Ritchie’s Supermarkets – Australia
Thursday, March 2nd, 2006Who Are They?
Ritchies Supermarkets and Liquor Stores is an Australian owned private company started in 1873.
What Do They Do?
Ritchies devised an unorthodox solution when it had financial difficulties 13 years ago by deciding to “give away money.” They developed a customer loyalty program where 1 per cent of what was spent in the stores would go to the sports club, kindergarten, hospital or whatever community group the customers chose.
“Behind this sudden display of corporate philanthropy lay a hard-headed business strategy. The generosity was really a customer loyalty program that immediately restored profitability and that has since allowed the company to more than triple its number of stores around Victoria and open outlets in NSW. The Ritchies Community Benefit Card was introduced at its Hastings store in 1993 during the recession. The effects were immediate. In August 1993, the once-struggling group gave away $1164. That meant it had already generated $116,400 in sales. Within months, more stores were being brought into the fold. There were 10 stores in the group when the card was launched. Now there are 34 around Victoria and eight in NSW; another six are in the process of being acquired….The total pool of money being allocated is now running at $280,000 a month. By the end of January 2006, Ritchies had donated a total of $15.9 million to 3500 organisations. In 2005, $2.9 million of its sales went to charity.”
Ritchies supports not only big-ticket causes such as the Royal Children’s Hospital school ($641,273.50 for library books, computers and CD-ROMs, along with an artist-in-residence program and memorial garden at the hospital),the Cancer Council ($10,000 a month), and the Salvation Army ($843,535)but also thousands of local primary schools, fire brigades, cancer support groups, Rotary clubs, football clubs, the RSPCA and the National Stroke Foundation. “Community benefit program co-ordinator Judy Rebecca said allowing shoppers to nominate charities of their choice helped generate strong customer loyalty, and return visits. Because they chose a particular charity, they would have a vested interest in shopping at Ritchies. “We had always given money to charitable organisations but the problem was that, when we gave the money, we didn’t really know whether the people were supporting us or not,” Ms Rebecca said. “So the reason we had the card was that the more you support Ritchies, the more money you would get.” Similarly, the charities also got the message out to start shopping at Ritchies. “Once a group gets money out of it, they seem to let people know.”
Ritchies’ Community Benefit Card Program
Ritchies’ Community Benefit Card Program donates a percentage of the money spent by customers to their nominated club, school or charity.
“Customers! Would you like us to donate money to your service or sporting club, your children or grandchildrens school or kindergarten, your local hospital, or your favourite charity, every time you shop with us? The Ritchies’ Community Benefit program can raise funds for your favourite club, school or charity at no extra cost to you! Do you belong to an organisation that is likely to be seeking funds this year?
Imagine!
” No more preparation of lengthy grant applications!
” No conditions on how you spend the money!
” No performance monitoring!
” You control the amount you receive!
” Ritchies’ Community Benefit Card program is simple to work with and participate in!”
From: http://www.ritchies.com.au/benefits.html#topstory
What’s Cool?
On all Ritchies Supermarket’s webpages, they have a real time donation tracker showing the donations made to clubs, schools, and charities to-date displayed using a flash file.
On the Ritchie’s home page, they have a prominent link to their “Community Benefit Card.” After clicking on the link, customers go to a web page describing the benefit card program as well as what nonprofits they are supporting. http://www.ritchies.com.au/benefits.html#topstory.
How Did We Hear About Them?
For the complete article, “It Could Be Time You Gave It Away”, by Leon Gettler in The Age, go to: http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/it-could-be-time-you-gave-it-away/2006/03/01/1141191732618.html
Contact Information:
Ritchies
