For nearly 70 years, Blain’s Farm & Fleet has stood as a trusted destination for rural and suburban consumers across the Midwest—earning its reputation as the “modern general store” through a steadfast commitment to community, convenience, and customer loyalty.
In this edition of Leaders in Customer Loyalty: Brand Stories, we sat down with Aly Blawat, who leads Customer Research, Insights, Personalization Strategy, and Loyalty at Blain’s Farm & Fleet, to learn more about how the brand continues to evolve its value proposition, listen deeply to its customers, and execute a loyalty strategy that’s both personal and purpose-driven.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Good afternoon, good morning.
It's Mark Johnson fromLoyalty360.
Welcome back to our Leaders inCustomer Loyalty series, the
Brand Stories edition.
It's.
Thursday so thank you very muchfor joining us.
Today, we're spotlighting abrand that is not just keeping
up with customer expectations,but actively reshaping them.
Blaine's Farm and Fleet, atrusted name for hardworking
(00:23):
families across the Midwest,recently took home top honors at
the 2025 Loyalty Expo aplatinum award for the co-brand,
private label, credit cardofferings and a bronze in the
offer, incentive and rewarddesign category.
These wins reflect a loyaltystrategy that is grounded and is
(00:45):
also forward-thinking, designedto meet the evolving needs of a
diverse and growing customerbase.
Joining us today is AllieBlauwit, senior Director of
Customer Strategy at Blaine'sFarm and Fleet.
Allie is going to unpack thevision behind Blaine's Rewards
Program, how the team isleveraging data and empathy to
deepen customer relationships,and what it takes to build
(01:05):
customer loyalty that lasts intoday's competitive retail
environment.
Allie, congratulations on therecognition.
Welcome to the show.
How?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
are you today?
I'm doing very well, thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Great, great great.
First off, for those who maynot be familiar, can you give us
a brief introduction toBlaine's Farm and Fleet?
You know how.
Why was the company started?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Yeah, absolutely so we are.
We dubbed ourselves as themodern general store.
We are a private, family ownedcompany.
Claude and Burt Blainepioneered this idea of a
discount supply store that wasopen to the public in order to
fulfill their mission ofproviding quality products to
the hardworking and ruralfarmers of Wisconsin at an
(01:50):
affordable price.
In 1955, you weren't able togive out discounts.
There weren't any loyaltyprograms available to the public
, you had to have a fleet, andso that would be five engines or
more, and Bert and Claudeworked together to make this
kind of come to life through thepartnerships with the
government and what the farmersin Wisconsin specifically really
(02:14):
needed at that time.
And really what we've beenfocused on is providing anything
you might need for work, homeand outdoor to all of our
neighbors across the Midwest.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Okay, so you mentioned fleet.
You had to have I guess yousaid five trucks in order to be
able to give some sort of adiscount to someone in the 50s.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Yeah, five engines, yeah.
So your truck, your tractor,your lawnmower, any other kind
of machinery you might need torun your farm?
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Okay, perfect, and I'm fascinated by different
things.
How did they go about enforcingsomething like that?
Did the farmer down the roadhave to show that they had five
different types of equipment orfive engines?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
You had to show some sort of proof for it.
You know, a lot of it back thenwas more word of mouth and just
making sure and then, once youkind of confirmed, they would
get a card.
So you would actually getbasically a loyalty card that
would say you know, you're ableto get these discounts now
because you qualify.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
That's awesome.
Yeah, we talked about it before.
You guys very customer focused.
You know, in your perspective,in your opinion, what led to the
great success.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Yeah, I mean at Blaine's, we really pride
ourselves in continuing to adaptand expand our products and
services to meet our customers'diverse lifestyles and needs,
all while treating you like ourneighbor.
We aim to have everything, likeI said, for your home, for work
, for outdoor, and how that'sbeen changing over the last
(03:41):
several decades.
You know we're really close toour customers over the last
several decades.
You know we're really close toour customers.
We get a lot of feedback andinsights from our store
associates, from our DC team, onwhat's kind of moving, what's
not moving.
Our contact center team andreally everyone who works at the
corporate office spends quite abit of time in our stores, on
our website, to get a feel forwhat our neighbors are going
(04:02):
through and the decisionsthey're trying to make every day
, and we're making pivots in ourbusiness to fulfill that need.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Okay, and one of the things that we're very
interested in, always interestedin hearing, because customer
loyalty isn't really somethingthat's taught in school, right?
We'd love to know more aboutyour role at the company, what
you do today and also, how didyou get to where you are today?
Were there roles that you had?
Were you an accountant, andsaid, ah, this loyalty thing
sounds really cool.
How did you go about gettinginto customer loyalty?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean I'll tell you first kindof my role here.
I oversee customer research,insights and analytics, as well
as the personalization strategyand loyalty program management.
So my team really plays thiscrucial role in the whole
organization and we serve as thevoice of the customer.
To get here, though, you knowmy whole career has been in
(04:54):
customer experience.
You know a customer-centrictype of a role from from the
very beginning.
I started in retail with Kohl's.
I went and spent some time atHarley-Davidson, but all the
roles I've always had have beenaround customer experience,
program management, themarketing technology you might
need to fulfill customerexperience expectations.
(05:17):
I spent a ton of time in loyaltyand credit at Kohl's, really
building the execution as wellas the strategy and a lot of the
analytics behind it to measuresuccess.
I kind of got through a lot ofthose things early in my career
and then I spent time in more ofa strategy and insights role.
So I was customer insights,analytics and strategy and I was
(05:40):
really focused on theenterprise level, so kind of the
large umbrella of what we weretrying to do at Kohl's at the
time and then also spent sometime focused on the women's
apparel business and the beautybusiness, providing insights and
analytics and reportingdirectly to the buying teams, to
the merchandising teams digitaland in-store to really help
(06:04):
bring this experience to life,and they all kind of tie
together around.
I would say, like yourlong-term customer loyalty, not
necessarily a program strategy,but how do you get customers to
continue to shop and engage withyour brand all the time you
know, and whatever thatfrequency might be, whether
they're buying a motorcycle orgear or you know, everyday
(06:28):
apparel and home products, likeKohl's had and now here at
Blaine's kind of all of thoseroles are combined under what my
team is responsible for.
So it's been really nice tohave, you know, a foot in
everything everyone's doing.
And I say a foot because I'm notnecessarily orchestrating you
know the day to have you know afoot in everything everyone's
doing.
And I say a foot because I'mnot necessarily orchestrating
you know the day to day, but Iam definitely guiding and
(06:50):
leading the team to help thinkboth long term and short term.
How do we maintain thatcustomer loyalty in a company
that you know is has been aroundfor 70 years but also has
really loyal customers?
But that base is changingrapidly as the kind of
agricultural space changes, ascountry living is changing.
(07:13):
So there's a lot of opportunitythat I'm super excited to
oversee.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Yeah, a bunch of the city folk want to move out of
the country.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
It's kind of a challenge.
So very iconic brands.
You work with right Colts backin the day, maybe not as much
now but obviously kind of whatyou did.
There is very interestingHarley-Davidson iconic brand,
deep customer loyalty.
A quick question just goingback to that role how often do
people trade up in motorcycles?
Because I know Harley's hadsome challenges now with the
(07:43):
younger bike offerings.
I have a motorcycle and justbought it.
It's like my dream bike.
I don't ever foresee buyinganother bike.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
How often?
Speaker 1 (07:50):
do you change bikes?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Not often.
You know there's certaincustomers.
You know the touring customerswill get their bike and they
would stay on it for years.
You know they'd get it paid offand they'd spend some time with
it without having that paymentand then they'd come up with a
new feature or something thatthat model they have doesn't
(08:13):
offer anymore.
So I would say it was probablyclose to 10 years for those
touring bikes.
For some of the smaller ones,the Sportsters and kind of more,
your day-to-day commute bikes,you did see a little bit more of
a conversion there but honestly, a lot of what Harley was
trying to do was to get you intothe brand with the bike and
then keep you coming back withthe parts, with the accessories,
(08:35):
with your gear and youreveryday lifestyle apparel as
well.
So there was definitely aninteresting component to what a
new customer was for Harley,because it could take a really
long time to see someone comeback again for that second
purchase.
So it really came back to theaccessories.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
OK, absolutely, it's a loyalty program without a
loyalty program.
Exactly yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
There's not many brands that have the extreme
loyalists with the tattoos.
Harley's one.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
There you go, absolutely.
So when you look at your roleholistically, a lot of
responsibility growing andimpact.
Customer loyalty is obviouslyyou guys doing a very solid job
with that, from employeeengagement all the way through.
But when you look at some ofthe challenges or opportunities
you face within your role, youknow what are some of the
biggest challenges oropportunities that you face.
You know what does keep you upat night.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
That's a great question, you know.
The main thing for me is we andI say we as in retail, you know
we are all trying to attractthis new, you know, younger
customer to our brands.
But we have to be reallycautious that we're not
alienating our existing corecustomer.
Who, who has that loyalty?
(09:49):
You know they are coming backfrequently, they are spending
lots of their wallet with us.
They're very important to thebrand.
But to attract that newcustomer, sometimes the, the
message is going to be reallydifferent.
So the the thing that keeps meup is you know how bold is too
bold.
How do we gain that newcustomer that's going to kind of
(10:11):
give us the largest payoff in,in kind of the investment, in
the messaging, the benefits, theexperience that's not going to
take away our best customers,you know, and who they need us
to be?
And how do we do all thesethings while staying authentic
and true to ourselves?
(10:31):
You know we've got old roots.
You know we've been around.
People know us.
In Wisconsin they refer to usas farm and fleet.
In Michigan they refer to us asBlaine's.
They know who we are and theyknow what we stand for and they
know what they can trust us forand if we make these big changes
to attract these new customerswho have never heard of us or
(10:54):
see farm in our name and think,well, I don't need to shop at a
farm store, how do we breakthrough into that awareness and
consideration stage withoutlosing who we truly are and
still keeping our best customersand our core customers happy?
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Absolutely.
Blaine's Farm and Fleetoperates in a very unique
cross-section kind of ruralliving, the agricultural, but
also home maintenance, petsupplies.
You kind of have across-section of great offerings
.
Retail's changing.
The economic situation is kindof challenging right now as well
.
How do you see your customerschanging and how are you
(11:31):
evolving to meet the needs ofthose customers?
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Yeah, and it is changing.
You know we talked a little bitearlier about that kind of big
migration to country living overthe last five years or so and
people are getting a little bitmore courageous at things like
starting their own gardensvegetables, flowers, even fruits
, sometimes raising chickens.
You know a lot of people are.
(11:55):
They have chickens in thesubdivisions.
You know they're allowed tohave them and so they get them
and now they have eggs.
They're experiencing this smallelement of what it's like to be
in the country and you know tobe a farmer, they have's like to
be in the country and you knowto be a farmer, they have their
own livestock in that way,having, you know, multiple dogs
and cats inside and outside,doing their own landscaping,
lots of DIY projects.
(12:17):
You know everyone's a DIYer.
Now it seems they might hiresomeone to do a few parts of the
job, but everyone's got theirhands in it.
Now they want to own whatthey've done and while all this
is happening, there are actuallyless people working in the
trades and so our consumer forBlaine's is changing because I
(12:39):
would say in the last 10, 20years it was a first, second,
third generation family farmer.
Ours today isn't really thatanymore.
You know we still have thosepeople, but we have more growth
with first time hobby farmers orhomesteaders trying to figure
it out on their own, and thefarm channel in general is
(13:00):
trying to evolve with this byoffering, you know, more pet,
more outdoor, versus beingstrictly a farm store.
We're all trying to buildrelevance with all these
different lifestyles, even withfarm in our name.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Okay, excellent.
So when you look at some of theeconomic uncertainty now
inflation, supply chain there'stariffs, not tariffs.
There may not be tariffs.
There's a war, not a war.
It creates some, you know,consternation kind of noise
within the organization, right,so you know what macroeconomic
pressures are you seeing kind ofpotentially impacting your
(13:35):
customers and their customerloyalty and even maybe the
experiences you're trying todeliver.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Yeah, we're definitely feeling it.
Everything you said inflation,the supply chain, the tariffs
you know we're seeing the samethings that you know a lot of
the other major players are too.
You know we've got a whole slewof national brands from
Milwaukee Tool, dewalt,craftsman, carhartt, columbia.
(14:01):
You know we've got all thesebrands.
Some have some component ofmade in the USA, some do not,
some are facing tariff pressuresharder than others, so we're
all kind of mixed in with allthose two.
But one of the things thatreally sets us apart is our
private brand and we are seeinga lot of success with private
(14:22):
brand and we have for a longtime.
But we're seeing that as ourneighbors are trading down, they
are moving to the Blaine's Farmand Fleet brand or some of our
other private brands that wehave throughout the store Snacks
and candy, automotive, pet agand apparel and really when
brands or prices are consistentacross multiple stores, we are
(14:46):
also standing apart because ofour customer experience.
We're staffed, our teams aretrained, we have best-in-class
NPS.
Our loyalty members are findingvalue in shopping at Blaine's.
We're seeing a big migration tothe website, even in market,
where people are really enjoyingthat experience some of the
perks that a loyalty member haswhen they shop online, with same
(15:08):
day delivery, our drive-throughexperience with pickup at store
and even shipping to home.
We also have our best pricepromise, which is our price
matching program, and that alsohelps kind of give that
reassurance that we're going tocontinue to serve them with the
fair and honest pricing that wealways have.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Excellent.
You know customer loyalty isall that we do.
The people that are in it arevery passionate about it, which
is awesome, At least most people.
When you look at customerloyalty, what does customer
loyalty mean to you and toBlaine's Farm and Fleet?
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yeah, I mean for us.
It's choosing Blaine's.
You know, even though you'regoing to pass by several other
retailers to get to us, you'restill.
You're choosing us and you'readvocating for us.
You're telling people aboutyour experience.
You're telling people, oh, I'mgoing to Blaine's this weekend.
Or I was just at Blaine's and Isaw this and that and you know
the other thing too, and I wentthere for you know the other
(16:07):
thing too, and I went there foryou know, dog food.
But I came out with a wholecart full of other things that I
didn't realize I needed until Igot there and I walked around.
So it's advocating and it'sit's choosing us.
You know, we know there arehundreds of options where you
could shop and get basically allthe same things that we have.
You know, to some extent, butprobably not in one place and
(16:27):
definitely not at the sameprices and certainly not without
the perks of being a rewardsmember and getting access to
some of the other discounts,savings, fulfillment options,
things like that.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Okay, your reward program, and I know you have a
new offering called FARMS.
How does that support yourlong-term vision for building
deeper, more meaningful customerrelationships?
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Yeah, I mean rewards.
For us is the key topersonalization.
The data value exchange iswhat's allowing for those deeper
relationships and giving usopportunities to thrive more as
kind of that emotional loyaltyconnection with our neighbors.
We have thousands and thousandsof SKUs in our stores, but
(17:13):
knowing which transaction andbrowsing history shopping
behaviors belong to eachindividual customer helps us to
tailor our offerings,discounting, messaging, to
really bring the most relevantinformation forward so that you
don't have to work through thesea of all these things that
aren't relevant to you.
How do you make sure that youknow lanes is showing you what
(17:38):
you need to see the most, Notnecessarily only the stuff you
already buy, but also thingsthat you might not know we have
that would complement the stuffyou're already buying.
With farms, you know our bestcustomers are buying a lot of
things in bulk, and so whatfarms is doing on the business
(17:59):
side is it's allowing us toconfidently fulfill those large
orders so we're able to kind ofensure we're going to have the
quantity that they need, becausethese are pretty big bulk
orders that are happening everycouple weeks.
How do we make sure the storethat they want to pick it up at
is going to have it without overinventory at a certain location
(18:21):
if that customer doesn't needit anymore?
All those things kind of tietogether.
All those things kind of tiedtogether.
But then where the, I would say, the bow is at the end is the
additional touch points outsideof our stores.
And that's really where ourcredit card program helps is
kind of having these touchpoints with Blaine's when you're
not with us, when you're at thegas station or the grocery
(18:43):
store doing your other errandsthat we're not there for.
How do we make sure we're stilltop of mind?
And that's where the card comesinto place.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
That's perfect.
How did customer feedback orshopping patterns or some of the
data that you talked about,support or influence the
development of the FARMS program?
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Yeah, I mean, many of our customers are business
owners or farmers and, like Isaid, they're buying these
things, items, certain items inbulk.
Very frequently the flexible agrewards member subscription,
which is farms, acts like areminder program.
So, if you're buying 20 or moreof the same SKU, we need to make
(19:23):
sure one we have the inventoryto support it when we know
you're going to come back andwhen you need it.
But we also want to make surethe customer is confirming that
before we just send it to thatstore or charge them for the
order, because the last thingyou need is a pallet full of
things you're not ready for.
So we really put the control inthe hands of our customer with
(19:46):
minimal disruption for them.
With the program.
It's super flexible in thatthey are able to skip, they can
snooze, they can change thefulfillment reminder period.
So if they set it for eightweeks and they want it to be six
weeks, you know it acts like asubscription program would,
without you know the actualcommitment to purchasing it,
(20:09):
unless the customer has approvedit.
And really where that came fromis our customers will complain
to us about other autoreplenishment programs or
subscription programs thatthey're in it's.
I need this stuff, but I don'tneed it too soon and I certainly
can't wait and get it too late.
I've got animals to feed orprojects to work on or
(20:30):
businesses to run.
I need it when I need it andthat's the way it is, and I
don't always know exactly when Ineed it, but I'll let you know,
and so our program was designedwith all this in mind.
It's really not about maximumrevenue and maximum margins.
It's more about having thatgreat experience to ensure they
can get exactly what they needwhen they need it from us.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
That's awesome At the 2025 Lowell TX about a month
ago.
I can't believe it's been thatlong.
Value was a big discussion,right.
Value in the brands, value inthe program.
Value internally around theprogram so it's a pretty big
construct in the program.
Value internally around theprogram so it's a pretty big
construct.
You've talked about it in thepast as well.
When you look at retail sectorslike farm home automotive,
(21:20):
there's some price sensitivity.
There's some potentiallychallenges there.
You talk about the privatelabel growth, which is a big
push as well, and loyaltydynamics are all kind of
shifting.
They're a little bit fluidright now.
You know, when you look atcustomer loyalty, look at the
success of your program, youknow how has the customer search
for value evolved in recentyears and how are?
How is Blaine's responding tothat change?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Yeah, I think loyalty and pricing strategies go hand
in hand.
We don't have to discount,discount, discount all the time
and we certainly don't have todo it at mass.
Between the margin pressures,map pricing, which is a lot of
our national brands, you know,are enforcing certain minimums
that have to be met or it has tobe above.
(22:05):
We have to be able to offer ourneighbors discounts.
You know differently.
So personalization is cominginto play.
Depending upon where you are inyour journey with Blaine's,
what role you need us to play inyour life, you'll see the right
messaging and offerings tofulfill that definition of value
, whether it's through afulfillment benefit with free
shipping or same day delivery,if it's through early access, if
(22:29):
it's through actual discounts,you know for certain items at
different times that are uniqueto you, versus you know just a
price on the shelf.
The other place where we've gotmore flexibility that I
mentioned earlier is aroundprivate label, and while that's
always been a shining spot forus that I mentioned earlier is
(22:49):
around private label, and whilethat's always been a shining
spot for us, what we're able todo with the private brand is
offer the right quality for thatprice.
We're not racing to the bottom.
We're not trying to be thelowest price or the cheapest out
there, but we will definitelymatch prices.
But with our private brand whatwe're able to do is make sure
we're fulfilling the qualityexpectation.
(23:10):
That goes into kind of thatdefinition of value.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Understood and when you look at your co-brand
private label card offerings,you know how do those play in
that process and you know how doyou make sure that they're
aligned with the needs of yourcustomers, because some brands
the card may not be alignedright.
It may be a high tier card andmaybe it doesn't serve the
customers.
I think you guys have reallylooked at your customers and
looked at the credit cardoffering and have great synergy
(23:36):
there.
How do you ensure that you havethat synergy for the program?
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Yeah, I mean our co-brand card was launched with
the opportunity to award those.
They are top-tier customers,our best loyalty customers are
shopping us very frequently.
But really what made thedifference was we know they're
not just shopping at Blaine's.
(24:01):
We don't have gas offerings, wedon't have all of the
essentials for grocery.
We've got a great snack andcandy and beverage business but
we don't have a refrigeratorwith eggs and bread or milk.
We don't have those types ofthings.
So we know you have to go andget gas, you have to go and get
groceries.
How do we continue to awardcustomers for those purchases
(24:24):
that they can then come back andbuy the things they want or
need at Blaine's?
And making sure that our cardwas top of wallet so they're
earning extra points at allthose other locations in
addition to earning more pointswhen they shop at Blaine's.
And so, while it's a smallerportion of the population that's
in the credit card of our totalrewards program, they are truly
(24:47):
our best and most loyalcustomers.
So those people are gettingextra rewards, extra benefits,
extra discounts on top of thebase program.
With the base program, you knowthere's certainly benefits and
things that we have, you know,at blaine's, but once you leave
that that's it right, likethere's no additional touch
(25:07):
points outside of the cardprogram to consider Blaine's for
other things too.
So you kind of lose that top ofwallet mentality, which is why
we're kind of urging andencouraging people to consider
our program.
We also did a really greatnegotiation with our card issuer
to make sure that we had thebest program that really was
(25:28):
customer-centric and notnecessarily business-centric.
So it's not that it's a revenuestream or it's not a revenue
stream.
It certainly is for us, butit's more around the experience
for our customer.
The APR is lower than whatyou'll see from most other cards
.
So there's a lot of things thatwent into kind of tweaking the
(25:49):
actual card program to make sureit was best in class for
farmers and business owners.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
That's awesome and I think that's a big challenge too
.
We hear about that prettyconsistently within loyalty 360s
, that when you're looking at anew private label or co-brand
card, there's two challengesthere.
There's negotiating with theissuer right, do you want to
move an issuer?
And also do you want topotentially move, uh, kind of
from be set a master card ormaybe an american express, so
having that alignment.
(26:16):
I think you guys have done areally great job of that and I
also best western has talkedabout some of the things they've
done and kind of aligning theircar.
They went with kind of a, amercury issuer.
That's kind of a lower creditissue.
But again, that alignment forthe brand is so important.
I think you guys both did anamazing job in that regard.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Thank you.
Yeah, it's definitely achallenge at times to do those
two things, because sometimeswhat your customer needs is not
necessarily what your businessneeds.
So you have to kind of pick andchoose where you're going to
sacrifice for the other cause.
And having the boldness to goafter what the customer needs
really should pay off in thelong run because it is part of
(26:57):
your strategy.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
A hundred percent and I've been using that whole
agency issue right Agency.
The one thing that you learn tomarket right what's good for
like the CEO is making a hundredmillion dollars a year.
He may not be incentive thesame way the customer, but
agency is kind of a big thingright now and it takes a form
factor in many different waysand you obviously saw it here
and you guys did a great job ofdoing that, so that's great to
hear.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
What's next for Blaine's and what's next for
customer loyalty, customerexperience.
You know what are you lookingat, what maybe you have an
interest in investing in?
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Yeah, I mean right now the we have big investments
going on from a businessperspective, you know ERP and
digital platform those thingsare kind of underway.
But really, from a loyalty andcustomer experience perspective,
we are really focused on moreadvanced personalization, more
integrations with experiencesoutside of Blaine's and
(27:51):
additional ways to earn rewardsoutside of purchases.
So we're focusing in on thatemotional loyalty and while our
neighbors already have prettyhigh loyalty to us, we've got
work to do to build that sameconnection with those newer,
younger customers and those likethird generation farmers, third
generation business owners, whoare kind of coming into play.
(28:12):
We can't just assume they knowus like you know their fathers
and grandfathers and parents andso on.
You know, we've got to makethose connections and build that
trust and a lot of that willcome through the relevancy, the
experience and personalization.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Okay, at the 2025 Loyalty Expo, were there any
presentations you thought, wow,this is amazing, it's something
I want to kind of potentiallyget involved in my program, or
that's a new way of looking atcustomer loyalty.
Or were there maybe somespecific insights that you
gathered from the conference?
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Yeah, there's at least.
Well, there's many, but I'llmention two here.
So one Kobe presented onloyalty biodynamics, which is an
agricultural approach thattakes into consideration all
inputs to create deliberate,holistic, self-sustaining
farming strategies and us beinga farm channel.
I thought that's exactly whatwe're trying to do and I need
(29:06):
that term.
So I loved loyalty biodynamicsand a lot of what Kobe presented
was fantastic.
I took a ton of notes from them.
The other, you know, realtangible element was
gamification.
You know it's been top of ourlist.
We've talked about doingdifferent things, we've tested
with some things, but reallygetting into it now you know
(29:27):
it's definitely elevated againseeing the different ways
customers are using gamificationand engaging with their
customers.
But I also really loved thelike year-end wrap.
A lot of companies were doingthat and talked a little bit
about that recognition andacknowledgement from the brand
to their customers and I thinkthat's really special and
(29:49):
something that would be perfectand on brand for Blaine's too.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
That's awesome.
Ok, great, you know what aretwo or three things you're most
proud of with regard to yourprogram.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
I mean how neighbor focused we really are.
We're very authentic, we'revery genuine, we're true to our
roots.
We talk about Bert and Claudeall the time, while still
adapting every year, introducingnew benefits and new
experiences to stay relevant andfresh.
You know, as we've beenrevamping our program, we know
(30:21):
our customers don't particularlylove change and while we
launched our program as an MVP,we've been introducing these new
benefits and new features tokeep it fresh and relevant and I
think that's really helped ourcustomers get a better feel.
For one, they know we'relistening and we're making these
(30:41):
changes because we hear and seewhat they're saying and what
they want from us.
So that's been giving us somecredibility too, and that just
it just makes me excited to kindof hear our customers talking
about it.
You know they will mention thechanges that they love, they'll
mention the new benefits,they'll mention things and
experiences that they get fromBlaine's that they don't get
(31:01):
anywhere else.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
That's awesome.
And the last question somewhatself-serving what?
Speaker 2 (31:05):
can.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Loyalty360 do to help you and your team?
I know you're very active inthe community already, but are
there other things that we cando to help your team and your
customer loyalty journey?
Speaker 2 (31:13):
I mean I really love the networking, the roundtables,
the webinars, maybe having sometemplates on the website for
like loyalty dashboards, havingsome templates on the website
for like loyalty dashboards orreporting, you know what
benchmarks and KPIs you know weshould be looking at to kind of
help us measure our performanceversus the industry.
(31:34):
Some of those things might begreat to have added, but I
really do love the storytellingthat we get from the
interactions.
The website is fantastic.
I get a lot of greatinformation from there.
Having different speakers kindof talk through how they've gone
from A to B, what they'rehearing and seeing all of that
(31:56):
helps all of us.
So I think the program itself,the LT360 organization, all the
members it's been amazing sinceI've been part of it.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Excellent, perfect, and now we have our wonderful
quickfire questions.
I think you've done this oncebefore.
This is the second set ofquestions.
I'm very much looking forwardto this.
How would you describe yourwork life?
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Filling.
I'm fulfilled.
I love what I do.
It's different every day.
I love our customers.
I feel very fulfilled.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Excellent.
If you have a day or a week offfrom work, what are you doing?
And I think we're going to hearthis pretty fresh in memory
Hiking.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Now I'm on a hiking kick, yeah, so normally I would
say horseback riding, which Ialso do, but hiking is my thing
right now.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Okay, I think that's awesome.
If you could live in any citycountry, where would you live?
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Eastern Tennessee or Northern Georgia.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
There you go.
I'm checking this.
Northern Georgia being so closeto Kentucky, I have a thing for
Kentucky and Tennessee, so I'llcheck the Northern Georgia
thing.
So, yeah, that'd be good If youcould go back to school.
What would you study?
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Probably data analytics.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Okay, what facets of your job would you like to know
more about?
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Finance.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Okay, and is there a facet of the job you would like
to know maybe a little bit lessabout?
Speaker 2 (33:19):
I wish I didn't know as much as I do about credit
card fraud.
Everyone's supposed to be goodguys, but there's some bad guys
out there.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
A hundred percent.
Yeah, it's a big, big challenge, Absolutely right.
You know what motivates youwhen tackling challenges at
lanes.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
I think it's back to just knowing that I'm going to
see and hear about thedifferences we make.
Our customers are going to tellus that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
And what do you draw inspiration from?
What differences we make Ourcustomers are going to tell us
that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
And what do you draw inspiration from?
What lights your fire?
Kind of the same, you know,knowing that there are millions
of people who are trying to livetheir best life in our country
and the United States andthey're doing everything they
can and I get to be part of thesolutions.
I get to be part of thatjourney.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
Okay, and what's your favorite sport or hobby?
I think you just talked abouthiking and horseback riding,
yeah, horseback riding.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
There you go, there you go Um and uh.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
what do you typically think about at the end of the
day?
Speaker 2 (34:15):
I mean honestly, I do a lot of like, mindful, like
just how grateful I am for myfamily, my friends, my, my home
animals, my husband.
You know the life that we'vebuilt, our animals, you know
work, those things.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
That's awesome.
Well, allie, thank you verymuch for taking time to speak
with us today.
It's always a pleasure speakingwith you and getting caught up
on the Blaine's activity.
You guys are always doing somevery unique things, driving
customer loyalty to extremeheights, so it's great to hear
so.
Thank you very much for takingtime to share.
(34:49):
Thank you very much for havingme Absolutely, and I want to
thank everyone else for takingthe time to listen today.
Hopefully you are enjoying theLeaders in Customer Loyalty
series, the Brand Storiesedition.
Join us back every Thursday fora new edition and make sure you
subscribe and like and keepcoming back.
So thank you very much.
Good afternoon, good morning.
It's Mark Johnson fromLoyalty360.
Welcome back to our Leaders inCustomer Loyalty series, the
Brand Stories edition.
It's.
Thursday so thank you very muchfor joining us.
Today, we're spotlighting abrand that is not just keeping
up with customer expectations,but actively reshaping them.
Blaine's Farm and Fleet, atrusted name for hardworking
(00:23):
families across the Midwest,recently took home top honors at
the 2025 Loyalty Expo aplatinum award for the co-brand,
private label, credit cardofferings and a bronze in the
offer, incentive and rewarddesign category.
These wins reflect a loyaltystrategy that is grounded and is
(00:45):
also forward-thinking, designedto meet the evolving needs of a
diverse and growing customerbase.
Joining us today is AllieBlauwit, senior Director of
Customer Strategy at Blaine'sFarm and Fleet.
Allie is going to unpack thevision behind Blaine's Rewards
Program, how the team isleveraging data and empathy to
deepen customer relationships,and what it takes to build
(01:05):
customer loyalty that lasts intoday's competitive retail
environment.
Allie, congratulations on therecognition.
Welcome to the show.
How?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
are you today?
I'm doing very well, thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Great, great great.
First off, for those who maynot be familiar, can you give us
a brief introduction toBlaine's Farm and Fleet?
You know how.
Why was the company started?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Yeah, absolutely so we are.
We dubbed ourselves as themodern general store.
We are a private, family ownedcompany.
Claude and Burt Blainepioneered this idea of a
discount supply store that wasopen to the public in order to
fulfill their mission ofproviding quality products to
the hardworking and ruralfarmers of Wisconsin at an
(01:50):
affordable price.
In 1955, you weren't able togive out discounts.
There weren't any loyaltyprograms available to the public
, you had to have a fleet, andso that would be five engines or
more, and Bert and Claudeworked together to make this
kind of come to life through thepartnerships with the
government and what the farmersin Wisconsin specifically really
(02:14):
needed at that time.
And really what we've beenfocused on is providing anything
you might need for work, homeand outdoor to all of our
neighbors across the Midwest.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Okay, so you mentioned fleet.
You had to have I guess yousaid five trucks in order to be
able to give some sort of adiscount to someone in the 50s.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Yeah, five engines, yeah.
So your truck, your tractor,your lawnmower, any other kind
of machinery you might need torun your farm?
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Okay, perfect, and I'm fascinated by different
things.
How did they go about enforcingsomething like that?
Did the farmer down the roadhave to show that they had five
different types of equipment orfive engines?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
You had to show some sort of proof for it.
You know, a lot of it back thenwas more word of mouth and just
making sure and then, once youkind of confirmed, they would
get a card.
So you would actually getbasically a loyalty card that
would say you know, you're ableto get these discounts now
because you qualify.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
That's awesome.
Yeah, we talked about it before.
You guys very customer focused.
You know, in your perspective,in your opinion, what led to the
great success.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Yeah, I mean at Blaine's, we really pride
ourselves in continuing to adaptand expand our products and
services to meet our customers'diverse lifestyles and needs,
all while treating you like ourneighbor.
We aim to have everything, likeI said, for your home, for work
, for outdoor, and how that'sbeen changing over the last
(03:41):
several decades.
You know we're really close toour customers over the last
several decades.
You know we're really close toour customers.
We get a lot of feedback andinsights from our store
associates, from our DC team, onwhat's kind of moving, what's
not moving.
Our contact center team andreally everyone who works at the
corporate office spends quite abit of time in our stores, on
our website, to get a feel forwhat our neighbors are going
(04:02):
through and the decisionsthey're trying to make every day
, and we're making pivots in ourbusiness to fulfill that need.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Okay, and one of the things that we're very
interested in, always interestedin hearing, because customer
loyalty isn't really somethingthat's taught in school, right?
We'd love to know more aboutyour role at the company, what
you do today and also, how didyou get to where you are today?
Were there roles that you had?
Were you an accountant, andsaid, ah, this loyalty thing
sounds really cool.
How did you go about gettinginto customer loyalty?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean I'll tell you first kindof my role here.
I oversee customer research,insights and analytics, as well
as the personalization strategyand loyalty program management.
So my team really plays thiscrucial role in the whole
organization and we serve as thevoice of the customer.
To get here, though, you knowmy whole career has been in
(04:54):
customer experience.
You know a customer-centrictype of a role from from the
very beginning.
I started in retail with Kohl's.
I went and spent some time atHarley-Davidson, but all the
roles I've always had have beenaround customer experience,
program management, themarketing technology you might
need to fulfill customerexperience expectations.
(05:17):
I spent a ton of time in loyaltyand credit at Kohl's, really
building the execution as wellas the strategy and a lot of the
analytics behind it to measuresuccess.
I kind of got through a lot ofthose things early in my career
and then I spent time in more ofa strategy and insights role.
So I was customer insights,analytics and strategy and I was
(05:40):
really focused on theenterprise level, so kind of the
large umbrella of what we weretrying to do at Kohl's at the
time and then also spent sometime focused on the women's
apparel business and the beautybusiness, providing insights and
analytics and reportingdirectly to the buying teams, to
the merchandising teams digitaland in-store to really help
(06:04):
bring this experience to life,and they all kind of tie
together around.
I would say, like yourlong-term customer loyalty, not
necessarily a program strategy,but how do you get customers to
continue to shop and engage withyour brand all the time you
know, and whatever thatfrequency might be, whether
they're buying a motorcycle orgear or you know, everyday
(06:28):
apparel and home products, likeKohl's had and now here at
Blaine's kind of all of thoseroles are combined under what my
team is responsible for.
So it's been really nice tohave, you know, a foot in
everything everyone's doing.
And I say a foot because I'm notnecessarily orchestrating you
know the day to have you know afoot in everything everyone's
doing.
And I say a foot because I'mnot necessarily orchestrating
you know the day to day, but Iam definitely guiding and
(06:50):
leading the team to help thinkboth long term and short term.
How do we maintain thatcustomer loyalty in a company
that you know is has been aroundfor 70 years but also has
really loyal customers?
But that base is changingrapidly as the kind of
agricultural space changes, ascountry living is changing.
(07:13):
So there's a lot of opportunitythat I'm super excited to
oversee.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Yeah, a bunch of the city folk want to move out of
the country.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
It's kind of a challenge.
So very iconic brands.
You work with right Colts backin the day, maybe not as much
now but obviously kind of whatyou did.
There is very interestingHarley-Davidson iconic brand,
deep customer loyalty.
A quick question just goingback to that role how often do
people trade up in motorcycles?
Because I know Harley's hadsome challenges now with the
(07:43):
younger bike offerings.
I have a motorcycle and justbought it.
It's like my dream bike.
I don't ever foresee buyinganother bike.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
How often?
Speaker 1 (07:50):
do you change bikes?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Not often.
You know there's certaincustomers.
You know the touring customerswill get their bike and they
would stay on it for years.
You know they'd get it paid offand they'd spend some time with
it without having that paymentand then they'd come up with a
new feature or something thatthat model they have doesn't
(08:13):
offer anymore.
So I would say it was probablyclose to 10 years for those
touring bikes.
For some of the smaller ones,the Sportsters and kind of more,
your day-to-day commute bikes,you did see a little bit more of
a conversion there but honestly, a lot of what Harley was
trying to do was to get you intothe brand with the bike and
then keep you coming back withthe parts, with the accessories,
(08:35):
with your gear and youreveryday lifestyle apparel as
well.
So there was definitely aninteresting component to what a
new customer was for Harley,because it could take a really
long time to see someone comeback again for that second
purchase.
So it really came back to theaccessories.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
OK, absolutely, it's a loyalty program without a
loyalty program.
Exactly yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
There's not many brands that have the extreme
loyalists with the tattoos.
Harley's one.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
There you go, absolutely.
So when you look at your roleholistically, a lot of
responsibility growing andimpact.
Customer loyalty is obviouslyyou guys doing a very solid job
with that, from employeeengagement all the way through.
But when you look at some ofthe challenges or opportunities
you face within your role, youknow what are some of the
biggest challenges oropportunities that you face.
You know what does keep you upat night.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
That's a great question, you know.
The main thing for me is we andI say we as in retail, you know
we are all trying to attractthis new, you know, younger
customer to our brands.
But we have to be reallycautious that we're not
alienating our existing corecustomer.
Who, who has that loyalty?
(09:49):
You know they are coming backfrequently, they are spending
lots of their wallet with us.
They're very important to thebrand.
But to attract that newcustomer, sometimes the, the
message is going to be reallydifferent.
So the the thing that keeps meup is you know how bold is too
bold.
How do we gain that newcustomer that's going to kind of
(10:11):
give us the largest payoff in,in kind of the investment, in
the messaging, the benefits, theexperience that's not going to
take away our best customers,you know, and who they need us
to be?
And how do we do all thesethings while staying authentic
and true to ourselves?
(10:31):
You know we've got old roots.
You know we've been around.
People know us.
In Wisconsin they refer to usas farm and fleet.
In Michigan they refer to us asBlaine's.
They know who we are and theyknow what we stand for and they
know what they can trust us forand if we make these big changes
to attract these new customerswho have never heard of us or
(10:54):
see farm in our name and think,well, I don't need to shop at a
farm store, how do we breakthrough into that awareness and
consideration stage withoutlosing who we truly are and
still keeping our best customersand our core customers happy?
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Absolutely.
Blaine's Farm and Fleetoperates in a very unique
cross-section kind of ruralliving, the agricultural, but
also home maintenance, petsupplies.
You kind of have across-section of great offerings
.
Retail's changing.
The economic situation is kindof challenging right now as well
.
How do you see your customerschanging and how are you
(11:31):
evolving to meet the needs ofthose customers?
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Yeah, and it is changing.
You know we talked a little bitearlier about that kind of big
migration to country living overthe last five years or so and
people are getting a little bitmore courageous at things like
starting their own gardensvegetables, flowers, even fruits
, sometimes raising chickens.
You know a lot of people are.
(11:55):
They have chickens in thesubdivisions.
You know they're allowed tohave them and so they get them
and now they have eggs.
They're experiencing this smallelement of what it's like to be
in the country and you know tobe a farmer, they have's like to
be in the country and you knowto be a farmer, they have their
own livestock in that way,having, you know, multiple dogs
and cats inside and outside,doing their own landscaping,
lots of DIY projects.
(12:17):
You know everyone's a DIYer.
Now it seems they might hiresomeone to do a few parts of the
job, but everyone's got theirhands in it.
Now they want to own whatthey've done and while all this
is happening, there are actuallyless people working in the
trades and so our consumer forBlaine's is changing because I
(12:39):
would say in the last 10, 20years it was a first, second,
third generation family farmer.
Ours today isn't really thatanymore.
You know we still have thosepeople, but we have more growth
with first time hobby farmers orhomesteaders trying to figure
it out on their own, and thefarm channel in general is
(13:00):
trying to evolve with this byoffering, you know, more pet,
more outdoor, versus beingstrictly a farm store.
We're all trying to buildrelevance with all these
different lifestyles, even withfarm in our name.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Okay, excellent.
So when you look at some of theeconomic uncertainty now
inflation, supply chain there'stariffs, not tariffs.
There may not be tariffs.
There's a war, not a war.
It creates some, you know,consternation kind of noise
within the organization, right,so you know what macroeconomic
pressures are you seeing kind ofpotentially impacting your
(13:35):
customers and their customerloyalty and even maybe the
experiences you're trying todeliver.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Yeah, we're definitely feeling it.
Everything you said inflation,the supply chain, the tariffs
you know we're seeing the samethings that you know a lot of
the other major players are too.
You know we've got a whole slewof national brands from
Milwaukee Tool, dewalt,craftsman, carhartt, columbia.
(14:01):
You know we've got all thesebrands.
Some have some component ofmade in the USA, some do not,
some are facing tariff pressuresharder than others, so we're
all kind of mixed in with allthose two.
But one of the things thatreally sets us apart is our
private brand and we are seeinga lot of success with private
(14:22):
brand and we have for a longtime.
But we're seeing that as ourneighbors are trading down, they
are moving to the Blaine's Farmand Fleet brand or some of our
other private brands that wehave throughout the store Snacks
and candy, automotive, pet agand apparel and really when
brands or prices are consistentacross multiple stores, we are
(14:46):
also standing apart because ofour customer experience.
We're staffed, our teams aretrained, we have best-in-class
NPS.
Our loyalty members are findingvalue in shopping at Blaine's.
We're seeing a big migration tothe website, even in market,
where people are really enjoyingthat experience some of the
perks that a loyalty member haswhen they shop online, with same
(15:08):
day delivery, our drive-throughexperience with pickup at store
and even shipping to home.
We also have our best pricepromise, which is our price
matching program, and that alsohelps kind of give that
reassurance that we're going tocontinue to serve them with the
fair and honest pricing that wealways have.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Excellent.
You know customer loyalty isall that we do.
The people that are in it arevery passionate about it, which
is awesome, At least most people.
When you look at customerloyalty, what does customer
loyalty mean to you and toBlaine's Farm and Fleet?
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yeah, I mean for us.
It's choosing Blaine's.
You know, even though you'regoing to pass by several other
retailers to get to us, you'restill.
You're choosing us and you'readvocating for us.
You're telling people aboutyour experience.
You're telling people, oh, I'mgoing to Blaine's this weekend.
Or I was just at Blaine's and Isaw this and that and you know
the other thing too, and I wentthere for you know the other
(16:07):
thing too, and I went there foryou know, dog food.
But I came out with a wholecart full of other things that I
didn't realize I needed until Igot there and I walked around.
So it's advocating and it'sit's choosing us.
You know, we know there arehundreds of options where you
could shop and get basically allthe same things that we have.
You know, to some extent, butprobably not in one place and
(16:27):
definitely not at the sameprices and certainly not without
the perks of being a rewardsmember and getting access to
some of the other discounts,savings, fulfillment options,
things like that.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Okay, your reward program, and I know you have a
new offering called FARMS.
How does that support yourlong-term vision for building
deeper, more meaningful customerrelationships?
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Yeah, I mean rewards.
For us is the key topersonalization.
The data value exchange iswhat's allowing for those deeper
relationships and giving usopportunities to thrive more as
kind of that emotional loyaltyconnection with our neighbors.
We have thousands and thousandsof SKUs in our stores, but
(17:13):
knowing which transaction andbrowsing history shopping
behaviors belong to eachindividual customer helps us to
tailor our offerings,discounting, messaging, to
really bring the most relevantinformation forward so that you
don't have to work through thesea of all these things that
aren't relevant to you.
How do you make sure that youknow lanes is showing you what
(17:38):
you need to see the most, Notnecessarily only the stuff you
already buy, but also thingsthat you might not know we have
that would complement the stuffyou're already buying.
With farms, you know our bestcustomers are buying a lot of
things in bulk, and so whatfarms is doing on the business
(17:59):
side is it's allowing us toconfidently fulfill those large
orders so we're able to kind ofensure we're going to have the
quantity that they need, becausethese are pretty big bulk
orders that are happening everycouple weeks.
How do we make sure the storethat they want to pick it up at
is going to have it without overinventory at a certain location
(18:21):
if that customer doesn't needit anymore?
All those things kind of tietogether.
All those things kind of tiedtogether.
But then where the, I would say, the bow is at the end is the
additional touch points outsideof our stores.
And that's really where ourcredit card program helps is
kind of having these touchpoints with Blaine's when you're
not with us, when you're at thegas station or the grocery
(18:43):
store doing your other errandsthat we're not there for.
How do we make sure we're stilltop of mind?
And that's where the card comesinto place.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
That's perfect.
How did customer feedback orshopping patterns or some of the
data that you talked about,support or influence the
development of the FARMS program?
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Yeah, I mean, many of our customers are business
owners or farmers and, like Isaid, they're buying these
things, items, certain items inbulk.
Very frequently the flexible agrewards member subscription,
which is farms, acts like areminder program.
So, if you're buying 20 or moreof the same SKU, we need to make
(19:23):
sure one we have the inventoryto support it when we know
you're going to come back andwhen you need it.
But we also want to make surethe customer is confirming that
before we just send it to thatstore or charge them for the
order, because the last thingyou need is a pallet full of
things you're not ready for.
So we really put the control inthe hands of our customer with
(19:46):
minimal disruption for them.
With the program.
It's super flexible in thatthey are able to skip, they can
snooze, they can change thefulfillment reminder period.
So if they set it for eightweeks and they want it to be six
weeks, you know it acts like asubscription program would,
without you know the actualcommitment to purchasing it,
(20:09):
unless the customer has approvedit.
And really where that came fromis our customers will complain
to us about other autoreplenishment programs or
subscription programs thatthey're in it's.
I need this stuff, but I don'tneed it too soon and I certainly
can't wait and get it too late.
I've got animals to feed orprojects to work on or
(20:30):
businesses to run.
I need it when I need it andthat's the way it is, and I
don't always know exactly when Ineed it, but I'll let you know,
and so our program was designedwith all this in mind.
It's really not about maximumrevenue and maximum margins.
It's more about having thatgreat experience to ensure they
can get exactly what they needwhen they need it from us.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
That's awesome At the 2025 Lowell TX about a month
ago.
I can't believe it's been thatlong.
Value was a big discussion,right.
Value in the brands, value inthe program.
Value internally around theprogram so it's a pretty big
construct in the program.
Value internally around theprogram so it's a pretty big
construct.
You've talked about it in thepast as well.
When you look at retail sectorslike farm home automotive,
(21:20):
there's some price sensitivity.
There's some potentiallychallenges there.
You talk about the privatelabel growth, which is a big
push as well, and loyaltydynamics are all kind of
shifting.
They're a little bit fluidright now.
You know, when you look atcustomer loyalty, look at the
success of your program, youknow how has the customer search
for value evolved in recentyears and how are?
How is Blaine's responding tothat change?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Yeah, I think loyalty and pricing strategies go hand
in hand.
We don't have to discount,discount, discount all the time
and we certainly don't have todo it at mass.
Between the margin pressures,map pricing, which is a lot of
our national brands, you know,are enforcing certain minimums
that have to be met or it has tobe above.
(22:05):
We have to be able to offer ourneighbors discounts.
You know differently.
So personalization is cominginto play.
Depending upon where you are inyour journey with Blaine's,
what role you need us to play inyour life, you'll see the right
messaging and offerings tofulfill that definition of value
, whether it's through afulfillment benefit with free
shipping or same day delivery,if it's through early access, if
(22:29):
it's through actual discounts,you know for certain items at
different times that are uniqueto you, versus you know just a
price on the shelf.
The other place where we've gotmore flexibility that I
mentioned earlier is aroundprivate label, and while that's
always been a shining spot forus that I mentioned earlier is
(22:49):
around private label, and whilethat's always been a shining
spot for us, what we're able todo with the private brand is
offer the right quality for thatprice.
We're not racing to the bottom.
We're not trying to be thelowest price or the cheapest out
there, but we will definitelymatch prices.
But with our private brand whatwe're able to do is make sure
we're fulfilling the qualityexpectation.
(23:10):
That goes into kind of thatdefinition of value.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Understood and when you look at your co-brand
private label card offerings,you know how do those play in
that process and you know how doyou make sure that they're
aligned with the needs of yourcustomers, because some brands
the card may not be alignedright.
It may be a high tier card andmaybe it doesn't serve the
customers.
I think you guys have reallylooked at your customers and
looked at the credit cardoffering and have great synergy
(23:36):
there.
How do you ensure that you havethat synergy for the program?
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Yeah, I mean our co-brand card was launched with
the opportunity to award those.
They are top-tier customers,our best loyalty customers are
shopping us very frequently.
But really what made thedifference was we know they're
not just shopping at Blaine's.
(24:01):
We don't have gas offerings, wedon't have all of the
essentials for grocery.
We've got a great snack andcandy and beverage business but
we don't have a refrigeratorwith eggs and bread or milk.
We don't have those types ofthings.
So we know you have to go andget gas, you have to go and get
groceries.
How do we continue to awardcustomers for those purchases
(24:24):
that they can then come back andbuy the things they want or
need at Blaine's?
And making sure that our cardwas top of wallet so they're
earning extra points at allthose other locations in
addition to earning more pointswhen they shop at Blaine's.
And so, while it's a smallerportion of the population that's
in the credit card of our totalrewards program, they are truly
(24:47):
our best and most loyalcustomers.
So those people are gettingextra rewards, extra benefits,
extra discounts on top of thebase program.
With the base program, you knowthere's certainly benefits and
things that we have, you know,at blaine's, but once you leave
that that's it right, likethere's no additional touch
(25:07):
points outside of the cardprogram to consider Blaine's for
other things too.
So you kind of lose that top ofwallet mentality, which is why
we're kind of urging andencouraging people to consider
our program.
We also did a really greatnegotiation with our card issuer
to make sure that we had thebest program that really was
(25:28):
customer-centric and notnecessarily business-centric.
So it's not that it's a revenuestream or it's not a revenue
stream.
It certainly is for us, butit's more around the experience
for our customer.
The APR is lower than whatyou'll see from most other cards
.
So there's a lot of things thatwent into kind of tweaking the
(25:49):
actual card program to make sureit was best in class for
farmers and business owners.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
That's awesome and I think that's a big challenge too
.
We hear about that prettyconsistently within loyalty 360s
, that when you're looking at anew private label or co-brand
card, there's two challengesthere.
There's negotiating with theissuer right, do you want to
move an issuer?
And also do you want topotentially move, uh, kind of
from be set a master card ormaybe an american express, so
having that alignment.
(26:16):
I think you guys have done areally great job of that and I
also best western has talkedabout some of the things they've
done and kind of aligning theircar.
They went with kind of a, amercury issuer.
That's kind of a lower creditissue.
But again, that alignment forthe brand is so important.
I think you guys both did anamazing job in that regard.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Thank you.
Yeah, it's definitely achallenge at times to do those
two things, because sometimeswhat your customer needs is not
necessarily what your businessneeds.
So you have to kind of pick andchoose where you're going to
sacrifice for the other cause.
And having the boldness to goafter what the customer needs
really should pay off in thelong run because it is part of
(26:57):
your strategy.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
A hundred percent and I've been using that whole
agency issue right Agency.
The one thing that you learn tomarket right what's good for
like the CEO is making a hundredmillion dollars a year.
He may not be incentive thesame way the customer, but
agency is kind of a big thingright now and it takes a form
factor in many different waysand you obviously saw it here
and you guys did a great job ofdoing that, so that's great to
hear.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
What's next for Blaine's and what's next for
customer loyalty, customerexperience.
You know what are you lookingat, what maybe you have an
interest in investing in?
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Yeah, I mean right now the we have big investments
going on from a businessperspective, you know ERP and
digital platform those thingsare kind of underway.
But really, from a loyalty andcustomer experience perspective,
we are really focused on moreadvanced personalization, more
integrations with experiencesoutside of Blaine's and
(27:51):
additional ways to earn rewardsoutside of purchases.
So we're focusing in on thatemotional loyalty and while our
neighbors already have prettyhigh loyalty to us, we've got
work to do to build that sameconnection with those newer,
younger customers and those likethird generation farmers, third
generation business owners, whoare kind of coming into play.
(28:12):
We can't just assume they knowus like you know their fathers
and grandfathers and parents andso on.
You know, we've got to makethose connections and build that
trust and a lot of that willcome through the relevancy, the
experience and personalization.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Okay, at the 2025 Loyalty Expo, were there any
presentations you thought, wow,this is amazing, it's something
I want to kind of potentiallyget involved in my program, or
that's a new way of looking atcustomer loyalty.
Or were there maybe somespecific insights that you
gathered from the conference?
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Yeah, there's at least.
Well, there's many, but I'llmention two here.
So one Kobe presented onloyalty biodynamics, which is an
agricultural approach thattakes into consideration all
inputs to create deliberate,holistic, self-sustaining
farming strategies and us beinga farm channel.
I thought that's exactly whatwe're trying to do and I need
(29:06):
that term.
So I loved loyalty biodynamicsand a lot of what Kobe presented
was fantastic.
I took a ton of notes from them.
The other, you know, realtangible element was
gamification.
You know it's been top of ourlist.
We've talked about doingdifferent things, we've tested
with some things, but reallygetting into it now you know
(29:27):
it's definitely elevated againseeing the different ways
customers are using gamificationand engaging with their
customers.
But I also really loved thelike year-end wrap.
A lot of companies were doingthat and talked a little bit
about that recognition andacknowledgement from the brand
to their customers and I thinkthat's really special and
(29:49):
something that would be perfectand on brand for Blaine's too.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
That's awesome.
Ok, great, you know what aretwo or three things you're most
proud of with regard to yourprogram.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
I mean how neighbor focused we really are.
We're very authentic, we'revery genuine, we're true to our
roots.
We talk about Bert and Claudeall the time, while still
adapting every year, introducingnew benefits and new
experiences to stay relevant andfresh.
You know, as we've beenrevamping our program, we know
(30:21):
our customers don't particularlylove change and while we
launched our program as an MVP,we've been introducing these new
benefits and new features tokeep it fresh and relevant and I
think that's really helped ourcustomers get a better feel.
For one, they know we'relistening and we're making these
(30:41):
changes because we hear and seewhat they're saying and what
they want from us.
So that's been giving us somecredibility too, and that just
it just makes me excited to kindof hear our customers talking
about it.
You know they will mention thechanges that they love, they'll
mention the new benefits,they'll mention things and
experiences that they get fromBlaine's that they don't get
(31:01):
anywhere else.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
That's awesome.
And the last question somewhatself-serving what?
Speaker 2 (31:05):
can.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Loyalty360 do to help you and your team?
I know you're very active inthe community already, but are
there other things that we cando to help your team and your
customer loyalty journey?
Speaker 2 (31:13):
I mean I really love the networking, the roundtables,
the webinars, maybe having sometemplates on the website for
like loyalty dashboards, havingsome templates on the website
for like loyalty dashboards orreporting, you know what
benchmarks and KPIs you know weshould be looking at to kind of
help us measure our performanceversus the industry.
(31:34):
Some of those things might begreat to have added, but I
really do love the storytellingthat we get from the
interactions.
The website is fantastic.
I get a lot of greatinformation from there.
Having different speakers kindof talk through how they've gone
from A to B, what they'rehearing and seeing all of that
(31:56):
helps all of us.
So I think the program itself,the LT360 organization, all the
members it's been amazing sinceI've been part of it.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Excellent, perfect, and now we have our wonderful
quickfire questions.
I think you've done this oncebefore.
This is the second set ofquestions.
I'm very much looking forwardto this.
How would you describe yourwork life?
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Filling.
I'm fulfilled.
I love what I do.
It's different every day.
I love our customers.
I feel very fulfilled.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Excellent.
If you have a day or a week offfrom work, what are you doing?
And I think we're going to hearthis pretty fresh in memory
Hiking.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Now I'm on a hiking kick, yeah, so normally I would
say horseback riding, which Ialso do, but hiking is my thing
right now.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Okay, I think that's awesome.
If you could live in any citycountry, where would you live?
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Eastern Tennessee or Northern Georgia.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
There you go.
I'm checking this.
Northern Georgia being so closeto Kentucky, I have a thing for
Kentucky and Tennessee, so I'llcheck the Northern Georgia
thing.
So, yeah, that'd be good If youcould go back to school.
What would you study?
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Probably data analytics.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Okay, what facets of your job would you like to know
more about?
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Finance.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Okay, and is there a facet of the job you would like
to know maybe a little bit lessabout?
Speaker 2 (33:19):
I wish I didn't know as much as I do about credit
card fraud.
Everyone's supposed to be goodguys, but there's some bad guys
out there.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
A hundred percent.
Yeah, it's a big, big challenge, Absolutely right.
You know what motivates youwhen tackling challenges at
lanes.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
I think it's back to just knowing that I'm going to
see and hear about thedifferences we make.
Our customers are going to tellus that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
And what do you draw inspiration from?
What differences we make Ourcustomers are going to tell us
that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
And what do you draw inspiration from?
What lights your fire?
Kind of the same, you know,knowing that there are millions
of people who are trying to livetheir best life in our country
and the United States andthey're doing everything they
can and I get to be part of thesolutions.
I get to be part of thatjourney.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
Okay, and what's your favorite sport or hobby?
I think you just talked abouthiking and horseback riding,
yeah, horseback riding.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
There you go, there you go Um and uh.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
what do you typically think about at the end of the
day?
Speaker 2 (34:15):
I mean honestly, I do a lot of like, mindful, like
just how grateful I am for myfamily, my friends, my, my home
animals, my husband.
You know the life that we'vebuilt, our animals, you know
work, those things.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
That's awesome.
Well, allie, thank you verymuch for taking time to speak
with us today.
It's always a pleasure speakingwith you and getting caught up
on the Blaine's activity.
You guys are always doing somevery unique things, driving
customer loyalty to extremeheights, so it's great to hear
so.
Thank you very much for takingtime to share.
(34:49):
Thank you very much for havingme Absolutely, and I want to
thank everyone else for takingthe time to listen today.
Hopefully you are enjoying theLeaders in Customer Loyalty
series, the Brand Storiesedition.
Join us back every Thursday fora new edition and make sure you
subscribe and like and keepcoming back.
So thank you very much.
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