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Alison Withers
Copyright (c) 2010 Alison Withers Discount clubs were pioneered in the USA and have been around for many years and operate in some form in most countries. You can now find variations all around the world. Unlike store loyalty cards they offer discounts up front rather than shoppers saving up points for a later discount. The premise behind the concept is that once a company has reached break even point, new sales are limited to the variable cost of distibution, rather then to cover fixed overheads like rent, utilities and so on. Therefore, the percentage of the retail price previously allocated for fixed costs can be partially allocated as discounts to attract more customers while at the same time increasing bottom line profits. Some of the earliest ones specialised in savings in restaurants but gradually they developed into clubs offering discounts from retailers and suppliers in urban areas. The majority of discount/savings clubs provide a membership card and booklet. The reverse side of many club cards enable the restaurant to scratch off their number on the back of the card when it has been used. While most organisations continue to use a booklet listing participants and a membership card, more recently, many fast food restaurants have started offering two for one meals as a standard policy and providing these benefits from their own websites and from stand-alone clubs such as 'Taste of London' etc The membership discount idea has also developed into other fields from paying for energy supplies and utilities through to golf equipment. Some companies are now using a combination of a booklet, online site and membership cards. For a nominal annual fee consumers can log on to the site to draw down and print any offer that they are interested in. One UK based membership club, a newcomer in the field, is one of the first truly online sites. It arose out of the owner's existing business, a membership holiday club which allowed members to rent unused resort inventory and in-house stock to provide its members with a wide range of mostly self catering apartment holidays at affordable prices. The idea was to offer the holiday club members year round savings rather than limiting their savings from holidays purchased once or twice a year. The company's new discount membership club is for ordinary consumers in specific population conurbations - to match both restaurants and pubs and other retailers and suppliers with the local population. Members print off the voucher for the offer of their choice and take it to the supplier to get the savings/offer. Both merchants and consumers join on line. Unlike print media advertisements, affiliated businesses have 24/7 access to the website to modify, change, delete their offers. Consumers are emailed a weekly update on all new or modified offers. A reputable discount membership club does not allow you access to the discounts on its website until you have actually signed up and paid the annual membership fee yourself. In the face of ongoing predictions of tough economic times for years to come, the membership discount club is likely to become more and more attractive to hard-pressed consumers and to innovative businesses looking for ways to continue trading profitably.
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