Drive elevated performance with Rakuten’s Champion Buyer Events

As the retail industry gets increasingly competitive, it’s more important than ever for businesses to find creative ways to attract new customers, increase sales, and build brand loyalty. That’s where retail events come in, a tried-and-true tactic for achieving all those goals.

What are retail events?

Retail events are any type of activity that is hosted by a retailer to promote their products, services, or brand. These events can take many different forms, from online promotions to in-store gatherings and multi-day festivals. When executed effectively, these events can yield significant benefits, including enhanced customer loyalty and revenue growth.

Each year, Rakuten holds hundreds of retail events both online and in-store that drive volume of shopper traffic and create opportunities for merchants to get in front of engaged shoppers. One of our most performant events are our Champion Buyer Events.

What are Champion Buyer Events?

Champion Buyer Events (CBE) are tied to Rakuten’s anchor promotions throughout the year. Anchor promotions typically align to big moments in retail, media, and culture (think President’s Day, Big Give Week, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and so on). During Champion Buyer Events, brands target Rakuten’s most valuable shoppers with elevated Cash Back rates. This means, on Champion Days, merchants can offer a targeted audience an even higher Cash Back rate than the rate of the anchor promotion, typically between 15 and 20%.

What makes a Champion Buyer?

You may be wondering, what makes a Rakuten member a Champion Buyer? Champion Buyers are Rakuten’s most loyal shoppers who contribute to the majority of our sales and have purchased from at least six stores. Our Champion audience is made up of 3 million loyalists who shop for the love it.

Champion Buyer Events drive elevated performance

Participation in Champion Buyer Events gives brands the opportunity to sweeten the pot of offers to drive elevated performance and increased transactions. Historically, Rakuten Champion Buyer Events deliver a higher shopping frequency, increased spend per member, and average order value.

We looked at the performance of Q4 2022 Champion Buyer Events to demonstrate the value of our Champion Buyers and the performance of these events.

• Champion Buyers spend more. On average, Champion Buyers spend +37% more than non-champion buyers.
• Champion Buyers have a higher lifetime value. Of buyers from the peak holiday period, Champion Buyers are 29% more likely to come back in Q1 the following year.
• Higher Cash Back rates amplify performance. We evaluated the impact of the elevated CBE Cash Back rate against a control group of Champion Buyers that received the anchor promotion rate. Increased Cash Back for the targeted Champion Buyers drove 33% higher sales compared to the control group.

Win this holiday season with our Champion Buyers

This November and December, we have several opportunities get additional exposure and drive elevated performance with our Champion Buyers. Reach out to your Rakuten representative to book your Champion Buyer Events today.