East Anglian agricultural merchant Cropco has followed Tesco by copying the supermarket giant’s successful loyalty card scheme.
Any farmer buying Seed Plus seed from the merchant this season will qualify for points that can later be redeemed against a range of options, including agrochemicals or fertiliser supplied by the firm, services such as waste recycling, or even gifts, according to John Poulton, Cropco’s managing director.
“We want to give something back to growers, there will be a substantial loyalty reward,” he said.
The scheme will initially only run for seed purchases, but Cropco hopes to extend it to other parts of his business, including agchems in the future.
Full details of what rewards will be available and how much seed would need to be purchased to qualify for them have not been released as yet.
The loyalty card is part of the firm’s Seed Plus offering, which aims to provide high quality seed sourced from Daltons of Peterborough on a guaranteed delivery date.
“If we fail to meet an agreed delivery date we will cut the price of the seed by 50%,” Mr Poulton said.
Farmers Weekly Young Farmer of the Year James Peck welcomed Mr Poulton’s pledge. “It’s no good if the seed isn’t on farm in time,” he said. “We drill in blocks and don’t want to be going back for 40 acres.”
The firm will also offer variety advice to its customers through independent variety consultant Richard Fenwick.
“Seed Plus will help provide the information to make sure growers choose the correct variety for their farm,” he said.
Source: Farmers Weekly International
