Costa Loyalty Card Case Study

My untidy desk just reminded me of an excellent case study on Costa in this week's copy of Marketing Week (6th October 2011). Costa is an unusual example of a brand which is flourishing. Here are a few snippets :

1.Costa won the Brand of the Year Trophy this year (awarded by Marketing Week)
2.Costa set up a loyalty card last year and managed to get 6 million in ciculation very rapidly(bucking the trend of loyalty card fatigue)
3.The company claim a high uptake of loyalty card use ( 41% of all transactions)
4.The company is extending the loyalty card scheme internationally ( for example in the UAE)
5.Costa has 700 outlets outside the UK (including China, Middle East, Russia and Eastern Europe)
6.The average age of the UK customer is 44 (28 overseas)
7.The younger customer abroad may be more influenced by advertising on Social Media (Facebook etc)
8.Other coffee chains such as Caffe Nero, Starbucks also operate in the UAE ( a good example of globalistion)
9.Variations for local markets include spicier snacks and haloumi panini
10.Costa's biggest rival, unsurprisingly, is Starbucks. Pub chain Wetherspoons has also successfully broken into the Coffee market.