living crisis – with 30% of them saying they would spend the voucher on their weekly shop. 

Asked about the value of employee rewards, over half of people (57%) say bonuses and regular rewards contribute to a feeling of being valued in the workplace, while 86% would feel valued at work if they received a surprise multi-retailer gift card or gift voucher worth £150, with only 7% saying it would not help them to feel valued. 

Frank Creighton, Director of Business Development at Love2shop, said: “The extent to which UK workers feel undervalued and under-appreciated is alarming.  

“The fact that one-third of staff feel undervalued should be a massive wake-up call for UK business, particularly in light of the report, which found almost half (49%) of people would feel a heightened sense of loyalty to their employer if they felt valued by them. 

“How undervalued employees are resolving this situation poses even greater concern. Our report’s data indicates that many will continue to vote with their feet by finding a business that does appreciate them. 

“This ongoing nationally recognised trend, now known as the ‘Great Resignation’, is costing companies a huge amount of unexpected expenditure in recruitment, training and time and that’s why it’s so important for more businesses to start making staff feel appreciated – by changing their attitude towards rewards. 

“We do understand it isn’t always easy for employers to know when to reward their employees – or by how much. That’s why we’ve compiled the Appreciate Report, which offers valuable insight when it comes to making staff feel valued while maintaining and increasing productivity levels.”  

To read the report, visit: https://business.love2shop.co.uk/appreciate-employee-value-report-2022/

Media enquiries to Alec Doyle, Senior PR Executive on: [email protected]

NOTES TO EDITORS 

Survey data taken from a poll of 2,000 employed UK adults in August 2022 

About Love2shop   

Love2shop is a leading UK employee and customer engagement company. Its Love2shop products offer a fantastic choice of multi-retailer gifting rewards, helping businesses attract and retain employees and customers.  

With its award-winning digital platform, Love2shop enables clients to plan, launch, communicate and maintain incentive or reward programs with minimal effort while delivering performance improvement. 

Love2shop Business is part of Paypoint, home to many of the country’s most-loved gifting, pre-payment and engagement solutions including Park Christmas Savings, highstreetvouchers.com and Love2shop, driving digital innovation in gifting.   

Read more here: business.love2shop.co.uk

flexecash is the prepaid card platform that issues flexecash Love2shop Cards. This facility is provided by Park Card Services who are Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority to issue electronic money. FRN: 900016. Love2shop Cards are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and as such we may need to complete an electronic identity check. 

 

 

Case Study: Evri

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Evri launched a new digital rewards platform My Rewards, which allowed colleagues to award one another Reward Points for their achievements at work to eventually be exchanged for prizes.

About the client

Evri is the UK’s consumer delivery specialist, providing flexible and affordable seven-day delivery options to home, work, ParcelShops and Lockers, delivering more than 600 million parcels a year with a mission to be the UK’s carrier of choice.

Evri currently have around 6500 employees and work alongside more than 80% of the UK’s top retail brands including Next, ASOS and John Lewis.

The challenge

Evri required rewards that would work not only through My Rewards, but outside of it as well. This was because not all employees had access to the My Rewards, and Evri frequently offered ad-hoc recognition, or ran on-site competitions, across their sites.

In addition to these needs, the rewards needed to be simple to redeem, as many Evri employees speak English as a second language. This can present a challenge if a redemption process is complex or involves lots of text instructions.

With such a diverse workforce, it was important that a large variety of rewards be available through the shopping vouchers. In addition, Evri is a rapidly growing business, and required a reward which could easily scale to service an ever-growing workforce.

Evri’s Internal Reward Team, implementing the My Reward platform, also needed fast order turnaround to stay ahead of employee demand during busy periods.

Love2shop’s recommendation

To meet Evri’s needs, Love2shop recommended a combination of both Love2shop Digital Reward Codes and paper Love2shop Gift Vouchers.

Reward Codes easily integrate with Evri’s My Rewards system while keeping simplicity a priority. Delivered by email, and redeemed without registration, they were the perfect fit for Evri’s platform and their staff’s needs.

At the same time, paper Love2shop Gift Vouchers make for excellent on-the-spot and ad-hoc rewards. They’re ideal for audiences with limited or differing computer skills or access to the Internet.

The results

Evri have found that the blend of digital and physical Love2shop rewards has been a great success for their employee rewards.

  • Employees truly value their Reward Codes and Love2shop Gift Vouchers because of the choice of redemption, and Evri’s managers are pleased with the ability to easily recognise employees through My Rewards or on-site.
  • Evri’s Internal Reward Team are also happy with the technical benefits that Love2shop’s service brings. Love2shop turns orders around quickly, and fulfils them with little-to-no fuss. Using Love2shop rewards has also lowered the administrative burden on Evri’s teams when issuing rewards to staff.
  • Evri have also expressed their delight with the promptness and availability of Love2shop’s support staff. Not just for the Evri Internal Reward Team, but when end-user employees have queries or concerns about their Love2shop rewards as well.
  • The blend of physical and digital gifts has made it possible for them to provide the best rewards to any area of the business, and be flexible depending on what managers need.

What Evri said

Brounagh Smith – Training & Implementation Manager and end-user

“I managed to save £100 in reward points over the last year and redeemed them so I could treat myself for my birthday.

I found exchanging the reward points for a Love2shop voucher to be a very easy process – it literally took about 5 minutes and the most difficult part was choosing which retailer to go for!

I ended up choosing John Lewis and put my vouchers towards a new coat. Love2shop vouchers are a great way in making people feel valued and recognised for their work.”

Sarah Woolley – Reward Specialist

“We really enjoy working with Love2shop to offer Love2shop rewards to our employees. Love2shop provide a quick, easy and reliable service and their Love2shop vouchers are truly valued by our employees for the sheer variety they offer. There really is something for everyone.

The end-to-end process from ordering reward codes or vouchers and awarding these to employees is easy to navigate and quick, which works really well for us as we are such a fast-moving business. I would definitely recommend Love2shop to anyone looking for a flexible and comprehensive rewards solution.”

The future

Over the last year, Evri’s business hasIf you have any questions about how Love2shop could help you delight your staff or customers, just get touch. We’d love to hear from you. grown considerably, which has led to Evri prizing scalability in their suppliers; Evri believe Love2shop have the capacity to scale their reward solutions in line with Evri’s growth, and plan to stick with Love2shop as a total reward supplier.

Talk to us

If you have any questions about how Love2shop could help you delight your staff or customers, just get touch. We’d love to hear from you. Call us on 0330 333 1201, or visit business.love2shop.co.uk

 

Cost of living crisis may fundamentally change the employer-employee relationship

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Cost of living crisis may fundamentally change the employer-employee relationship

UK inflation is now in double figures, hitting 10.1% in July, and the Bank of England is warning of 13% by the end of the year.

Millions of people are facing a tough autumn and winter. It seems now the cost of pretty much everything is rising – filling up your car, buying groceries. And the projected cost of powering and heating our homes reaches ever more eye-watering levels.

People are struggling now and are likely to find their incomes squeezed even more over the coming months. However, for some people, extra help is coming from what perhaps they might see as an unexpected source – their employer.

For generations of people their relationship with their employer was quite simple. They would come into work each day for a set number of hours and would be paid accordingly for that time. For some there might be bonuses.

The corporate mantra ‘our people are our greatest asset’ may have been trotted out every now and again but such declarations were often met with an eye-roll from overworked workers. As far as they were concerned the relationship was purely transactional.

When employers showed people they were their greatest asset

In the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic there were signs of a cultural shift. More enlightened employers started to talk about ‘wellbeing’. No doubt this was partly inspired by multiple studies showing mental health issues were costing UK plc billions each year in lost productivity.

Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) came to the fore. This asked what companies were doing to cut carbon emissions, address diversity and, crucially, focus on the wellbeing of their teams. Investors are now increasingly looking at what ESG framework a business has in place before they part with their money.

This new culture of enlightenment accelerated during the pandemic. Firms, large and small, simply had to demonstrate they had procedures in place to minimise the risks to their staff. If they wanted to keep operating, they had no choice but to put protections in place.

And it could be argued the cost of living crisis is one of the first big tests for ESG. Directors and HR departments are looking at their staff and they are seeing people struggling to make ends meet. A growing number of businesses are realising they can’t just say ‘well, that has nothing to do with me’.

Wage stagnation is prompting employers to respond in new ways

We are seeing a rise in industrial disputes with unions pushing for significant pay rises and some companies, at least initially, resisting. However, there is a number of employers who are stepping up to the plate. Car maker, Rolls Royce, is giving employees an extra £2,000 in cash. Banking giants, Barclays and Lloyds, are doing similar.

But this cultural shift is about much more than cold hard cash handouts, as welcome as they are. The most forward-thinking employers are taking a more holistic approach to fostering a workplace culture that makes people feel valued through the good and bad times. Creating relationships that go beyond the transactional.

Love2shop is now working with employers and their HR teams across multiple sectors. It is helping them to generate a positive culture by making people feel valued, recognised and rewarded.

“Love2shop vouchers are truly valued by our employees for the sheer variety they offer.”

One such business is Evri. A home delivery specialist, Evri has prospered thanks to the boom in e-commerce. It delivers packages to people’s homes, workplaces, as well as to ParcelShops and Lockers, seven days a week. It delivers more than 600m parcels a year on behalf of retailers including Next, ASOS and John Lewis.

Thanks to Evri’s rapid growth it now employs 6,500 people across the UK. It wanted to establish a rewards programme and approached Love2shop for help.

Working together they established the company’s ‘My Rewards’ programme using a combination of both Love2shop Digital Reward Codes and paper Love2shop Gift Vouchers.

Alongside the Love2shop Digital Reward Codes and paper Love2shop Gift Vouchers, there is a suite of products including Love2shop Contactless. Love2shop is also accepted by more than 150 leading UK consumer brands including Wilko, Iceland, Matalan and Argos, and Marks & Spencer (through exchange). People can use them to pay for everyday essentials and for little luxuries.

Evri’s My Rewards platform allowed colleagues to award one another Reward Points for their achievements at work to eventually be exchanged for prizes. It also frequently offered ad-hoc recognition, or ran on-site competitions, across their sites.

Rewards needed to be kept simple to redeem because many Evri employees speak English as a second language. This can present a challenge if a redemption process is complex or involves lots of text instructions.

Love2shop’s digital platform allows businesses to easily scale up

With such a diverse workforce, it was important that a broad variety of rewards was available through the scheme. And, because of its ongoing growth, Evri required a reward which could easily scale to service an ever-expanding workforce.

Evri’s Internal Reward Team, implementing the My Reward platform, also needed fast order turnaround to manage the demand from employees during busy staffing periods.

Reward Codes easily integrate with Evri’s My Rewards system while keeping simplicity a priority. Delivered by email, and redeemed without registration, they were the perfect fit for Evri’s platform and their staff’s needs.

Paper Love2shop Gift Vouchers make for excellent on-the-spot and ad-hoc rewards. They’re ideal for audiences with limited or differing computer skills or access to the Internet.

Sarah Woolley, a Reward Specialist at Evri, said: “Love2shop provides a quick, easy and reliable service and their Love2shop vouchers are truly valued by our employees for the sheer variety they offer. There really is something for everyone.

“The end-to-end process from ordering reward codes or vouchers and awarding these to employees is easy to navigate and quick, which works really well for us as we are such a fast-moving business. I would definitely recommend Love2shop to anyone looking for a flexible and comprehensive reward solution.”

Shift in workplace culture could ease burden of cost of living for employees

Many people across the UK will struggle to pay their bills in the coming months. It is a tough time for sure but what hopefully will emerge from this challenging time is a genuine shift in workplace culture.

Smart businesses are now recognising that the traditional relationship between employer and employee is changing. People want to be paid well but they also want to feel like they are part of an organisation that values them as people as well as the skills they bring to the job.

Companies that fully embrace this new way of doing business will create happier and more highly-motivated workforces as well as profitable and successful businesses.

You can read the Evri case study here.

Read our previous blogs…

What is customer acquisition

What is Customer Acquisition?

50 Employee Perks

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Cost of living rise presents big challenges – and there are ways to mitigate the impact

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Evidence of the UK’s worsening cost of living crisis is becoming impossible to ignore – it is there in the data and in countless anecdotal examples.

One high street butcher, Raymond Millar, reports that his customers had already started saving for their Christmas dinner in July. His savings scheme that allows people to buy their meat for the festive season doesn’t usually start until September.

Then there is the GP, Dr Laurence Dorman, who for more than a year has been offering food vouchers to his patients. He is now giving them out with increasing frequency. Dr Dormam told the BBC the cost of living crisis could have “massive, profound implications” for patients’ health.

It feels like the price of everything is on the rise. As we emerged from the pandemic supply chains struggled to keep up with demand. This caused an initial spike in inflation and now the Russian invasion of Ukraine has accelerated the crisis.

Energy costs push inflation upwards

Russia is a major global source of oil and gas and the war has put huge constraints on supply. From June 2021 to June 2022 gas prices for UK households soared by 95% and electricity prices by 54%. The UK’s wholesale electric price is linked to the price of gas.

From October 1, the energy price cap will go up further. The price cap is a mechanism that sets the maximum amount that suppliers can charge in England, Scotland and Wales. From October the typical annual gas and electricity bill is likely to reach £3,358, according to consultancy Cornwall Insight.

In contrast, in October 2021 the average annual bill was just £1,400. And Cornwall Insight is forecasting this could go above £4,200 by January 2023. Millions of people are wondering whether they will be able to afford to switch the heating on at all this winter. This may dampen the enthusiasm from some for working from home.

Finance and consumer rights guru Martin Lewis, says: “This is a national crisis on the scale that we saw in the pandemic.”

Martin, and many others, are now calling on the government to take urgent action to soften the blow. From September it is likely that, whoever is prime minister, whether that’s Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak, will be forced to act. Both have been vague on the issue during their campaigns. But once they take office, the pressure to act will be irresistible.

Inflation is now above 10% and the Bank of England is projecting it will hit 13% in the next few months, tipping the UK into recession. Food prices are rising rapidly in the shops. Who can forget the price of a tub of Lurpak surging above £9 in July?

Ukraine impact felt in the supermarkets

Again, the conflict in Ukraine is having a major impact. Ukraine is a leading exporter of essential commodities such as sunflower oil, grain, maize and wheat. The United Nations has warned global food costs could rise by 20%. The rising price of oil means the cost of moving food around is also much higher, adding to high prices.

Rising costs are also hitting businesses which are in turn facing the dilemma of whether or not to pass the costs onto their customers. Some cafes, bars and restaurants are considering reducing their opening hours to reduce outgoings, according to a study by eEnergy and Censuswide.

And even nipping out for a sandwich in your lunch break is now becoming more expensive. In the last few weeks both Boots and Co-op have hiked the prices of their meal deals. Outside London, Boots has put the price up from £3.39 to £3.59. In London it has gone up from £3.99 to £4.19.

Co-op’s meal deals have jumped in price from £3.50 to £3.75. And the nation’s favourite bakery chain, Greggs, is warning of rises of up to 9% on some products in the coming months.

There is upward pressure on the cost of getting to and from work. Motorists have already seen petrol prices at the pumps rocket. And public transport users face further unpredictability. Train tickets prices rise each January based on the retail price index from the previous July, plus 1%. This means commuters could face 12% fare rises in 2023.

Although still low by historical standards, interest rates are also on the rise. At the time of writing the Bank of England has pushed up rates to 1.75% from 1.25%. Those on fixed-rate mortgages have some protection for the moment. However, the average monthly cost of a tracker mortgage has increased by more than £160 since December 2021.

Simple actions that make a difference 

There are steps people can take to mitigate some of their daily outgoings. Sharing car journeys into work with colleagues could make a significant difference to fuel costs. As could using park and ride schemes. And although grocery prices are rising, taking your own lunch into work will always be cheaper than buying a sandwich.

And many coffee shops run loyalty schemes where you get a free hot drink after your card’s been stamped so many times, or a reduced price if you use a reusable cup. These smaller benefits can make a difference over time.

There are also things employers can do. There is an increasing number of businesses which are being pro-active. According to the Living Wage Foundation, 10,000 employers in the UK have now committed to paying the Real Living Wage. At £9.90 for most of the country and £11.05 in London, this is higher than the mandated National Minimum Wage.

In recent weeks there have been multiple reports of companies pledging one-off financial payments to help their people deal with the cost of living. One of those is Love2shop, which has offered a payment to all of its employees.

And the company is doing its bit for the wider community by partnering with digital payment business PayPoint. This agreement will see both parties expand their product range to provide local authorities with a new way of servicing the most financially at-risk people.

Employers can do their bit to help

Love2shop is also working with businesses across the country to help them offer real financial rewards and incentives through its Love2shop gifting products. Given the broad range of retailers available on Love2shop, it allows employers to meaningfully contribute to their employees’ cost of living dilemmas if that’s how they choose to spend their gift cards.

As well as the ‘treat’ opportunities with a Love2shop Gift Card, it’s also accepted by more than 150 leading UK consumer brands including Sainsbury’s, Argos, Tesco, Wilko, Iceland, Matalan, New Look, and Argos. So people can choose to buy everyday essentials or for those little luxuries.

With the new school year about to start, a multi-retailer gift card could offer great savings on the price of school uniforms or other essential items such as school shoes or a PE kit.

This is also the time of year when we start thinking about Christmas. People could use their gift card to get a head-start and buy gifts in advance, taking away some of the stress normally felt in November and December.

Some employers may be able to negotiate cheaper corporate discounts with local car parks to reduce parking costs, or allow more people to work from home when practical – if the costs don’t outweigh the costs of going to work considering the rising fuel costs come winter.

There are tough times ahead but employers can make a big difference to the lives of their employees for a modest outlay.

If you can see how Love2shop reward and recognition products could help your business, contact our business team today. Email [email protected] or call  0344 375 0739.

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Why incentives are key to brand loyalty

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Why incentives are key to brand loyalty

After two years of COVID turmoil businesses across the UK are now grappling with the cost of living crisis that is ushering in a period of extreme caution among customers.

With inflation at a 40-year high, consumer confidence is falling rapidly. Even if people have money in the form of savings they are now more reluctant to spend. They fear soaring prices for energy and food will put the squeeze on their spending capacity for the foreseeable future.

GfK’s latest Consumer Confidence Index reported confidence was now at an historic low. Data based on interviews with 2,000 adults in July showed the worsening economic situation was “darkening the mood” of the nation.

This fear and caution is mirrored in the B2B market where businesses are being much careful about their spending with other businesses. An index from NatWest looking at business activity across the UK recorded the lowest reading in six months in July.

Retailers are facing a more permanent shift in market dynamics. A move away from high street shops to e-commerce during the pandemic has swung back the other way. E-commerce market share peaked at 37.4% in February 2020 but has now fallen back to 25.3%.

However, research published by global professional services firm, Alvarez & Marsal, reveals an estimated 17.2m UK consumers plan to make permanent changes to the way they shop.

Whether your customers are consumers, or other businesses, the message is clear: you are now in a fiercely competitive trading environment.

People and businesses will still have to spend money, of course, but now more than ever they are looking for that extra bit of value. Extra incentives can make all the difference when decisions about major supply contracts are made.

Putting together the right package

So in this tougher period what can brands do to keep people and other businesses coming back and spending? What is the key to customer loyalty?

Economists across the world swear by the same four-word phrase – ‘people respond to incentives’. Some are more obvious than others. Offering the right product, available quickly, and at the right price is one of the basics.

What must also be remembered is that all buying – online or on the high street, personal or business – is an experience. Make the experience a frustrating or unpleasant one and people will take their business literally, and virtually, across the street.

Social media has put more pressure on brands to deliver both the product/service and the experience. Pity the poor souls in charge of the big brand Twitter accounts when the ‘my nan is 85 and you have treated her appallingly’ tweets arrive on their timelines.

So let’s say you have got the basics right. The stuff is all in stock, the price is low or competitive, smiling staff are ready and eager to cater for the customers’ every whim. If that is the baseline what extra value can you offer over and above?

What do the customers tell us?

Love2shop is working with businesses across a whole range of sectors to help them improve customer engagement and, in turn, retain customers in a challenging environment. Love2shop offer a number of solutions that will incentivise customers to keep coming back time and time again.

In a major survey carried out by Love2shop, 13,000 people were asked about what they thought were the best rewards when it came to brand loyalty or moving to a new supplier. The results were no surprise. They revealed people love choice and they love gift cards.

It ran two polls across two months asking people to pick their ideal loyalty prize, and their ideal sign-up gift from a selection of popular rewards. Both showed a big preference for multi-retailer gift cards and discounts, with the former by far the most popular.

In fact, a whopping 76.6% of respondents said it was their favourite option. This was followed by 13% for discount on their next purchase with VIP experiences, upgraded memberships and merchandise all scoring in single digits. Read more about the poll on the original blog.

This explains the popularity of the Love2shop rewards and the Love2shop Engagement Platform offered by Love2shop to reward and incentivise both staff and customers.

Love2shop rewards can be used in around 150 retailers, including well-known brands such as Marks & Spencer, Wilko, Iceland, Matalan, Argos, Costa, Harvester, Tui and Jet2Holidays and many, many more.

For customers or employees, Love2shop rewards can offer a treat, or it can be invaluable for life’s essentials such as food and even school uniforms. When money is tight it can make all the difference to people.

Hard data shows incentives do work

Brakes is the UK’s number one wholesaler to the hospitality trade. It also offers food delivery services direct to consumers. In 2021 it forged what proved to be a hugely successful partnership with Love2shop.

Utilising both the expertise of the Love2shop team and the engagement platform technology, the Brakes ‘Help for Hospitality’ campaign was created and launched. The reward programme, delivered through the platform, offered Brakes customers a blend of discounts, cashback, charitable opportunities and Love2shop rewards.

Added to that, Love2shop provided strategic, technical, creative, and software support for the campaign. Love2shop provided the software to deliver cashback and also the Love2shop rewards to Brakes customers.

At that time, the UK was still only slowly emerging from the final pandemic lockdown. In this context the outcome of the collaboration was spectacular. It delivered what was described as “exceptional” growth.

During the five months of this specific campaign Brakes reported that 7.5% of sales came from new categories and products. Additionally, 20% of Brakes customers engaged in the Help for Hospitality. It generated more than 60% of Brakes’ sales revenue during the promoted period.

Help for Hospitality’s success was recognised when it picked up Best Channel Partner Programme at the 2021 Incentive Awards. This annual event recognises excellence in the reward, incentive, and loyalty industry.

Adam Heywood, Head of Commercial Marketing at Brakes, said: “The Love2shop team did a phenomenal job with the Help for Hospitality campaign.

“We’re incredibly proud to see that valuable work recognised by the Incentive Awards. I’d like to congratulate both our team here at Brakes and thank Love2shop for all their support.”

People do indeed ‘respond to incentives’. The data on that is irresistible. It is food for thought for those businesses selling directly to the public and those trading with other businesses. Increasingly, offering extra value to your customers is no longer just optional.

If you can see how Love2shop reward and recognition products could help your business, contact our business team today. Email [email protected] or call  0344 375 0739.

Read our previous blogs…

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50 Employee Perks

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Press Release

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Love2Shop Partners With Payment to Provide Vulnerable Brits with Emergency Support Amid the Cost of Living Crisis

Digital e-Code allows local authorities to efficiently deliver essential goods

Leading multi-retail redemption product provider, Love2shop, has partnered with digital payment expert, PayPoint, to help provide some of the UK’s most vulnerable residents with emergency support amid the cost of living crisis.

The new partnership will see both parties expand their range of solutions to provide local authorities across the country with a new way of servicing the most financially at-risk people within their communities.

The all-digital initiative sees local authorities equipping residents with emergency e-Codes that are selectively issued to vulnerable residents for spending in three essential categories within the Love2shop Essentials Range: Food, clothing, and electricals, and a fourth one allows users to draw upon two of the Essentials or more.

Within each of these categories, there is a select number of high street retailers from which users can exchange their Love2shop Essentials e-Code given the Love2shop choice. These include choice from Asda, Sainsburys, Tesco, Primark, and Argos.

The initiative means residents who need urgent assistance with a purchase, such as a fridge freezer or clothing, will have a way of accessing funds, while the Love2shop Essentials Range provides authorities with an efficient new alternative when it comes to supporting communities.

This type of flexible financial support is needed now more than ever, according to the experts, as the cost of living crisis continues to grip millions of UK households, with living costs soaring and prices across the board increasing at their quickest rate in decades.

That’s why Love2shop and PayPoint have worked to ensure the service is quick, simple and effective for both the user and the participating authority, which allocates which category, (or categories), the e-Code can be activated within.

Local authorities order funds online on behalf of a resident, which are delivered as an e-Code via SMS, email or in the post. Once provided to a resident via email or SMS, users go to the Love2shop website and activate or register their account, before entering the supplied e-Code.

After the code has been activated, users simply select ‘Exchange’ to view the list of available retailers, before adding a selected retailer to their basket and checking out. The retailer’s e-Gift Card will then be emailed within 48 hours.

Frank Creighton, Director of Business Development at Love2shop, said: “Love2shop is delighted to deliver the Love2shop Essentials Range for PayPoint as it strengthens its work with local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales.

“When enabling vulnerable communities to receive critical funding to support them at a time when they need it most, local authorities can rely on Love2shop Essentials Range to deliver funds quickly, securely and safely.

“We provide a broad range of UK retailers through our Love2shop retailer partnerships allowing recipients of the funds to select their essential items from reliable brands, whether that’s food, clothing or electrical goods.

“As it is a digital activation and redemption process from start to finish, it is more secure than the cash equivalent, and can be used online, in addition to in-store, with the majority of the selected retailers.”

Danny Vant, Client Services Director for PayPoint, said: “This new scheme is simple for both the local authority and for the recipient of the funds. If a resident needs urgent help purchasing a new fridge, for example, the council will set up the e-Code to be used in one of four high street electrical retailers.

“However, if they need help buying food, the e-Code can be allocated for use in any one of five main supermarkets. With the cost of living crisis deepening, this type of flexible support is more important than ever, and it needs to be provided quickly to ensure the funds are available to help people immediately.”

About Love2shop

Love2shop is a leading gifting, prepayment and engagement company, and expert at creating joyful experiences and connecting people to the things in life they enjoy the most. Its purpose is to create more joy in the world by being trusted to help our customers with celebrating and rewarding. Love2shop is home to many of the country’s most-loved gifting, pre-payment and engagement solutions including Park Christmas Savings, highstreetvouchers.com and Love2shop, and is fast-becoming the home of digital innovation in gifting.

About PayPoint

For tens of thousands of businesses and millions of consumers, we deliver innovative technology and services that make life a little easier. The PayPoint Group serves a diverse range of organisations, from SME and convenience retailer partners, to local authorities, multinational service providers and e-commerce brands. Our products are split across three core business divisions.

If you have any media enquiries, please contact Niamh Gallagher, PR & Content Executive, at [email protected]