Hokkaido Prefectural Union of Agricultural Cooperatives made an announcement on July 25 that the Hokkaido agricultural cooperative group (JA group) has started offering its own loyalty program for frequent-shoppers at JA farmer’s markets by using application software (app) designed to run on smartphones.
The Hokkaido JA group’s program is to award points to consumers visiting farmer’s markets and other registered places in the prefecture. The consumers will be entitled to participate with their accumulated points in a lottery of gifts such as fresh farm crops and livestock products.
The loyalty program is expected to play a role of inviting wide-ranged people to rural areas, which, the JA group hopes, will be useful to increase “supporters” for agriculture and foods of Hokkaido.
JAs and other members of the group have respectively registered its own farmer’s markets and other places as “Check-in-Spots” where the app users are expected to visit to earn the points.
Consumers will earn a point on every visit to a “Check-in-Spot.” By accumulating the points, frequent visitors will be able to join the lottery to get a present from the group.
As of July 25, the “Check-in-Spots” totaled 1,062 places in Hokkaido, including JA’s farmer’s markets, other facilities operated by JAs, and local restaurants recommended by JAs.