Tesco is marking the occasion of the 15th anniversary of its loyalty Clubcard by offering £120million worth of money off vouchers and an iPhone application that turns the phone into an electronic Clubcard. The Tesco Clubcard has been widely accepted by customers, and Tesco is obviously keen to trumpet that success and reinforce its use among a new generation of tecno-savvy shoppers.

Since their introduction, clubcards and similar schemes have been a valuable aspect of customer service to the retail sector and have helped industry players to retain their customers’ loyalty, and also gain valuable insights into their behaviour and spending.

Now as Tesco and other such retailers are entering the retail banking sector they already have the experience of attracting and retaining customers, by marketing to specific customers as individuals based on attitude, habits and lifestyle.
 
These new entrants to the banking sector come armed with a strong customer base, successful customer service experience and the benefit of not being constrained by legacy banking systems. This allows them the to apply the same highly customer centric retail practices to banking and also jump start the move to the latest payment methods such as contactless and mobile payments.

In this increasingly competitive landscape, the traditional banking sector needs to remain agile in order to maintain their 'traditional' competitive advantage. As customers are increasingly warming to the enticing offers from the new entrants and the idea of contactless and mobile payments, banks need to implement a flexible platform that can handle both the current payment systems and future payment methods.

By building in the infrastructure and flexibility required now, banks will have an agile solution that will allow them to move quickly and maintain their current competitive position in the market while at last focussing on their most important asset - their customers.