Diamond Card Discount Card Malahide..why bother?

darkmockeray

A good idea with poor application. Hot on the heals of blogs and social networks that inhabit the virtual world is the influx of loyalty/discount cards in the physical world. All preach community, but loyalty/discount cards while commendable in many cases are more often then not a white elephant. One such example of this is Diamond Card in Malahide, North County Dublin. For a successful shopping card scheme to exist you need two major elements, number 1, you need businesses to participate, and number 2, you need customers you use it. Sadly the operators of Diamond Card have only pushed the side of signing up participating businesses. It costs 100's of Euro's a year for a business to be involved, so you can see why this side of the scheme has taken up all of their focus.

What this means is that you have over 100 local businesses paying a combined amount of over €10,000 euros a year to be part of a scheme that no punters are signed up to. The story that these businesses sign up for is that Diamond Card holders will be inclined to shop at their stores to benefit from the special offers, and these businesses pay good money every year to be part of the scheme. So when 90% of the population of Malahide have neither being asked or have no interest in paying €20 a year to be the holder of a card, what benefit does this loyalty scheme have to the participating businesses? None!

Diamond Card have no structure or plan in place for signing up shoppers, its too hard a sell. People don't want to pay €20 for a card that they have no real reason to use. Local shops such as Eurospar, Super Value have free loyalty schemes. The Diamond Card specials offers that are offered by most of the participating businesses like Blue Moon, Bossy Boots, La Sirena, Village Books, Camille Boutique are really no different to the regular offers, Facebook offers, early birds or sales available in all these places to the general public without the need of a card. Diamond Card know they can't shift their cards, so they focus on selling what definitely sounds like a plausible story to the local businesses instead. So what you have is a discount card scheme with no cardholders, only participating businesses? ...so these businesses are handing over money effectively for nothing. They are conned by the term 'Exclusive card' totally unaware that no-one will be using these cards.

dudara

Can you please explain how this is a Consumer Issue for you?

You appear to be coming at it from the angle of the businesses involved, not the consumers.

whippet

dudara wrote: »

Can you please explain how this is a Consumer Issue for you?

You appear to be coming at it from the angle of the businesses involved, not the consumers.

actually sounds more like the OP was dupped in to handing over cash as a business owner without doing some proper research in to what value / benefit he would have gotten out of it !!!

keithclancy

I only ever sign up to one if theres a benefit or its free.

i.e. My local supermarket gives a 'bonus card' for deals of the week they have on.

Only thing I do pay for is my Dutch Rail card, which give 40% off for me and 2 other people plus 25% off International Rail and cheap Park and Ride. Even if I only use it twice it pays for itself.

I'd never sign up for some card that you have to pay for as your tying yourself to one retailer, you'll save more money shopping around

dudara

whippet wrote: »

actually sounds more like the OP was dupped in to handing over cash as a business owner without doing some proper research in to what value / benefit he would have gotten out of it !!!

That's exactly my point. He appears to have posted from the business angle, not the consumer angle.

darkmockeray

Hey guys, I take your point, that i may have approached this from the wrong angle regards the section I posted under. I am a consumer. I don't work in the area or run a business but I do shop in Malahide. The more I see businesses signing up, and the more I know that no shopper in the area has/uses the card, its something that has been bugging me for a while now, so i wanted to start a thread about it and see what other people thought. Its an out and out scam, so it would have been nice to hear your thoughts instead of your cynicism but I guess I should start the thread in a business section. Its a business ripping off people...thats a consumer issue....just because those people happen to run businesses themselves doesn't make it any less so.

dudara

darkmockeray wrote: »

just happen to be businesses themselves doesn't make it any less so.

Technically, a private individual is a consumer. Business interacting with business is something else entirely. We don't cover that kind of interaction in this forum.

Here is the link to the website for this Diamond Card (available in Kilkenny & Malahide)

TBH - I don't see any issue here. Any proper business should do due diligence on this before signing up to the scheme. They should make sure that the subscriber population should offer enough benefits to make the fees worthwhile.

darkmockeray

Oh, also, where should I post it then....you can't start a thread in business marketing? and I am a consumer....so am I in boards.ie limbo?

dudara

darkmockeray wrote: »

Oh, also, where should I post it then....you can't start a thread in business marketing? and I am a consumer....so am I in boards.ie limbo?

Can you explain how this is a Consumer Issue for you?

darkmockeray

Hi Dudara, sorry, you must have missed my question, can you tell me where I should make this thread please? Regards how it is a consumer issue I have already said why I thought it should go here, but accepted the points addressing that it wasn't the ideal location. So I'd love to know where I should post it.

dudara

darkmockeray wrote: »

Hi Dudara, sorry, you must have missed my question, can you tell me where I should make this thread please? Regards how it is a consumer issue I have already said why I thought it should go here, but accepted the points addressing that it wasn't the ideal location. So I'd love to know where I should post it.

If you want to discuss it from a consumer angle, then it's fine to stay here.

91011

maybe the dublin county north forum?

wyndham

Entrepreneurial and business (mis)management?