Frasers Group CEO Michael Murray said that the retailer is set to unveil a new membership scheme and flexible payments solution, similar to Amazon Prime.
GLODuring his speech at the World Retail Congress in Barcelona, Murray announced Frasers Plus, a combined membership program and flexible payment solution. This innovative offering will grant customers access to personalized deals across Frasers’ various brands while consolidating customer data in one central location.
Murray revealed that Frasers intends to offer the Frasers Plus platform to other retailers as a white-label product.
He elaborated on Frasers Plus, explaining that it will function as a versatile payment solution and membership program integrated across the entire Frasers Group. If a consumer chooses to make a purchase from Sports Direct, for example, they will earn points specific to that brand and have the option to select a payment plan spanning up to 36 months. All these features will be regulated and compliant.
Furthermore, customers will accumulate points and rewards for shopping within the Frasers Group, which can then be redeemed across various brands like Flannels, Evans, Jack Wills, and House of Fraser. In the future, the rewards may extend to benefits such as free delivery or complimentary gym membership, leveraging Frasers’ ownership of 70 gyms throughout the UK.
Essentially, Frasers has developed its own version of Prime, aiming to offer a unified experience for consumers through Frasers Plus while centralizing all customer data.
The creation of this product was made possible through Frasers’ acquisition of Studio Retail, which possessed a proprietary and regulated flexible payment solution, as well as Frasers’ minority stake in software company Tymit.
Murray also expressed his belief that Sports Direct holds significant potential for international expansion among all the brands within the Frasers Group. He emphasized that the absence of a comparable Sports Direct offering in Europe presents opportunities for growth, but acknowledged that there are still challenges to overcome in expanding across the continent.
Murray said: “Sports Direct is definitely the one that’s more scalable at the moment because you’re dealing with fewer brands. It’s a lot easier to get alignment across the brands moving into a new market. You try doing that with House of Fraser, where you have 30 brands, or Flannels where you have 40 key brands – where some brands are hotter than others.
“In sports, that’s more stable. There are four or five key brands that are always strong – such as Nike, Puma, Under Armor – so you can get a nicely defined strategy for them.”
He added: “In Europe, the relative wages are higher and the cost of the rents is higher. It’s about making sure that we’re going into white space where the brands want us to go. Aligning with brands and giving them the opportunity for an elevated proposition in the country and not forcing ourselves into a country. We’ve done that in the past and it’s not worked well.”
