Cases 10.04.2024

K-food stores used data to create real value for their customers

Marketing development Marketing effectiveness Sales growth Digital marketing Marketing communications Marketing optimization Customer insight

How to improve customer experience and increase customer value in the midst of price competition?
K-food stores solved the problem by turning customers’ own data into an insightful tool for price communication. The result is an explosion in the number of users of the K-Food app and OmaPlussa benefits.

K-food stores had lost market share to competitors. As accelerating inflation raised the price sensitivity of Finns sharply in autumn 2022, price competition became increasingly fierce.
The K-food chains had 3.3 million Plussa customers, but the number of users of the K-Food app had remained at the same level for years: only a fraction of Plussa card holders used the K-Food app weekly. On the other hand, the value of their shopping basket was higher than average and they visited K-food stores more often than others.

The OmaPlussa benefits were already the most popular content in the K-Food app, but only a small number of customers knew about the benefits and took advantage of them.

Not all-round price advertising, but data-driven targeted offers

K-food stores are the only stores in the market able to offer price reductions and offers based on the customer’s purchase history. Therefore, customers had to be encouraged to download the K-Food application and link their Plussa card to it. In this way, they would receive offers on the very products they would buy anyway.

By telling about the OmaPlussa benefits, K-food stores would be able to meet the needs of a very wide, price-sensitive group of customers. When customers could find their standard products at a lower price, this good customer experience would have an impact on K-stores’ price image more broadly than traditional “everything for everyone” price advertising.

Awareness > consideration > download > use

The aim of the launch phase was to increase awareness and consideration of the K-Food application and OmaPlussa benefits among a wide target group by utilising mass media. Because the creative solution needed to appeal to as large an audience as possible, Kiti Kokkonen, a comedian loved by the whole nation, was chosen as the main character of the campaign. He helped boost the campaign’s attention and lowered the threshold for downloading and using the app.

More continuous targeted digital advertising encouraged new customers to download the K-Food application and those who had already downloaded it to activate their customer accounts and use it regularly.

Downloading the application was rewarded with a free product and using the OmaPlussa section with a significant discount on one product that changes weekly. Data was used to select attractive staple foods from well-known brands for both awards, which appealed to slightly different customer groups in different weeks.

As the aim was to activate existing customers in the use of the K-Food app, K-food stores’ own media played a key role.

The entity was built on close cooperation between Kesko’s different functions and the desire to create value for customers with data. A good customer experience required the right kind of analytics-based productisation, pricing and distribution in all 1,200 K-food stores, smooth digital service and attractive marketing communications.

The use of the service exploded

The number of weekly users of the app doubled in five months. It continuously accumulates customer data, which enables even better data targeting of offer advertising.

In addition, the purchase frequency and shopping cart value of Plussa customers using the K-Food app increased.

K-food chains aim to offer the best customer experience and increase customer value – this was achieved in less than six months.