Paul Carroll makes The Carroll Circle easier to use in-store and online
Founded by sixth-generation shoemaker Paul Carroll, the family business has grown over five decades into a 14-store omnichannel retailer. Its in-house footwear brands are also wholesale to more than 250 Australian businesses, while its customer database has grown to approximately 75,000 profiles, giving Litecard a meaningful enterprise loyalty use case across retail, ecommerce and CRM.
The Carroll Circle is Paul Carroll’s tiered loyalty program, designed to reward customers across its retail stores and ecommerce business.
Members earn one point for every dollar spent and progress through Bronze, Silver and Gold tiers. Benefits include birthday vouchers, tier-upgrade rewards, early access, member discounts, surprise vouchers, free express shipping and VIP shopping events.
Litecard gives members a digital Carroll Circle card that displays their membership information and can be scanned when they shop in-store.
The challenge
A tiered loyalty program contains valuable information, but that value can become fragmented across emails, online accounts, ecommerce systems and store transactions.
Paul Carroll needed to connect three important parts of the customer journey:
- eStar for ecommerce
- Retail Express, also known as REX, for in-store transactions
- Dotdigital for customer data and communications
Customers also needed a straightforward way to see their tier and points without logging into a website at the point of purchase.
The Litecard solution
Dotdigital delivers each member a personalized link to add their Carroll Circle card to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet.
The digital card can show the member’s current tier, points balance and available benefits. In-store, the customer presents the card for scanning so their purchase can be connected to their profile through Retail Express. Online purchases and loyalty activity continue to be managed through the existing eStar environment.
This gives Paul Carroll a practical connection between customer communications, ecommerce and physical retail without requiring customers to install another app.
Technology stack
- eStar ecommerce
- Retail Express, or REX, POS
- Dotdigital
- Apple Wallet and Google Wallet
- Litecard
What Paul Carroll has done well
Paul Carroll has created one of the clearest customer-facing loyalty education experiences in the group. Its Carroll Circle page explains the tiers, benefits and role of the wallet card, while its detailed FAQ covers point timing, tier qualification, voucher use and in-store scanning.
Paul Carroll members had educational content delivered in email format rather than just an ‘add to wallet’ prompt on digital communications. This had precise information that allowed them to follow steps on a mobile or desktop device to add a pass to their mobile wallet (on Apple or Google Wallet).
Members are told to look for the wallet link in their welcome email. They can then view their tier and points in the wallet, in Paul Carroll emails or through the store team. There are also in store strut cards / posters to educate customers of what a mobile wallet is and how to download it.
Why mobile wallet loyalty matters in footwear retail
Footwear is a considered purchase category where fit, service and previous purchase history matter. A useful loyalty program must work with the store experience, not sit separately from it.
By making the member profile easier to identify at checkout, Litecard helps Paul Carroll capture more complete purchase activity and gives customers a clearer view of the benefits encouraging their next purchase.
