Dulux Paints Ireland

Dulux Paints Ireland, part of the global AkzoNobel Group, is a leading provider of paint and coatings in Ireland.

Unlike the UK market – where Dulux operates a network of 188 Dulux Decorating Centres – Dulux Ireland drives sales through a completely independent set of retailers. These range from family-owned stores to nationwide independent retail groups, and all of them sell Dulux products alongside many competing brands.

While this model is not unusual in Ireland, it means that paint brands often rely on retailer relationships as their primary sales channel. As a result, they have very limited access to robust market data. Sales order volumes with the retailer are available, but identifying high-spending decorators or understanding what products decorators are actually buying was out of reach.

Dulux knew that if they were to build a strategic competitive advantage in Ireland, they needed a model that supported the independent retailer network. They also required a model that helped grow their Trade business by identifying decorators and their spending behaviour, then communicating with them directly. If they achieved this, they would create a repository of valuable market data that no other paint brand in Ireland would enjoy.

Dulux tasked Chilli Pepper, the strategic loyalty agency, to identify a commercial strategy that would build stronger relationships with retailers, focused on collaboration and business support, and help them get closer to the end decision maker – the decorator.

We applied our proprietary four-stage Strategic Loyalty Process, including Investigation, Insights, Innovation & Commercials, which resulted in a global market-first – the Dulux Trade Points loyalty programme.

The beauty of this innovative programme is that it leapfrogs a real challenge for this industry – not having access to data led-insights on how decorators shop with retailers – and provides both retailers and Dulux with tangible commercial benefits, as well as recognising and rewarding the decorator.

• For the decorator, they sign up to Dulux Trade Points in a Participating Store to receive many exclusive benefits including points for purchase, invitations to events, member competitions, opportunities to review Dulux products and claim a wide selection of exciting rewards tailored for them or their business. It is an exclusive programme, designed purely for professionals.
• For the retailer, they attract repeat business, regular and incremental footfall and revenue, and secure a new channel to communicate directly with the decorator. Retailers also gain access to insight-led market data that can help them shape and form their own sales strategies, without the investment needed of doing it by themselves.

Real-time Technology

There were two essential elements in delivering the programme from a technology perspective:

1. As access to accurate market data was the driver, investment in new technology that offered real-time revenue tracking, and earning & burning of points was critical to success.
2. Bringing all the retailers – both big and small, and with different levels of expertise in EPOS – together on a single platform.

Using our experience in setting up customer loyalty programmes for leading brands, Chilli Pepper managed the technology process for Dulux, from establishing a rigorous tender process and appointing a technology provider through to implementation of the Dulux Trade Points’ specific requirements and ongoing technology management.

Intuitive App & Website Design

At the front-end of technology, Chilli Pepper developed a digital plan for the App & Website, including briefs, wireframes and full designs, ensuring an intuitive, best-in-class UX. We also managed the development process to ensure the App & Website matched the designs and brand imperatives for Dulux.

Bespoke Rewards

Chilli Pepper’s strategy for Dulux Trade Points provided a very clear brief for the rewards that would be offered to decorators. Through our Strategic Loyalty Process, we discovered several key insights for Irish decorators. For example, we understood that decorators are driven by both business and personal rewards. Chilli Pepper worked with the Rewards Agency to create an insight-based Rewards Mix that was tailored specifically for this target market.

Inspired Communications

The entire customer journey – from Registration to Redemption and Reactivation – was designed to offer an engaging and seamless customer experience. Chilli Pepper created a striking look and feel for Dulux Trade Points, including design of a suite of communications and Point of Sale. By mapping out the customer journey, we created a platform of automated, triggered and personalised communications using the full mix of direct channels – Direct Mail, Email, SMS & In-App messaging. The impact of communications is regularly analysed. It recently delivered a staggering 900% increase in point redemptions in just three months.