Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores is leveraging mobile shopping application Ibotta’s customer relationship management platform and segmentation capabilities to serve cash-back rebates and personalized content based on previous purchase behavior.

The new partnership enables Ibotta app users to receive rebate options and special deals at more than 850 of Jo-Ann Fabric’s retail locations, a capability that will likely result in the brand seeing a higher number of mobile-influenced in-store sales. The collaboration also gives Jo-Ann Fabrics the ability to access the shopping companion’s logged-in mobile platform to send each user a unique offer relevant to his or her past purchases.

“For bricks-and-mortar retailers like Jo-Ann, Ibotta is a mobile solution to drive in-store sales,” said Kane McCord, chief operating officer of Ibotta. “We can generate incredible awareness of rebate offers, in-store sales, events and craft classes to drive Ibotta users into Jo-Ann stores.

“The pilot campaigns that Jo-Ann has been running with Ibotta for the past several months have resulted in clear growth of younger in-store shoppers, particularly millennials, and those consumers are spending more than Jo-Ann’s historical in-store customer.”

Knitting up mobile-inspired purchases
Jo-Ann Fabric is using Ibotta’s new Dynamic Segmentation capabilities and CRM data as it rolls out segmented mobile campaigns to target customers. The Dynamic Segmentation tool, which first debuted in 2016’s second quarter, enables the crafts marketer to serve rebates and personalized content to consumers who have shopped with Jo-Ann Fabric before.

By accessing Ibotta’s logged-in mobile platform, Jo-Ann Fabric will be able to target each user with a relevant, enticing offer based on his or her purchase history.

Per Ibotta, tapping the Dynamic Segmentation platform also allows Jo-Ann Fabric to free up a larger portion of its marketing budget to new customer acquisition strategies.

“It’s a smarter use of allocating your marketing dollars because it allows brands to be more targeted and drive better ROI,” Mr. McCord said. “Each shopper is unique, and brands should market to those consumers based on their individual purchase behavior.

“Dynamic segmentation allows our partners like Jo-Ann to serve up content and offers based on a particular shopper’s loyalty to their brand.”

Jo-Ann Fabric’s decision to use Ibotta’s trackable tools on a pay-for performance level lets the brand shift away from previous legacy couponing tactics and move toward a mobile-first strategy designed to prompt lapsed customers to come back in-store, increase loyal customers’ shopping cart sizes and attract new shoppers.

To inspire more in-store visits, the crafts brand is initially providing consumers with a $5 rebate via the Ibotta app, which will be applicable at several loyalty-based spending thresholds.

Additionally, the retailer is planning to ramp up customer engagement among digitally-savvy millennials by rolling out seasonal content designed to prompt in-store trips.

Through a pilot program done with Ibotta this year, Jo-Ann Fabric discovered that nearly 75 percent of coupon redeemers at its stores were 45-years-old or younger, meaning that millennial targeting tactics must be at the forefront of its marketing goals.

Segmentation and inspiration
Jo-Ann Fabric recognizes that purchase inspiration can strike at any point during customers’ creative processes, a notion that makes it imperative for the brand to continually make itself visible to mobile users through personalized content and savings deals.

Many millennial shoppers prefer to begin the browsing process on their smartphones before venturing in-store to inspect a product more closely and make the final purchase.

These omnichannel shopping experiences lend credence to many marketers’ decisions to team up with third-party shopping apps that reach a wide swath of individuals.

For example, Anheuser-Busch targeted millennial consumers this past spring by partnering with Ibotta to offer users aged 21 or over special offers for purchasing beer at convenience, liquor and grocery stores, as well as select bars and restaurants (see story).

However, the most important ingredient for success lies in the art of effective audience segmentation, which helps brands pinpoint the best types of content and offers to serve to specific demographics.

A Sephora executive at eTail West 2016 affirmed this strategy and discussed the beauty brand’s focus on collecting individual customer data in addition to data gleaned from its loyalty program as it ramps up to drive sales among frequent and first-time customers (see story).

“[Ibotta’s] Dynamic Segmentation is based on an individual shopper’s purchase behavior and loyalty to the brand,” Mr. McCord said. “If I’m a retailer like Jo-Ann, and all of the sudden there’s a new potential customer looking at my content in the Ibotta app, then I want to do whatever it takes to inspire that person to come into the store.

“So the Ibotta offer might be five dollars back on a $25 purchase,” he said. “For someone who is a loyal shopper, say they’re coming in once a month, the retailer could adjust that incentive to five dollars back on a $60 spend to increase their average order value.

“Dynamic Segmentation allows retailers to spend their marketing dollars in a tailored fashion based on shopper loyalty, rather than on a one-size-fits-all approach.”