Federated Department Stores Inc. is launching a nationwide Macy's customer loyalty program called Star Rewards, the Cincinnati company said yesterday.
The program takes effect March 1, five days before Federated changes the name of its 423 non-Bloomingdale's stores to Macy's. All active customers in all five Macy's divisions are being enrolled automatically in the new program.
The divisions include New York-based Macy's East and San Francisco-based Macy's West, plus other divisions to be converted to the Macy's nameplate March 6. They are Atlanta-based Rich's-Macy's, Lazarus-Macy's and Goldsmith's-Macy's, Miami-based Burdines-Macy's and Seattle-based Bon-Macy's.
Effective March 6, all 423 stores operated by these divisions will be known as Macy's.
Next week about 16 million Macy's and Macy's Visa credit cards will be sent to nearly 14 million current account holders. The mailing will continue through March, and all cards are free of annual fees.
“The new Macy's cards are tools for rewarding our best customers and for unlocking the value they will find in our stores,” said Amy Hanson, president of Federated's Financial, Administrative and Credit Services Group, which supports Macy's credit programs.
The new cards are color-coded to represent each customer's purchasing level at Macy's. The Macy's Red Star Rewards card is the baseline that most customers will receive. Customers at a higher level of spending will get a Gold Star Rewards card, followed by the Platinum Star Rewards card. The very best customers will have a black Macy's Elite Star Rewards card.
“Each tier receives a certain level of benefits,” Hanson said. “The more a customer spends with us, the higher her Star Rewards will be.”
Upper-end benefits include merchandise reward certificates representing an escalating percentage of purchases, free services such as gift-wrap, delivery and basic alterations as well as exclusive offers and events.
The loyalty program incorporates frequent-buyer benefits in categories such as hosiery and intimate apparel.
Starting in March for customers in the Pacific Northwest, followed by the rest of the country in April, Macy's will roll out enhanced credit statements that improve readability and show the rewards and benefits earned by customers.
Customers also will find new functionality on the online loyalty site within Macys.com (www.macys.com/starrewards) where they can track and monitor their Star Rewards activity.
Melissa Campanelli covers postal news, CRM and database marketing for DM News and DMNews.com. To keep up with the latest developments in these areas, subscribe to our daily and weekly e-mail newsletters by visiting www.dmnews.com/newsletters
