Excellence on the cards | Incentive & Motivation

With Christmas just a few weeks away, Sainsbury’s Business Direct is gearing up for one of its busiest times of the year. And with a new website, updated branding, plus new Quick Response (QR) gift cards – the business division of Sainsbury’s has never been in better shape.

Sainsbury’s is one of the UK’s best known grocery stores. Founded in 1869 it has now grown to over 1,100 stores nationwide, with its objective of making customers’ lives easier every day by offering great quality and service at fair prices. Over 174 million in-store transactions take place every week at Sainsbury’s, with customers attracted by the retailer’s extensive product offering (high-quality food, drink, Tu fashion, homewares, electricals, DVDs, CDs, books and gardenproducts). It is this wide appeal and
 product mix that gives a Sainsbury’s gift card its strong gifting credentials, as well as making it a perfect promotions partner.

Sainsbury’s Business Direct has over 20 years of experience in the corporate marketplace. During this time the businessto- business division of Sainsbury’s has built up an impressive product range and a wide variety of services. With over 13 gift cards available (including Pre-denominated Cards, the Everyday Shopping Card, the Let’s Celebrate Card, Petrol Card and Business Procurement Card) there’s a Sainsbury’s gift card to suit every business. Gift vouchers and food tokens are also available.

Sainsbury’s gift cards and vouchers can be used by corporate users in a number of ways including employee motivation and reward, as Christmas and business gifts, voluntary benefits, to reward and engender customer loyalty and also as a sales/ promotion incentive. Sainsbury’s Business Direct has also recently moved into the fundraising and member benefit arena, where organisations can make savings or raise funds, simply by doing their weekly shop.

This month sees the launch of the new Sainsbury’s Business Direct website, with improved site navigation ensuring that corporate users can find what they need to know quickly and simply. The website also an interactive discount calculator, enabling  hose who bulk order to view what corporate discounts can be offered, at a touch of a button. A new online order form has also been added to the site to make ordering Sainsbury’s gift cards and vouchers even simpler in the run-up to the busy festive season.

Sarah Chesterton, commercial manager at Sainsbury’s Business Direct says: “We’ve invested heavily in the new website to make it a platform that not only provides up-to-date information on our products and services, but one that benefits our customers too. Elements such as better navigation, online ordering and the discount calculator will really make a difference to our customers’ experience with Sainsbury’s Business Direct online.”

Also new to Sainsbury’s Business Direct, is the creation of the QR Everyday Shopping Card, which enables the end user to obtain an instant balance at their fingertips – wherever they are. By scanning the QR code on the back of their gift card using a smartphone, users will instantly have access to their gift card balance. This service offers real added benefit to Sainsbury’s gift card holders. Currently the service is only available on the Sainsbury’s Everyday Shopping Card, but this will be
rolled out across the suite of cards in 2015.

Sarah continues: “The new website and QR cards are just two of the latest developments from Sainsbury’s Business Direct and we are confident that these innovations will pay dividends in the run-up to Christmas. However, we have a number of plans afoot for 2015 which we believe will help us to further improve upon Sainsbury’s business-to-business offering moving forward… watch this space.”