With 2.9 million members, Trumf is Norway's largest loyalty program and provides customers with benefits in NorgesGruppen's chains; Kiwi, Spar, Meny, Joker and partners such as Mester Grønn, Norli, Apotek 1, Esso, Shell, Talkmore, Fjordkraft, Via Trumf.
Bigseth was one of the founders of Trumf 27 years ago.
– It was the gas station market that had come furthest with a loyalty program back in 1997 when we started with Trumf. We knew that other players were working on similar concepts, so it was a little battle to be first!
Kristin Bigseth is the general manager of Trumf.
The concept of Trumf is simple. Customers who shop in one of NorgesGruppen's chains or partners get money back every time they shop, and save Trumf bonuses on everything from groceries to fuel, electricity, e-commerce, travel and flowers.
Trumf currently covers 75 percent of Norwegian households. According to Bigseth, a lot has changed in the grocery trade since its inception in 1997, especially in digitalization and data.
– Things are more complex today than before, especially with the enormous development we have seen in digitalization. The battle for customers is also tougher now than it was before. Today's consumers place completely new demands on personalization and relevant messages, in the right channel. We want to be a natural part of our members' everyday lives and they should experience that it is easy to be a Trumf member and to save bonuses on their daily consumption.
Trumf currently covers 75 percent of Norwegian households.
Crucial with trust
Bigseth believes that increased digitalization and smart use of data are at the center of success in winning customer loyalty.
– In its simplest form, a loyalty program is about how you can take care of your customers. Personalization, seamless customer journeys, and trust are three key ingredients to achieve this. If we are to achieve personalized customer experiences and relevant messages, we must have the customers' trust that we use their data responsibly. This means that the customer can choose what kind of information they want to share at any time in exchange for a more personalized customer experience.
Personalized marketing and customer experiences have long been one of the hottest trends in retail. A recent study from McKinsey shows that personalized marketing can reduce the cost of acquiring a new customer by as much as 50 percent, increase revenue by 5 to 15 percent, and increase the return on marketing investments by 10 to 30 percent.
NorgesGruppen is currently a strategic partner with Forte Digital to achieve just that. Bigseth believes that smart use of data will be a competitive advantage in order to succeed in winning over the customers of the future.
– Together with Forte, we are working closely with the various chains in NorgesGruppen to use customer data more actively. It is crucial to create good customer experiences across physical and digital surfaces, personalize communication and come up with relevant messages that help customers make better choices in their everyday lives.
In collaboration with Forte Digital, KIWI works to create the best user experiences for its customers. At the heart of this is the KIWI PLUSS app.
At Customer Experience Day 2024, Bigseth talked about how NorgesGruppen is working to map the shopping experience of the future. Using data as a strategic resource is one of the grocery giant's most important strategic goals.
– Data is a key part of our strategy. But we have a job to do to make the data even more accessible, and it will only become a competitive advantage when we have really succeeded with it. Then we can use the data to a greater extent as decision support in the organization, build new relevant services for customers and personalize marketing and campaigns.
Bigseth says that smart use of data has also been crucial for innovation and the development of new digital products and services.
– The diet and climate service in Trumfappen and SPAR's new food waste solution are good examples of services where data has been a key prerequisite. An introduction of 2D code on our products will allow consumers to know at all times which items are in the refrigerator that are about to expire. Accessible data, a good data basis, data quality are a prerequisite for being able to develop new innovative services like this.
With the new climate and diet service in Trumfappen, NorgesGruppen can deliver on its sustainability strategy while creating the best user experiences for its customers.
The future shopping experience
NorgesGruppen has, in collaboration with Forte Digital, prepared a scenario for what the shopping experience of the future will look like towards 2032. Here, various areas of opportunity and success criteria have been identified and prioritised that are important to focus on in order to ensure customer value, business value and market position in the future as well.
The customer experience of the future is central to the further strategy work for Trumf and the chains, and several different scenarios have been prepared. A total of six success criteria have been identified:
Everything is personalized - seamless shopping experience that simplifies everyday life.
Seamless commerce across physical and digital channels.
Data, AI and advanced analytics as competitive advantages in seamless, personal commerce and the development of new value-added services.
The flexible and inspiring store – adapted to the customer's needs.
Diet, health and well-being – what you eat affects your health.
Marketplace and collaboration.
– I think the customers of the future will place new demands on the brands, especially related to transparency around the value chains of the goods. We must be able to answer how this coffee bean came about, and what journey it has had before it ended up in the customer's Moccamaster.
The key to speeding up digitalization
According to Bigseth, there are three things in particular that must be in place to speed up digitalization. She points to autonomous and interdisciplinary teams, flexible architecture and a clear strategy as crucial.
– Like many others, we want to work smoothly. This means that we have different product and service teams that work autonomously and interdisciplinarily. It's important that we break down our digital strategy for the different areas we work in, so that each team has the autonomy to achieve these goals.
Central to this is the agile way of working.
– Giving the various disciplines greater responsibility based on an overall strategy and I believe is the key to speeding up digitalisation. However, it requires that you have set clear ambitions and goals. She adds:
– At the same time, you need a modern digital service platform that provides flexibility. Such an IT architecture ensures better and easier access to relevant data that can be used by everyone in the organization to gain more insight and make better decisions. A digital service platform ensures that people work well together.
What is the most fun thing about your job?
– I think I have the world's most exciting job and am enormously proud to work at NorgesGruppen. There are so many good people that you can get knowledge and insight from at any given time. That you learn something every single day and that we push each other to always look for new opportunities and use all the insights we have to help our customers. We are helping to create the shopping experience of the future, and that makes me proud.
