Geeks Need a New Loyalty Program

I'm in a lot of loyalty programs, and none of them have succeeded in getting and keeping me excited about shopping, or in making me feel like I really get something back when I spend. It could just be that I'm a full-time student and don't shop as much as most people, but I think the real reason is that no loyalty program really caters to the needs of technology enthusiasts and those with correlated interests. And I can suggest a solution.

Air Miles and Aeroplan, while they're not as focused on flying as their names would suggest, are oriented toward people who travel every chance they get (not me). Petro-Canada Petro Points and Canadian Tire Money are for people who drive (again, not me). Shoppers Optimum is for people who buy a lot of cosmetics and personal care items (mostly women and seniors). HBC Rewards are for people who buy a lot of clothes and furniture (mainly families with kids). Scotiabank SCENE is for people who go to the movies often (I use BitTorrent instead).

While these programs do offer smart phones and gaming hardware, these things cost a lot more points than I'll earn in the remotely foreseeable future. For instance, I've earned a total of 196 Air Miles since I enrolled two years ago, and a Nintendo DS — the cheapest game system on offer — costs 1650.

To be fair, I have made, and expect to continue to regularly make, grateful use of PC Points to acquire free groceries. Choosing a type of reward product that everyone uses — and that appeals to a basic biological need — is smart business. But there's nothing exciting about groceries, despite grocery chains' herculean efforts to convince us otherwise, and a loyalty program is supposed to get people excited about shopping.

(The ideal loyalty program for a broad market would be one where the rewards both excited consumers and appealed to a basic biological drive. Unfortunately, people already get free porn.)

I know a few sites, such as ThinkGeek, do have their own loyalty programs. But ThinkGeek doesn't sell computer parts, Magic: The Gathering cards or any of a number of other geek essentials. Their shipping to Canada (which can easily increase an order's grand total by 50%) is also way too expensive. For a loyalty program to serve the needs of me and my ilk, we'd have to be able to both earn and redeem the points at a wide range of stores. (Ideal would be the ability to earn points anywhere using a credit card in addition to some store sponsors.)

A good list of sponsoring stores might include the following:

• Electronics stores.
• Discount computer-part sites (e.g. TigerDirect, NewEgg).
• Comic/game stores.
• Technical publishers (e.g. IDG, O'Reilly).
• Campus bookstores (especially at UOIT, Waterloo and MIT), or bookstores specializing in fantasy and science fiction.
• ThinkGeek.

Possible rewards could include:

• Gift certificates and featured products from all of the above.
• Certification courses.
• MMORPG subscriptions.
• A broader selection of laptops and smart phones, possibly laptops with a la carte options (e.g. a RAM upgrade for an extra 300 points).
• Video games and game consoles.
• Energy drinks by the case.
• Alternative vehicles (such as Segways or cutting-edge electric mopeds).

And because geeks know how to comparison shop and don't believe in name brands for food or clothing, we'd need to be able to earn at discount stores. We're smart enough to know if we're paying more in higher prices for our reward points than they're worth (e.g. Air Miles at Metro supermarkets).

Geeks have a lot of unusual interests, but with the right reward program, we can all have at least one mainstream interest: an interest in shopping.

Geeks Need a New Loyalty Program